Theme Of A Confederacy Of Dunces

Practically everyone in the story has a hidden agenda for his or her actions. The protagonist, a 22-year-old named Helga, was a teacher at an institute of higher learning called Naxos where the true agenda was not education but instead was teaching Blacks their accepted status in life—lower than that of Whites. She became convinced that she needed to leave Naxos after hearing a speech from a visiting white preacher whose remarks she found offensive. The preacher stated that if everyone acted like those from Naxos “there would be no race problem, because Naxos Negros knew what was expected of them” because they “knew enough to stay in their places” (Larsen 1724). At the beginning of the story, the reader would feel sympathy towards the workers at Naxos, who truly believed they were preparing the students for better lives and sympathy for Helga who tried to convince the new principle, Dr. Anderson, as to the true state of affairs. Helga failed to realize, however, that Dr. Anderson was aware of the situation at Naxos but felt that for change to occur there needed to be “more people like you, people with a sense of values, and proportion, an appreciation of the rarer things of life” (Larsen 1735). Helga mistakenly became offended at Dr. Anderson’s compliment by calling her “a lady” with “dignity and breeding” because of her belief that being able to trace one’s ancestry was more important that one’s actions (Larsen 1735).

Being at the top of the social hierarchy has been a must for every American of past generations, but can lead to fatal damages for some trying to obtain that goal and a cause to ruin people’s lives. In a remarkably triumphant story on compassion, Harper Lee explored the horrors of racial prejudice in the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Set in the 1930’s, the poor town of Maycomb, Alabama has been hit by the depression hard, which created a vast, complex social pyramid, with distinct families and lifestyles. At the Finch household, composed of a little nine year old girl, Scout, a twelve year old boy Jem, and their father Atticus, proceed through a whirlwind of events throughout the next few years. Atticus, a lawyer who is a hardworking, honest man at the top of the social hierarchy of Maycomb, has to defend a colored man by the name of Tom Robinson. This happened to be very unusual for the time period, as the family has to transcend through the struggles in a racial prejudice town and learn the raw nature of the worst in humans, thus trying to overcome these events through compassion. The author utilizes metaphor, characterization, and mood to describe the situation of Maycomb, it soon then becomes very clear that the dangers of ruining innocence can lead to a vast road of horrors and evils.

White or colored, superior or inferior, and important or invisible are the different categories society imposes on people. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the narrator Scout is a part of the Finch family. They are white people with good morals due to Atticus Finch, Scout’s father. He guides his children to seek equality and treat others equally regardless of their class, gender, or race. Atticus tries to enforce his beliefs by taking on the Tom Robinson case. Tom Robinson is an honest, hard working black man accused of raping a white woman known as Mayella Ewell. Although there was evidence to prove his innocence, Mayella’s dirty lies were placed above his innocence. This situation is clearly an example of the ideals society

5. Walter Cunningham and Burris Ewell both come from poor American, white families. Within the community, people don’t regard them with high respect within the community. However, Walter Cunningham is respectful to those around him and Burris Ewell is disrespectful to those around him. One example that shows how Burris Ewell is disrespectful is when he responds in a rude way to Ms. Caroline when told to wash his hair, come to school, bathed the next day. Moreover, when Ms. Caroline tells him to sit in his seat he snorts and taunts her. She consequently cries and threatens to report his behavior to the principal since he seems problematic. An example showing that Walter Cunningham is respectful is when Walter Cunningham and Atticus “talked together like two men” when they talked about farming and how he could pass first grade since he must help his father who is a poor farmer.

To begin, "The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box" (Lee 224). Tom Robisnon becomes a victim of racism when he is wrongly convicted. Tom is wrongly convicted of raping Mayella Ewell because of the color of his skin. Jury members only convict Tom because he is black, not because of the evidence presented in the trial. Secondly, "If I hear one more peep outa my girl Helen about not bein able to walk this road I'll have you in jail before sundown" (Lee 253). This is important because Mr. Ewell harasses her on her way to work for Mr. Deas, he does not even let her walk in front of his house, he even threatens her to not go to work. This shows that Helen has had a hard time finding work because she is associated with Tom. If Tom had not been wrongly accused of raping Mayella, then Helen would not face the harsh discrimination from the Maycomb community. All in all, Helen and Tom Robinson have a really hard time because of the effects of racism on them.

Our nation is supposed to symbolize freedom, happiness and social equality . However, manny still fall victim to the social injustice brought upon our society. The novel, “To Kill A Mockingbird”. Portrays these social injustices despite being published many years ago.

The theme of social injustice due to racism is demonstrated by Mr. Gilmer’s actions. Tom is being cross-examined by Mr. Gilmer and Dill becomes upset and exits the courtroom with Scout by his side. “‘Well Mr. Finch didn’t act that way to Mayella or old man Ewell when he cross-examined them. The way that man called him ‘boy’ all the time and sneered at him, an’ looked around at the jury every time he answered-’”(Lee 226). Mr. Gilmer talks down to Tom because he is black, and is considered lower in social class. Mr. Gilmer is treating Tom as if he were in a lower social class; this is what he wants to portray to the jury. The class system in Maycomb is wrong and Dill sees how Tom is being treated unjustly. Tom is seen as trash just because he is black; he has a lot more character than Mr. Ewell, but because he is black, Mr. Gilmer is painting Tom to be lower than the lowest of whites. Because of Tom’s skin color, he is treated like he is less of a man. People in Maycomb cannot see how wrong they are because the citizens are stuck in a mindset where white people act like they are superior. The citizens see no problem with Mr. Gilmer belittling Tom in the way he is speaking to

"Oh, Fortuna, blind, heedless goddess, I am strapped to your wheel. Do not crush me beneath your spokes. Raise me on high, divinity" (Toole: 42). Here, Ignatius Reilly makes one of his many pleas to Fortuna, the goddess which he believes controls his destiny and his life by spinning him in circles of good and bad luck. The cycles Ignatius Reilly goes through in John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces play an important role in the story, as they affect not only him, but several others in the book as well. The cycles that Ignatius is put through do, indeed, influence those around him. These cycles that Ignatius goes through are very much like gears, connected to the cycles of the other characters in the novel. Although it is not

As the United States “progresses” in economic, educational and technological advancements we still are fighting for racial equality. With more than 50 years since the brown vs. board of education case there is still incidents like Ferguson, Baton Rouge, and Phiando Castile where many questions are still unanswered. However, Harper Lee dealt with these same problems in 1960 when she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee created an emotionally confronting story. Lee writes through the eyes of “Scout” a lawyer’s daughter in a small sleepy town of Maycomb in Alabama during the great depression. Throughout the book “Scout” learns coming of age lessons from Atticus and her own experiences. But when Atticus takes on a case defending a black man (Tom Robinson) convicted for rapping a white woman (Mayella Ewell) and is found guilty. “Scout” her brother Jem begin to understand the effects of the prejudices in society. Therefore, Lee applies the literary concepts of diction and tone to revel the truth that prejudices in society negatively affect the way people treat each other in To Kill a Mocking Bird.

Ignatius is introduced to us as a obnoxious and gruesome character “A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head. The green earflaps, full of large ears and uncut hair and the fine bristles that grew in the ears themselves, stuck out on either side like turn signals indicating two directions at once”(Toole, John Kennedy, 1). John Kennedy is not trying to impress us with Ignatius. He is giving us a fantastic, complex character with radical ideas. Every sense of his character is an attempt to show us what not to do. He is unlikable and disgusting yet he judges other people, Ignatius 's appearance is a symbol for what lies beneath,his taste in clothing hints at his care for his own comfort which he seems to care about more than anything else except for his ego. Ignatius does not change throughout the story. This however, is not due to his incapability to change, he is simply not willing to change and he blames “Fortuna!” on every turn. His unwillingness to change is best said by himself when he“The book teaches us to accept that which we cannot change. It describes the plight of a just man in an unjust society. It is the very basis for medieval thought.”(Toole, John

The prejudice in Tom’s trial is also visible by the segregated seating arrangements of the whites and the blacks in the courthouse. The portrayed segregation not only takes place at the Maycomb court of law but had appeared through out the novel in all aspects of Maycomb life. This segregation is illustrated by Harper Lee through imagery and is strengthened through the realist aspect of the novel. The author shows prejudice through this segregation by revealing the two contrasting places where the ‘white and blacks’ lived and even where they went to separate churches. The author paints a vivid picture of the blacks living in a ghetto

Lee grew up in the south in the early nineteen-hundreds. The people around her felt blacks were beneath whites and gave them many difficulties to put up with. This injustice was especially prominent in court cases, like the one Lee depicts in her novel. Though Harper Lee accepts that there is racism in the community, she reminds us all her own thoughts by giving advice to Scout that all the readers can take something away from: “‘As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it— whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash’”(Lee 224). Clearly, dealing with the injustices of trials at home inspired Lee to write her book and point out the problems we are turning a blind eye to in our own country. Using her personal background in the oppression of the south, Harper Lee shed light on the issue by depicting the issue in her remarkably well-written

Harper Lee's ‘To kill a Mockingbird’ explores the prejudicial issues which plague over the town Maycomb. Harper Lee uses the trial of Tom Robinson a black man accused of rape on a young white girl, Mayella as a central theme to portray the prominence of racial discrimination in Maycomb. The racial prejudice is also widely shown through the characterisation of Atticus. Having Scout as the narrator allows Harper Lee to highlight the gender inequity through a youthful unbiased perspective. The chauvinistic attitudes and prejudiced views of most of the town’s folk leaves Maycombs social hierarchy in an unfair order, victimising many of the town’s people due to their socially non-conforming habits some ‘socially unaccepted people’ including Boo

She wants to get Ignatius out of the way so she can fix up his mother with a potential new husband Mr.

Lee’s use of the word “rutting” in this dialogue represents Maycomb’s view of black men; animals, and savages, waiting for the chance to attack. Mr.Gilmer furthers this disrespect in his own way. In his cross-examination of Tom Robinson, the prosecutor repeatedly addresses Tom as “boy”(196), and “big buck”(198). Once again, this language provides a beast-like image of not only Tom Robinson, but all black men. The reader also sees symbolism of racism during Aunt Alexandra’s meeting with her neighboring woman. During a missionary meeting, Mrs.Merriweather states that the Mrunas, (an African tribe) live in “poverty and darkness”(230). The sickening irony of the women is seen here, as they feel pity towards the Mrunas, but are so hypocritical, they ignore the racism that results in the poverty of several black families in their very own town. The women at the meeting even proceed to insult their own black cooks and servants. Later, when the Tom Robinson vs. Mayella Ewell trial is completed, Aunt Alexandra expresses to Atticus her disapproval of him allowing the children to be present during the trial, but Atticus repartees, “they might as well learn to cope with it. … It’s as much Maycomb County as missionary teas”(212). Here, Atticus bluntly states that the conviction of Tom Robinson was just as racist, and unjustified as Aunt Alexandra’s hypocrisy-filled missionary teas.