American Literature

John Kennedy Tooles novel, A Confederacy of Dunces, is well regarded throughout literary circles and stands as Tooles defining work. The author was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction after the books publishing, but was not around to celebrate his triumph. The novel was not published until 1980, which came a full eleven years after the authors suicide in New Orleans. As an only child growing up in a privileged world in New Orleans, Toole received many advantages that he used to his own benefit. He was educated at both Tulane University and Columbia University, and was drafted into the United States Army, as well. He served some time there, and served other time as a professor at a local college upon his return. His suicide was thought to come after a dispute with his mother, and it was that woman that eventually helped to push A Confederacy of Dunces into widespread publication. Though the book was purely fictional in nature, it was inspired by some of the experiences that Toole had while in New Orleans. He was known for frequenting the French quarter and visiting with random musicians and other residents of that part of New Orleans. From those experiences came the genesis of the book, and it was Tooles attempt to accurately depict some of the things taking place in New Orleans during that time. Especially important was his depiction of some of the different races and cultures around the city, which is what brought about much of the acclaim for the work.

The book itself adheres well to the idea of monomyth, as put forth by Joseph Campbell. The protagonist in the story is Ignatius J. Reilly, who lives in his own subjective reality. The everyday world from which he is drawn to be a hero is one that is somewhat unassuming, if not pretentious. A review by Sharon Shulz-Elsing summed up the subjective reality from which this hero is drawn perfect in her review of the book. She writes, At the center of A Confederacy of Dunces is that contemptuous hypochondriac, that deadbeat ideologue, that gluttonous moocher Ignatius Reilly. A mountainous college graduate living off his mothers welfare check in her home on one of New Orleans seedy back streets. He spends most of his time waxing melodramatically philosophic, hiding out in the squalor of his bedroom, filling Big Chief writing tablets with his unique brand of Ludditemedievalistanti-Enlightenment thought and penning incendiary letters to his sex-crazed ex-college-girlfriend Myrna Minkoff (Shulz-Elsing, 2000). In this, the reader sees that the protagonist is drawn from a place where hes doing very little, essentially taking advantage of his situation and refusing to grow up as the world around him passes by.

For Ignatius, the call to adventure is one that comes randomly, like most within the monomyth. It begins with the character nearly being hauled to jail for no particular reason, and ends with he and his mother drunkenly crashing a car into a building. The need for money forces the character into his adventure, or more aptly, his misadventure that was to come. In this, the reader can see some an example of the refusal to take up the call.

The primary force pushing Ignatius toward the working world was his mother, and the character is very indifferent to the idea. He is content jotting notes and writing letters, while not utilizing his high-priced education. In a passive-aggressive manner that only Ignatius can show, he acts as if the work is beneath him and hopes that the question will go away. The supernatural encouragement that the character receives comes from a couple of different places. Though he does not receive a true helping hand from above in the traditional sense of the monomyth, he is pushed on by both a character and an overriding idea. He is encouraged by a woman named Miss Trixie at the Levy Pants plant where he works. Though Miss Trixie is senile and low-functioning, he enjoys her presence and looks forward to going to work. More importantly, he is motivated by the idea that he could do something with his life, which would finally convince his ex-girlfriend that he has been a success. This is the driving force behind many of the protagonists actions, and it serves as his supernatural assistance in that regard.

In terms of crossing the threshold, this story is full of examples that might be used. Because it is such a fast-paced and complicated work of fiction, there are many areas that might be identified as a part of the monomyth that Joseph Campbell highlighted. Still, it is probably not true that the work falls directly into the monomythic circle, as certain events happen multiple times and the plot does not stick to the exactly prescribed script. One portion of the story where the protagonist may cross the threshold is when he is first fired from his job at Levy Pants. This is yet another example of his own failure, and it confirms for many people that the character might have a screw loose. The failure of his initial social activist movement also pushes him forward and motivates him to try new things and even more ridiculous quests. Because of how important this event was for shaping the characters future, it could be the important threshold that Campbell was speaking of.

Ignatius enters the belly of the beast when he first gets mixed up with Dorian and forms his radical political party. His goal of social activism had officially jumped the shark at that point, and his quest to work to pay off his mothers bills had been replaced by the quest for some sort of significance. Because the jobs he was working were so remedial when compared to his education, he was looking for something more. He found it in his degenerate political activism. The complicated and seedy nature of Ignatiuss new life is something described in a review by Ben Granger. He writes, Tooles invigorating prose breathes into this rabble a convincing life, as well as the surrounding cast of crooks, gays, lesbians, black factory workers, and the everyday inhabitants of a gruff, crumbling and seedy New Orleans. His descriptive powers flow graphically and beautifully, and he also knows how to string together a multi-layered narrative too (Granger).

The trials faced by Ignatius were many, including his firing from the first job, his near arrest, his new and embarrassing job as a hot dog salesman and many more marks against him. Additionally, he ends up in the hospital and is the primary cause of three lesbians assaulting a police officer. When the thoughts and feelings of his mother are thrown into the mix with all of this, it created quite a bit to overcome for the character, which is what makes the story so inherently interesting. One thing that is interesting is that in all of Ignatiuss misadventures, he finally finds the love that is spoken about in the monomyth model. His old ex-girlfriend, Myrna Minkoff, shows up at his door at the time that he needs her the most, which acts as a very important part of the story. This is something of a reclamation for Ignatius, and in his strange mind, it justifies many of the crazy things that he had done up to that point. Additionally, this is where the story takes its turn with women acting as the temptress. Ignatius attempts an escape, and his life becomes much more complicated as a direct result of Myrna showing up. She helps to motivate him to take the crazy step of fleeing, and he has a renewed sense of adventure as a result of her being there with him.

This portion of the story acts as its climax, as its second turning point, and truly as its rescue scene. Though there is no atonement with the father, it is replaced by atonement with a jilted ex-lover, and with all that Ignatius had been searching for. Because all of his actions had been done to attract Myrna back into his life, having her show up was the biggest thing that could have possibly happened for him. It was the satisfaction and the proper ending for the story to complete this unique version of the monomyth. Their escape leaves the story open-ended, however, which does not provide the reader with any sense of closure on what happened with all of the different twists and turns. Additionally, this presents the possibility that more craziness was probably on the way for both Ignatius and Myrna, which is something that many critical reviewers have felt was the intention of the author when he initially wrote the story.

This story is interesting because it provides a very interesting look at a socioeconomic trend taking place in New Orleans at that time. Ignatius should have had advantages. He was well educated, but the only thing forcing he and his mother into poverty was laziness. This is a sector of society that is not usually explored, as most people who fall into that category do so because they have many inherent disadvantages holding them back. In this story, the author employs an important motif of underachievement. That is to say that Ignatius was not making anything of himself, even though he had as many chances as any person could possibly want in order to do so. On reviewer named Daniel Weiss summed up this book quite poignantly when he said, Like his creator, who committed suicide in 1969, Ignatius never finds his place in the modern world (Weiss). Through all of his struggles, Ignatius never truly finds what he is looking for, though the book does leave open the possibility for greater mishaps and misadventures in the future, this time with his girl by his side.