I find the relationship between Ignatius Reilly and his mother Irene Reilly in the beginning to middle of the book to be so fascinating that an entire blog entry needed to be written about it. The reason that it is in just these parts is because the relationship is a dynamic one. Perhaps this response will need a sequel.
First, a brief overview of the two is necessary. Ignatius is an overweight, narcissistic slob who admittedly is “forced to function in a century which [he] loathe[s],” because he claims to be a “medievalist.” Because of this medievalist mindset he believes in Boethius’ wheel of fortune and brings it up in the narration throughout the novel. He believes that the goddess Fortuna has “spun him backward.” His valve has always got him down - his pyloric valve, that is. Whenever he experiences anything – so, always – he has a problem with his valve. For example he can only go to visit his company’s factory when his “valve is operating.” It is important to note that his valve quite rarely operates, and quite conveniently, too. “My valve has been misbehaving and has prevented me from bending over to reach the lower drawers,” he explained to his boss as an excuse for not doing his fileing. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly to the relationship in question, Ignatius lives at home with his mother. He is in his mid thirties. Enough said?
Next comes his mother, who, surprisingly as it may come, is just as functional as him. Irene has been a widow for over twenty years and – as suspected of the mother of the afore mentioned creature – likes her a drink or three, more specifically, muscatel.
Each and every meeting between the two is completely odd to say the least. In the beginning of the novel they go to a bar (which becomes a major setting of the novel) after coincidentally running from being arrested. Right when they enter the bar Mrs. Reilly – out of complete compassion for the bar owner and knowledge that they can’t sit in the bar for free, of course – orders two beers for the two of them. As they start to mingle it comes about that Irene mentioned to an apparent patron that Ignatius “graduated smart” to which Ignatius mockingly retorted the phrase and asked her to define her terms. When the person with whom they were speaking told him “don’t talk to your mama like that,” Irene interjected “oh, he treats me bad sometimes,” and naturally, begins to sob. “You just don’t know. When I think of all that I done for that boy…” she told her new friend. And with the full force of empathy Ignatius tells her to “stop that right now. I’m afraid that you’ve had too much beer.” Mrs. Reilly cries for about a half of a page longer when the owner of the bar comes in and wonders aloud why were these two idiots in her bar and why was business so bad. Immediately Ignatius asks her to excuse him, “my mother is present,” he defended. How could this woman be so blatantly rude to his own mother? They left the bar, but not before Mrs. Reilly could sell the hat her son made her on his first communion for fifteen dollars.
The characters of both Ignatius and his mother are seen through how they speak to each other. Irene speaks to Ignatius like he is a four year old who acts young for his age and he speaks to her like she is a cockroach who just landed on a cake he made for the mother he loves. She takes his abuse like its nothing. In this scene where he comes home after not getting a job he applied for. He tells his mother that they are miserably, and after they go back and forth in the childish “yes you are, “ “no im not,” for of bickering, he tells his mother, “If I had demolished private property while I was intoxicated,” (this had gone on right after my recap ended in the previously mentioned scene, “and had thereby thrown my child to the wolves, I would be beating my breast and wailing. I would kneel in penance until my knees bled,” then asking, “By the way, what penance has the priest given you for you sin?” about the confession that Ignatius had forced his mother to take. She took his tone and answered his question with, “Three Hail Maries and a Our Father.” “Is that all?” Ignatius rhetorically asked. This scene shows his perfect disrespect for his mother and his mother’s willingness to take it. After all, he is her sweet boy.
However, Mrs. Reilly does not take this without notice. Finally when Ignatius is out of the house at work, she is relaxed. The house no longer stunk of Ignatius (her beloved son). She even saw that the roaches seemed to be leaving. At this she poured herself a nice glass of muscatel and wondered if her sons work place was “beginning to reek a little of used pekoe.” She then remembered the “horrible night” when she and her husband went to see a movie and then, “In the heat and confusion that followed their return home, nice Mr. Reilly tried one of his indirect approaches, and Ignatius was conceived.
This comical relationship between mother and son shows the stupidity of all of the characters in the novel. With respect to their relationship, I cannot wait to see how it manifests itself and what more damage it will occur. In the more recent parts, she seems to be taking up a fondness in a man whom Ignatius naturally hates. In the words of our own Ignatius, “We must stay to watch the corruption. It’s already beginning to set in.”
Nice Post!
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