A Confederacy of Dunces: Chapter 4, Part 4 Summary & Analysis

Although externally Mr. and Mrs. Levy live an extremely privileged life of material comfort, internally their life is a trap from which both are desperate to escape. Their relationship is a source of constant conflict which demonstrates that money cannot buy happiness and that, often, material wealth comes with its own barriers and restrictions.

Mr. Levy has lost his passion for work because he has not been allowed any creative input in the factory. This, combined with his implication that his father was a dictator, suggests that people are often better and more creative when they are free to have ideas themselves, rather than under the control of a tyrannical force.

Mr. Levy constantly wants to escape his circumstances and run away from the factory, which he feels metaphorically holds him captive. Mrs. Levy is frustrated by her husband’s lack of ambition, but her controlling and dictatorial attitude likely remind Mr. Levy of his father and only makes the problem worse. Mrs. Levy does not realize her behavior is controlling and justifies her unreasonable demands by pretending that her husband is the tyrant rather than herself.

Mrs. Levy is extremely controlling and infringes upon people’s freedom. Although she claims that she wants to help Miss Trixie, she ignores Miss Trixie’s actual desire to retire because it does not suit her version of events.

Although Ignatius claims to be an intellectual, he rejects the idea of going to see an intellectual film. This stands in contrast with the fact that Ignatius actively looks for reasons to despise modernity and that one of his major complaints about it is that there is no serious media produced. However, when he is given the opportunity to view a philosophical piece of modern work, he turns up his nose because it does not fit in with his preconceived idea that all modern films are shallow. Ignatius chooses to believe he is unappreciated because he is too intelligent but, really, no one has read his work because he either too lazy or too intimidated to send any of it out.

It is ironic that Ignatius describes himself as a “working boy” when he spends all his time avoiding work. Ignatius condescendingly assumes that, as an educated person, he knows what is best for the workers. In fact, Ignatius only wants to organize social action to annoy his girlfriend, Myrna, but (like Myrna herself) he only pretends that he is genuinely interested in social justice to make himself look better.

Although he does not write it in his journal, Ignatius’s desire to take social action is not to help the workers at all, but to show Myrna that she is wrong and that he is progressive after all. He does not write this in the article because he wishes to disguise his true motives and create a public persona of a “working boy” who is deeply concerned about the plight of black workers.

Ignatius tries to use aggression against Annie to prevent her complaints about him. This suggests that Ignatius’s worldview is actually a fascistic one and that he will do anything to silence voices of dissent and to stop those who want to infringe on any of his freedoms.

Ignatius dislikes this situation because it represents the idea that Irene is slipping from his control while he wants to continue dominating his mother and preventing her from living an independent life. This supports the idea that Ignatius is a controlling, authoritative person despite wanting to appear progressive.