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
Santa, Irene, and Claude meet at Santa’s house for dinner and discuss a new Debbie Reynolds movie. Santa says that she recently liked a film in which Debbie Reynolds “got herself raped” and the others agree the actress is sweet. Irene tells Claude that, recently, Ignatius has become obsessed with world peace. She asks Claude what he thinks this means and Claude says that it might mean Ignatius is a communist. Santa says that Patrolman Mancuso has seen Ignatius going about with an earring on, which Irene thinks this is a very bad sign.
Irene, Santa, and Claude do not have a very liberal attitude towards sex and feel that women’s actions can bring rape on themselves. This is an old-fashioned view and suggests that 1960s society was not as liberal about sex as it was purported to be. Irene’s disapproval of Ignatius’s earring also shows that she judges people based on appearances and how well they fit into mainstream society. It is ironic that Claude makes a connection here between world peace and communism—theoretically, communism is a utopian ideology, but communist regimes have generally been violent and oppressive in practice.
Themes
Claude and Irene compliment Santa on the food and Claude says that he likes to cook. Santa nudges Irene and says that a man who cooks is a fine thing. Irene gets distracted thinking about Ignatius and all the strange, processed foods he likes to eat. Claude tells Santa that he has a good pension and that he has invested his money in property. Santa asks if he likes living with his daughter and Claude says he does but that he’d like his own home. Irene says that it is nice to stay with one’s children, but Santa stamps on her foot.
Although Ignatius claims to despise modernity, he loves processed food, which is a quintessentially modern delicacy. This is yet another example of how Ignatius is often primally drawn to things which disgust him on a moral level. Santa does not allow Irene and Claude’s relationship to develop organically and, instead, is very controlling. She seems more concerned with getting her own way than with whether this is what Claude and Irene truly want.
Themes
Santa suggests that they all go see the Debbie Reynolds movie and Claude enthusiastically agrees. Irene says that Ignatius has probably seen this movie and Santa tells her angrily that she must stop worrying about Ignatius. Santa says that Ignatius should be locked away; she knows a hospital run by nuns where they lock up crazy people. Irene likes the sound of this but thinks that Ignatius would probably escape. Claude joins in with Santa and tells Irene that sending Ignatius away is a good idea.
It is ironic that Santa, Claude, and Irene, who are paranoid about communists taking away people’s freedom, want to lock Ignatius up because his way of life does not fit in with their beliefs about normality. Although Ignatius and Irene have a troubled relationship, Ignatius has not committed any crimes and does not intentionally hurt people with his worldview, strange and careless though it is. The fact that Santa wants to lock him away for the good of society, then, suggests that Santa is hypocritical and only believes in freedom when it suits her version of morality.
Themes
Santa, Irene, and Claude walk through the neighborhood, which is noisy and lively in the warm evening. As Irene watches the film, she thinks about Ignatius and is startled when Claude takes hold of her hand. Irene wonders what it is about the cinema that makes men so romantic—it reminds her of her deceased husband, Mr. Reilly. Santa, engrossed in the film, cries out that Debbie Reynolds is pregnant and Irene bursts into tears.
Irene’s reflection that the cinema “makes men so romantic” and emotional reaction to Debbie Reynolds's pregnancy implies that Ignatius’s conception took place after she and Mr. Reilly went to the movies. Remembering this upsets her because her relationship with Ignatius is now so strained. Although Santa is adamant that Irene needs a relationship, physical contact with Claude does not seem to make Irene happy and this suggests that Santa is more interested in controlling others than she is in Irene’s best interests.
Themes
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