Confederacy of dunces essays

Confederacy of dunces essays John Kennedy Toole was only 32 when he took his life in 1969. Tooles story A Confederacy of Dunces was not published during his lifetime. When it was finally published 11 long years after his death, it immediately won the Pulitzer prize. Through out the entire novel there is any underlying sense of pathos that which suggests that A Confederacy of Dunces may be some sort of personal depiction of Tooles life. The epigraph by Jonathan Swift on the first page of the book reads, When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. Now given that this quote was not written specifically for this novel, there is not a more effective way to sum up the life of the main character, Ignatius J. Reilly. Never before has a person been more convinced of his own genius, and the idiocy of those surrounding him. Yet, at the same time, he is the most unsuitable candidate for such a flattering title. Ignatius is an obese, unemployed, self-centered, and socially challenged man that wears a green hunting cap, wool coat, and scarf all year long, despite the fact that he resides in balmy New Orleans. He lives with his widowed mother in a dingy, working-class neighborhood. Because his diet strictly consists of pastries and Dr. Nut, a local Louisiana cola, he is always complaining of gastric difficulties, and relieving them with various eruptions. And when under any sort of pressure Ignatius is likely to suffer from a shutting of the pyloric valve, this gastric malady is more than likely a figment of his imagination. On top of this Ignatius believes himself to be some sort of Christian philosopher that maintains and open disgust with the modern world in which he lives. The events of the novel center around a few weeks in Ignatius life. In the first main scene, Ignatius mother, ...