Themes In John Kennedy Toole's Confederacy Of Dunces

The three themes that stood out the most to me were: prejudice, leadership, and bravery. My first theme is prejudice, in my opinion it is not right to own someone as “property”

Since society states that she cannot be vindictive outright because she is expected to be a perfectly pleasant woman, she finds ulterior ways to go about doing so. One particular example of this is when she praises Tom for injuring her. She shows off her black and blue knuckle, saying, “‘I know you didn’t mean to, but you did do it. That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great, big, hulking physical specimen” (Fitzgerald 12). She subtly exposes Tom’s mistreatment of her in front of people, while falsifying her attraction to his physical nature.

To conclude, these are the four loneliest characters in the novel. They all have similarities in terms of dreams and loneliness however in the story the characters do not notice this but the reader almost classifies these characters as an outsiders group. Their characters show how having big dreams and high aspirations can make you lonelier. We can also see how the views of society affect loneliness such as the acceptance of racism and sexism in this time period as well as the fact that every man was for himself so there

The theme I chose was racism and how it takes a big part in the book. In the first chapter James lived in Suffolk Virginia with his mother Ruth They live in a neighborhood with all black people. Ruth rides her bike around and she often plays her piano. “When i was fourteen, my mother took up two new hobbies: riding a bicycle and playing piano.”

Mrs. Dempster, who is the young wife of the pastor, was unfit for nursing children and taking care of domestic tasks, compared to other housewives in Deptford. As such, townspeople would gossip about Mrs. Dempster’s family: “By the time a year had passed since Paul’s birth her husband had become ‘poor Reverend Dempster’ to everybody, a man burdened with a simple-minded wife and a delicate child, and it was a general source of amazement that he could make ends meet” (Davies P). The townspeople’s rumours reflects an obsolete prejudice, where women must be competent in domestic tasks. Besides possessing the capability of doing housework, the society deemed that married women should be loyal to their husbands as well. In the novel, after Mrs. Dempster had gotten lost, the townspeople found her naked in the grove with the tramp. At first, the townspeople thought that Mrs. Dempster had been the victim of rape. However, Mrs. Dempster clarified that she had not been raped, because that man desired her. Afterwards, the townspeople no longer believed that Mrs Dempster was a simple woman, and talked about her, behind her back: “Mrs. Dempster

Firstly how does the novel show the theme of family in the novel. An example from the novel is when Ada wants to move to the city to find a job in the city. But she can’t because she has to stay at home and look after her family because her mum has died and her dad is always drunk, so if she leaves things might go badly. Also, family is shown in the novel when Willand Murray don’t talk much anymore because after what happened

The first basic theme of family I found in this novel was family can cause people to do things they never would have considered before. (Emmett went to space on a trip out of our own solar system for the chance to help his Mom survive) Some evidence to support this claim would be found on page 18. This is where Emmet goes on a journey out of the solar system to try and get money for his mother who has cancer. My thinking on this is that Emmett's family is poor, and bable can control him through his desire to win and get his mother medical care. This leads me to think about a possible theme that would be connected to the larger idea of family, control and using one’s family to control them. Emmett's family seems very supportive of him even though he has had a rocky past and the family has fallen upon hard times and his father leaves him with the message, bend the rules, break them if you must, Just be true to who you are. That

It shows how many people will come closer together and learn to overcome their battles. With these characters changing they become stronger and begin to be a better family. Controversial issue. A controversial issue in my book would be if war is necessary or not.

"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

* What are the ways that the Dystopian aspects of this novel mirror that of our world today? Give specific examples. The have social

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 women in the novel, Jordan, Daisy and Myrtle, are often seen as immoral. How do you respond to this, taking into account the novel’s social and cultural context?

     At the same time, the readings of the women's masculinity and androgyny must be similarly reconsidered. While Irving reads Lena as one who "conforms more readily than Ántonia" and assimilates in a manner "too complete" in that "she, like Jim, is lethargic" (100), I would argue that Lena's refusal to marry and her achievement of the independent, successful life she sought belie any ready categorization of reinforced hegemony, undermining standard patriarchal demands; and her success can be contrasted with Jim's loveless marriage and the vague reference to the "disappointments" that have failed to quell his "naturally romantic and ardent disposition" (4). Similarly, as Gilbert and Gubar highlight, the happiness of the "masculine" hired girls stands in stark contrast with the emotional restriction to which town wives are subjected: "Energetic and jolly, Mrs. Harling must stop all the activities of her household so as to devote herself entirely to her husband" (197). While it may be true that "their disturbing androgynous qualities, and their unwillingness to accept traditional female roles" position the hired girls as "outsiders" (Wussow 52) and that these facts can be read as critical of the feminine, it seems more

In cases of social injustice, there are the oppressors and there are the oppressed. Such is the case in the world of The Great Gatsby, where gender norms shape the dynamic of all romantic relationships.Fitzgerald’s novel reflects pervasive gender norms that are still in place today. One of these constructs is the role of women versus men in marriage. Husbands are supposed to be violent and commanding, and their wives are supposed to be quiet and happy. Male characters see opportunity in this construct -- they use it to their advantage or as a way to establish power and reputation. Characters like Gatsby and Tom want relationships with women that reflect their relationship with money and success. When Myrtle tries to manipulate her affair

people through the relationships of the story's main characters. The lovely and yet poisonous Beatrice, the