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
Mr. Gonzalez gets to the office early and happily sets up his little workspace. He admires the decorations that Ignatius has put up and wonders how his employee is able to get through the filing so quickly. Ignatius bustles through the door and Mr. Gonzalez remarks that he is very early. Ignatius indignantly replies that he is not and accuses Mr. Gonzalez of being paranoid. Mr. Gonzalez is confused and watches helplessly as Ignatius storms into the factory, where he now spends almost all his time. Mr. Gonzalez hears a cheer go up from the workers as Ignatius enters.
Mr. Gonzalez genuinely cares about the success of Levy Pants and the continuation of the business. He also cares about his employees, and lets Ignatius do what he wants because this is what seems to make Ignatius happy. Mr. Gonzalez is naïve, however, in his belief that everyone is selfless and well-meaning, like himself. Gonzalez does not recognize Ignatius’s self-interested plan to abuse Gonzalez’s power over the workers because this is not something that he himself would ever do.
Themes
On the factory floor, four of the workers struggle to lift Ignatius onto a table. With difficultly, and under Ignatius’s panicked direction, they deposit him onto one of the surfaces. He stands before them with a sheet wrapped around his waist and begins to make a speech about the attack they will make on the office. The workers laugh and wave the sticks and fenceposts they have brought to use as weapons.
Ignatius almost literally crushes the workers beneath him as they try to lift him up. This symbolizes the protest in general, as Ignatius is also willing to figuratively crush the black workers and put them at risk in order to serve himself.
Themes
A man in the crowd calls out to Ignatius and says that he heard Ignatius is wanted by the police. Ignatius denies this and unwinds the sheet, which he has decorated as a banner with the words “Crusade for Moorish Dignity.” The sheet has several stains on it and the workers begin to wonder out loud why they need to bring this disgusting old thing with them. Ignatius is indignant and calls two women forward to carry the banner. They don’t want to touch it, but gingerly take a corner each.
It is demeaning for Ignatius to ask the workers to carry his dirty bedsheet, but he has not thought of this and expects them to blindly follow his orders. This suggests that Ignatius does not think of the black workers as individuals whom he genuinely wants to help, but as pawns to help him achieve his personal goal of annoy his ex-girlfriend, Myrna. This suggests that Ignatius is not so different from a historical slave owner who felt that they could use black people to improve their own status.
Themes
Ignatius directs the workers to scream and shout, or to jump up and down, as they enter the factory, and they amusedly play along. Back in the office, Mr. Gonzalez hears the din and wonders what is going on. Ignatius films the group as they begin to get riled up, and gleefully imagines Myrna’s annoyance when she sees the footage. Ignatius commands the group to sing as they enter the office and directs them to attack Mr. Gonzalez on his command.
Ignatius wants the black workers to behave violently to suit his own ends. Although they do not seem particularly angry about their treatment at the factory, or with Mr. Gonzalez personally, Ignatius thinks that it will make him look like a better activist if they act the way he tells them to. This suggests that Ignatius is not concerned with helping the black workers achieve better working conditions or social mobility, but only with making a film which paints himself in a heroic light.
Themes
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When Ignatius sounds the order, the women begin to sing, and the procession moves towards the office. Ignatius realizes they are leaving without him and cries out for someone to help him down from the table. The march has gone, however, and Ignatius is forced to struggle down himself. He drops his camera and smashes it on the way down. He hurries into the office and sees the protest standing around confusedly while Mr. Gonzalez and Miss Trixie gape at them.
Ignatius wants to be the center of the protest even though, really, the plight of the black workers does not affect him. He has placed himself at the heart of the issue and organized the protest for his own self-interested purpose, and wishes to control it for this reason. However, this scene demonstrates that the black workers know how to protest in a way that suits them—singing and praying—and that Ignatius, as a white man, is not an important part of this.
Themes
Ignatius rushes to the front and asks Mr. Gonzalez grandly if he will now “help these people.” Mr. Gonzalez seems baffled and Ignatius sounds the attack. Someone knocks over his plants and the sign he has made. Someone else begins to defend Mr. Gonzalez, who has not been given a fair chance to speak. Ignatius grows irritated and snaps at the choir to stop singing. Another voice in the crowd says that Ignatius is a “bad man” and that the police are after him.
Ignatius wants to incite violence but does not want to be affected by it, again suggesting that he feels that he can manipulate the black workers and does not think of them as individuals. As the self-proclaimed leader of the protest, Ignatius has objectified and used the black workers, not anticipating that his things, such as the plants in the office, may be broken in the process. This parodies the wider attitude of white people during this time period who claimed to want an equal society but did not want to give up the privileges they experienced under the racist status quo.
Themes
The protesters begin to file back toward the factory, but Ignatius screams that someone must attack Mr. Gonzalez. The remaining protesters begin to lose interest and complain that they have enough problems without going to prison. Ignatius furiously screams at them to stay. He suggests they could attack Miss Trixie instead, but the demonstration comes to an end.
The black workers are not interested in violently attacking someone who has done nothing to them. Ignatius’s behavior suggests that he is racist and believes that black people are violent and will automatically commit crimes if prompted. Although he has tried to arrange the riot to prove that he is not racist, the experience has the opposite effect, highlighting the racist attitudes Ignatius has tried to mask for his own personal gain.
Themes
