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
At home, Irene berates Ignatius because he has been fired. Ignatius complains that it was Myrna Minkoff’s fault, but Irene dismisses this and tells him he must find a new job. Irene grabs the newspaper and begins rifling through it for the job’s page. Ignatius is distracted, however, and thinks about what he will write to Myrna now that his protest has failed. Irene tells Ignatius that he must go out early and look for a job, and Ignatius feels that Fortuna has spun his wheel down again.
Ignatius has been fired because he tried to organize a race riot at work to prove to his ex-girlfriend, Myrna, that he is socially progressive. Ignatius’s intentions with the riot were totally self-interested: he gave no thought to the black workers, who nearly lost their jobs because of his actions. As a result of Ignatius’s enduring belief in destiny, he does not acknowledge that he was fired because of his own actions, instead attributing it to a random accident of fate. This suggests that because Ignatius feels he has little control over his life, he does not take responsibility for his actions and therefore never develops as a person or learns from his own behavior.
Themes
