Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Confederacy of Dunces, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Medievalism, Modernity, and Fate
The Legacy of Slavery
Sexuality, Attraction, and Repulsion
Freedom
Appearance, Identity, and Disguise
Hypocrisy and Self-Interest
Summary
Analysis
In Mattie’s Ramble Inn, Jones complains to Mr. Watson about his job in the Night of Joy. Mr. Watson agrees that Jones is in a bad situation; he is not happy about Lana Lee making Jones dress up as a plantation slave for Darlene’s opening night. Mr. Watson suggests that Jones go to the police and tell them that he will get another job, but Jones does not like this idea and says that since he got himself into this situation, he will get himself out.
Mr. Watson is slightly naïve and believes that the police will try to help Jones, a black man, the same way that they would help a white person. Jones knows that this is not the case—there is a long history of racism in the police force, especially in places like New Orleans where there is a legacy of slavery. It is unclear whether Mr. Watson is black or white, but either way his advice underestimates the level of prejudice held against black people in the South. Jones, unlike many of the other characters in the novel, is willing to take responsibility for his actions despite the fact that he arguably has the least amount of control over his circumstances as a marginalized individual.
Themes
Mr. Watson asks how the sabotage is going and Jones says that it is not going very well. All he has done is move dirt around the floor and write the club’s address on Lana Lee’s “orphan” packages. Mr. Watson says again that Jones should go to the police, but Jones says he is afraid of the police and does not want to go to jail.
Jones knows that the police in New Orleans, a Southern American state which has a long history of slavery and segregation, will not believe the testimony of a black person without evidence and will use any excuse to lock him up and incriminate him.
Themes
Jones asks Mr. Watson if the man who worked for Levy Pants, who talked about the demonstration led by Ignatius, has been seen in the bar since then. Mr. Watson says no, and Jones says that he wishes he could track down Ignatius. He reckons that Ignatius is the type of person who could sabotage Lana Lee’s business, so he wants to lure Ignatius to the club.
Jones views the riot Ignatius tried to organize at Levy Pants as something extremely destructive. Unlike Ignatius, who only thought about what he could get from the rally, Jones looked at it from the black workers’ perspective and saw that it would cause destruction because they would all be thrown in jail. Jones wants to subvert Ignatius’s rash actions for his own purposes, replicating the chaos of the riot in Lana’s bar to get revenge on Lana, who has exploited Jones because of his race.
Themes
