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Chapter 8, Part 3
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
Ignatius arrives at his job at Paradise Vendors and is immediately berated by Mr. Clyde. A public health violation has been issued against Ignatius because he was seen playing with a cat while he was out with the hot dog cart. Ignatius decides that the cart—number 7—must be unlucky and demands to be given another. Mr. Clyde refuses and deducts the hot dog that Ignatius begins to eat from his pay. Ignatius tells Mr. Clyde that he has been treated very badly—he did not know that cats were considered unclean—and that, if he is fired, his drunken mother will beat him with a wine bottle.
This is another example of the way in which life in 1960s America was not as free as it might seem to those who did not live through this period. Although Ignatius has violated a rule, this scene gives the impression that citizens are always under surveillance. Rather than take responsibility for his mistake, Ignatius blames fate in typical fashion and links his transgression to the number on his cart. The number seven was believed to be a magic or prophetic number in medieval philosophy, Ignatius’s field of study.
Themes
Mr. Clyde feels sorry for Ignatius and says that he does not want to fire him. Mr. Clyde says that he will change Ignatius’s route and send him into the French Quarter to get the tourist trade. Ignatius is annoyed; he says that tourists are “degenerates.” Mr. Clyde asks Ignatius to hand over the day’s profit, but Ignatius does not have much because he ate most of the hot dogs himself and spent the afternoon plotting to destroy Myrna Minkoff and playing with the cat. Mr. Clyde grows angry at this and threatens Ignatius with the fork again. He tells Ignatius to show up bright and early the next day.
Ignatius dislikes tourists because he associates them with leisure, which Ignatius feels is a sign of modernity’s corruption in comparison with the medieval period, in which leisure did not exist in the same way. This is, of course, hypocritical, as Ignatius himself indulges in a life of leisure and objects to all types of work.
Themes
When Ignatius gets home, Irene asks him why his hands are covered in scratches. Ignatius tells her he had a fight with a prostitute and Irene laments that her son goes from bad to worse. She asks him if he is a communist and Ignatius tells her not to be ridiculous and that he wants a king, rather than a democracy. A letter has arrived for Ignatius, and Irene gives it to him and sadly watches him open it. As Ignatius suspects, it is a reply from Myrna.
Ignatius wants to upset his mother and knows she will be horrified if she thinks he has been with a prostitute. This demonstrates that, although modernity claims to be liberal about sex, there are areas of sexuality, such as sex work, which are still viewed as shameful or taboo.
Themes
Myrna writes that she was deeply offended by Ignatius’s last letter, but that she will not take it personally. She knows that he is going through a “psychosexual crisis.” Myrna tells him that she has become the lover of an African sculptor, who is “real and vital.” Ignatius scoffs at this. Myrna also explains that her therapy group often uses Ignatius as a case study and that they all hope that he will address his issues and get better.
Ignatius views Myrna as a symbol of modernity’s obsession with sex, which he believes is a sign of corruption in comparison with the medieval period, during which time sexual desire was considered sinful. However, Myrna does not represent the social mainstream in the novel, and, in fact, stands out because of how progressive she considers herself. This suggests that modern society is more closely aligned with Ignatius’s perspective on sex than he realizes.
Themes
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Ignatius crumples up the letter. Irene begins to talk about a homeless woman whom she gave money to and Ignatius grows enraged—he does not want all his pay given away to tricksters, who he says pretend to be vagrants. Irene tells Ignatius not to be so harsh and Ignatius storms off to his room to plan a rebuttal for Myrna. He knows he must plan something political to really annoy her.
Ignatius believes that homeless people put on a façade to serve themselves. Although Ignatius claims to despise Myrna, he cares about what she thinks of him and is willing to go to great lengths to prove her wrong. Ignatius is obsessed about her, which suggests that he may, unconsciously, be attracted to her and want her to notice him. Because he is not honest with himself about these desires, they become repressed and manifest as anger and disgust.
Themes
