The end of A Confederacy of Dunces was one of the most satisfying and sweet endings of any book I have ever read. On one hand, it nicely brought the millions of little plots in to book together, and on the other hand, it did justice to the characters and left us with a satisfying aftertaste and just the right amount of “give me more! what happens next?” that modernists usually tend to over prescribe.

Towards the end of the novel we have the Levys, we have paradise vendors, we have the Night of Joy and its constituents and Jones, we have Irene and Santa and Mancuso (no, not the one who brings you gifts), we have Myrna, and we have Ignatius. How could Toole possibly tie them all together? Well, here‘s a short summary of how it happens: Ignatius is on his weenie route when he passes the Nigh of Joy, the owner of which happens to be practically enslaving Jones and literally hosting a pornography ring. Jones, knowing the accidental sabotaging capabilities of Ignatius, invites him in to see the bird show. The bird attacks Ignatius and Ignatius runs outside to shake the bird off of his costume earring and patrolman Mancuso is outside tailing Ignatius for his aunt (Santa) and her friend Irene (Ignatius’ mother). He stops the whole thing and somehow busts the porn ring. Later, Mr. Levy goes to Ignatius house to ask him about a letter that was written by one party and signed by Mr. Levy to a company denouncing their moral values. The letter somehow turns into a libel suit and Mr. Levy is trying to sort it out. Ignatius successfully points the finger at senile Mrs. Trixie. Irene, overcome with depression with what her son did, calls the mental ward to come pick up Ignatius and leaves the house. Ignatius picks up on this and plans an escape. Justas he was packing, long lost Myrna comes to unknowingly save Ignatius. The novel ends with them leaving to go to New York (from New Orleans). As you can see – and if you cannot see from my very brief but possibly confusing summary, I apologize – John Kennedy Toole ties in every mini plot to each other.

You know when you finish a book with a great ending but you think, “Man, I wish Ahab could have made the catch,”? Well that was not the scenario in this book. Two specific examples are the destinies of Mr. and Mrs. Levy and Patrolman Mancuso. Mrs. Levy is perhaps the most detestable character I have ever come across, in literature and in life. Everything the Mr. Levy does, she twists and threatens to tell their daughters. When he fires Ignatius for organizing the factory workers to March and attack the office manager, she tells Mr. Levy that their daughters will be very sad to hear that their father fired such a free “idealist” thinker like Ignatius. I hate every fiber in her body with every fiber in mine. And Mr. really, well he’s a nice guy. Not too stand out, but we gain some sympathy with him knowing his wife. Its nice to see the victory he experiences in the end of the novel and his revived interest in his company, with his decision to change the name to “Levy Shorts” (from Levy Pants) and show some initiative in his company; however, it is even nicer to see that, “Mrs. Levy wouldn’t really fit into the Levy Shorts plan.” Patrolman Mancuso is a character that we all feel bad for in the novel. This guy never catches a break. His boss ridicules him and makes him wear a costume and hide in a cold damp bathroom until he makes a “real” bust. Well in the end, he makes the bust of the century. He breaks the entire pornography ring in the high school system in New Orleans. This was of small importance to the novel, but it still contributed to the satisfaction in the ending.

The end of this novel was one of the best over; it encompassed everything that is necessary – in my opinion – for a good ending.

Image Study

In A Confederacy of Dunces, images did not prove an extremely important role, but they were there throughout. The main purpose of the images in the book was to show the oddities of the characters – mainly Ignatius, the massive hero of the novel. Four of the images I have selected characterize Ignatius: his Belch, his Fat, his hot dogs and his fat. (For the record, I am aware that that rhymed.) The fifth characterizes a smaller character in the novel, Burma Jones: Smoke.

Let’s start with Burma’s Smoke:

Throughout the novel, Jones never spoke. He never said or yelled or asked or screamed, he blew smoke. For example, when he was at a bar he normally attended the book says how he “aimed some smoke over the bar, ‘I mean I’m glad…’” to be more explicit, the book illustrates Jones’ speaking by evoking some image of his release of smoke. This was simply used, but frequently used, because Jones always seemed to be smoking.

Next comes ole’ Iggy. Ignatius is a huge man with horrible acid reflux and an odd sense of fashion and choice of work. Toole used images to display these grotesque features in Ignatius.

First is his green hat. Ignatius wears this odd green hunting hat, much like the one worn by Elmur Fudd. When he gets a job at the hot dog vendor and is required to wear a ridiculous pirate costume, he concedes to wear all of the costume except the pirate hat. He wears his normal hunting hat even with the pirate costume. This leads into the next image, the Paradise Hot Dog. Paradise Hot Dogs is the hot dog vendor where Ignatius is employed in the later parts of the novel. He consumes so many of these hot dogs during each of the shifts that hew works that he leaves work sometimes with less than a dollar wage. These hot dogs represent his basic world view: success is not attained through money, or happiness. It is attained through living with medieval morals. He is highly educated, yet he chooses to work selling hot dogs. Next come the image of his burps. Often, like with Jones’ smoke, the author says that Ignatius “belches” or “burps” his comments. This adds to Ignatius’ disgusting appearance, since he would never dare to upset his valve and hold in a burp when he is in the company of other people, or as he sees them, “Mongoloids.” Lastly is Ignatius’ huge being, his fatty content, his beer-less beer belly. Whenever people first lay their eyes on Ignatius they notice his size. He is massive, and through the novel he himself notes (not self-consciously I might add) “My stomach is getting out of bounds; the seems of my vendor’s smock are creaking ominously.”

All of these images are employed to the eccentricity, if I may, of the characters. They point out the flaws in ways that only a third person point of view may note, seeing as they come from the eyes of many of the other characters.