Confederacy Of Dunces Alliteration

John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces follows Ignatius J. Reilly in his journey through holding different jobs around the city of New Orleans. In his journal of his adventures as a working boy, Ignatius shows off his learnedness through his rather formal writing style in a setting that does not call for such. The decisive use of language develops the extent of Ignatius’s attack on Myrna’s philosophy on top of developing Ignatius as a character.
In the above passage, three instances of alliteration characterize Myrna and what she stands for in the eyes of Ignatius. These alliterated words are used by Ignatius in succession in order to show the ferocity in which he despises Myrna’s philosophy: “Literal, liberal minx mind mired in a claustrophobic clutch of clichés.” Calling Myrna “literal” and “liberal” effectively says that she is a straightforward, unchanging progressionist who challenges society’s traditional ideas. For Ignatius, this analysis of Myrna is a dig as he rejects all modern thought; he favors many aspects of the middle ages such as the political

His “Crusade for Moorish Dignity” in which he inspired workers to partake in a revolt against Levy Pants failed despite his best efforts. Calling this attempt a “crusade” draws on his Medieval philosophical fascination, but the motivation behind this “grand and decisive coup” was for the rights of workers which is a more liberal thought. Ignatius mocks Myrna’s liberal philosophy in carrying out liberal thoughts through more medieval means. He then goes on to call his plan “brilliant,” showing his confidence in the validity of his philosophy despite his actions being more liberal than his philosophy. Despite the irony in Ignatius’s actions not being typical of those of his philosophical ideologies, he does not waiver from the core ideas he