Ignatius J Reilly Quotes

Character Analysis of Ignatius J. Reilly
In John Kennedy Toole’s novel A Confederacy of Dunces, Ignatius J. Reilly is a peculiar character living in 1960s New Orleans while also being the protagonist. Early in the novel Ignatius must find work to pay for the damages his mother caused by colliding her car into an antiquated building. Even though Ignatius is well educated, he has never procured employment in his life. The two occupations Ignatius gains during the novel are being a hot dog vendor of Paradise Vendors and a custodian of Levy pants. He also meets a variety of colorful characters –Mr. Clive, Mr. Gonzales, George, Dorian Greene, and Ms. Trixie—while employed. Throughout the novel Ignatius’s character is developed by displaying …show more content…
Ignatius actualizes this peculiar quality by writing his own commentaries that critique the current 1960s period and society he is inhabiting. One of his indictments against current society he wants to change is for the United States’ current form of representative democracy to become a monarchy ruled only by a king. While giving a reason to dislike Ignatius, a character named Santa Battaglia describes Ignatius as a “boy want[ing] a king” (262). In his written commentaries Ignatius extensively condemns the atrocity of the location that is the French Quarter and once calling it, “an area which houses every vice that man has ever conceived in his wildest aberrations” (226). However, Ignatius’s grandest criticism against modern society is the movie and television industries. He frequently attends movie theaters to watch the horrid films on display. The following is one insult directed towards films that encapsulates Ignatius’s thinking: “[movies are] filmed abortions that were offenses against any criteria of taste and decency, reels and reels of perversion and blasphemy that stunned my disbelieving eyes, that shocked my virginal mind” (101).
Both Ignatius’s gluttony and his criticism of society are the epitome of the eccentric character that is Ignatius J. Reilly. These qualities and others will likely condemn Ignatius to a dire fate. His gluttony will probably lead to poor health later in life and to a premature death as well. His antagonism toward society and other people will be the cause of Ignatius’s loneliness and bitterness during the latter part of his

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Essay on A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole: Analysis of The Novel