History Literature / AConfederacyOfDunces

* ItAmusedMe: Most of the characters who chose to interact with Ignatius mostly find him an amusing clown, not the intellectual he claims to be. This feeling dies at Ignatius inevitably wears out his welcome.

* FMinusMinus: Mrs. Levy took a correspondence course in psychology some time before the events of ''Confederacy''. The school refused to give her an F.

* CoversAlwaysLie: Gary Taxali's covers shows Ignatius wearing a red hunting cap, when it's green in the book.

Set in UsefulNotes/NewOrleans in the mid-[[TheSixties 1960s]], the plot follows the misadventures and disasters of Ignatius J. Reilly, an overeducated, offensive, and [[MoralGuardians puritanical]] (not to mention [[FatBastard grotesquely fat]]) slob as he is sent out by his mother to find work to pay for damages caused by a car crash. In his quest Ignatius provides the catalyst for a range of subplots involving hot-dog vendors, university protests, factory owners, pornographers, and sociopathic lesbians as he wages war on modern culture across the city. His ghastly personal habits and completely marginal ability to notice the existence of other people stun the gentle reader.

* AntiHero / VillainProtagonist: Ignatius definitely qualifies as one or the other.

** Santa Battaglia, meanwhile, likes Early Times bourbon whiskey and always seems to have some on hand. When she hosts parties, she always makes sure that there's some Early Times on hand, to be served in water glasses filled to the brim.

* HardDrinkingPartyGirl: Mrs. Reilly is accused of this by Ignatius and Ms. Annie. It is unclear how true their accusations are, but she seemed to have no qualms about getting plastered at the Night of Joy, early on in the book.

** Ignatius is the ultimate example, though most others in the book qualify at points.

* OnlySaneMan: Mr. Levy, more so than anyone else. He's about the only character to feel compassion for Ignatius without being taken in by his fabrications.

*** Ignatius refuses to do any actual work, spending most of his days loafing around. (Sloth).
*** He is obese, forces Irene to buy him junk food, and steals the hot dogs from the Paradise Vendors stand.

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Ignatius is a devotee of Dr. Nut, a soft drink that was popular mid-century in the New Orleans area.

* FanSequel: A man also calling himself John Kennedy Toole and claiming to be the original's illegitamite son wrote a sequel novel called ''A Cornucopia of Dunderheads'' that focused on Ignatius' adventures in [[BigApplesauce New York]].

* TheDitz: Darlene.

* BileFascination: Invoked. Ignatius deliberately watches TV programs and films just to complain about how degenerate they are. The films of Creator/DorisDay are his "favorites" in this regard.

* BileFascination: Invoked. Ignatius deliberately watches TV programs and films just to complain about how degenerate they are.

* HappyEnding: For the most part. [[spoiler:Mrs. Reilly finally gets away from the misery of looking after Ignatius and plans to marry Claude Robichaux, Mancuso finally makes an arrest by collaring Lana Lee for solicitation and selling pornography to minors and may get a promotion out of it, Gus Levy has regained his self-confidence and his interest in running Levy Shorts (formerly Levy Pants) and may plan to offer Burma Jones a job with a living wage in the factory, Darlene appears to be on the brink of finding another job now that Lana is in jail, and Ignatius leaves New Orleans moments before he can be committed to start a new life with Myrna.]]

** Also, Claude Robichaux, the old man from the beginning of the book who tries to stand up for Ignatius [[spoiler: and whom Mrs. Reilly eventually falls in love with]]. He has a bizarre obsession with the "communiss". Some of the bystanders who see him get arrested feel sorry for him, though, especially since he has some beloved Catholic "grandchirren".
* SwordFight: Ignatius with a plastic sword vs. Clyde with his [[ForkFencing giant two-pronged fork]]. For no reason at all. (Well, maybe [[RuleOfFunny one particular reason]]...)

* UnreliableNarrator: While everyone embellishes the truth a bit, any story told by Ignatius is guaranteed to be at least 50% untrue. His [[LargeHam grandiose language and mannerisms]] help him exaggerate his problems.

** Ignatius tends to insert the phrase "I suspect" into many of his sentences.

Set in New Orleans in the mid-[[TheSixties 1960s]], the plot follows the misadventures and disasters of Ignatius J. Reilly, an over-educated, offensive and puritanical (not to mention [[FatBastard grotesquely fat]]) slob as he is sent out by his mother to find work to pay for damages caused by a car crash. In his quest Ignatius provides the catalyst for a range of sub-plots involving hot-dog vendors, university protests, factory owners, pornographers, and sociopathic lesbians as he wages war on modern culture across the city. His ghastly personal habits and completely marginal ability to notice the existence of other people stun the gentle reader.

* BadJobWorseUniform: Ignatius's time at Paradise Vendors. It begins with him just having to wear a cruddy white smock (and [[CustomUniform refusing to wear the belt and paper cap that go with it]]). Later, his boss decides to send him out dressed as a pirate. The full pirate outfit won't fit Ignatius, so he ends up wearing just the accessories (scarf, earring, and plastic sword) ''with'' the white smock.

* BasementDweller: Ignatius is the 1960s equivalent of this trope: lives with his mother (whom he is entirely dependent upon) at the age of thirty, lazy, childish, irresponsible, mean-spirited, possessed of particularly unpleasant facial hair, unemployed (until his mother forces him to get a job), and a chronic masturbator.

* BodyMotifs: Ignatius's pyloric valve (usually just referred to as "the valve"), which, according to Ignatius, causes him gastrointestinal problems when he is stressed by something.

* BrilliantButLazy: Ignatius, who despite having a college degree, lazes around, and during the story, works jobs he is massively overqualified for. Irene bitterly notes that he is wasting his potential.
* BurgerFool: Ignatius's job with Paradise Vendors is the period equivalent to this: selling bad food while dressed in a ridiculous costume, as everyone around him remarks that hot dog vendors are just the lowest of the low.

** Ignatius' copy of ''The Consolations of Philosophy''. He insists that his mother pass it on to Patrolman Mancuso to improve his mind; when Mancuso is stuck on plainclothes duty in the bus station restroom, he takes to reading it to pass the time, and when George stops by the restroom and Mancuso tries to arrest him, George steals the book in the ensuing scuffle. Recalling that Lana needs a book for a teacher-themed photo series, he passes the book on to her; when he tries to persuade Ignatius to stash his delivery envelopes in his hot dog wagon, Ignatius looks inside one of the envelopes, sees the title of the book, and becomes very interested in meeting the picture's subject, leading him to the Night of Joy on the day the book's plotlines collide in spectacular fashion.

* TheChewToy: Patrolman Mancuso. He is forced into a variety of degrading {{Paper Thin Disguise}}s by his superiors, who refuse to re-assign him until he makes an arrest, any arrest. His disguises fool no-one, and at one point he catches a horrendous cold from having to sit in bus station restroom stalls all day. Meanwhile, his fellow officers quietly decide to use his tip of something funny going on at the Night of Joy to put together a sting operation themselves without letting him have any of the credit. [[spoiler:However, the plainclothes officers trying to lay the groundwork for the sting are recognised as such immediately, and end up with no evidence - which just convinces Mancuso's superiors that he made the whole thing up.]]

* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler:Myrna showing up to whisk Ignatius away]] doesn't come completely out of nowhere, but the timing is so perfect that Fortuna herself had to have ordained it.

* DirtyCommunists: Mr. Robichaux loves to accuse people he doesn't like of being "[[FunetikAksent communiss]]".
* DrinkOrder: Oh, so many:
** Mrs. Reilly likes a Muscatel (i.e. Moscato) for when she drinks (i.e. often); she keeps them in the oven, to Ignatius' consternation.

* DysfunctionJunction: There is absolutely ''no one'' in this book that is quite right in the head, and pretty much everyone has issues to work out. [[spoiler: In the end, many of them do (or are at least well on their way to getting better).]]

** His trip to Night of Joy to see "Harlott O'Hara": [[spoiler: He ends up attacked by Darlene's bird, is nearly hit by a bus, and ends up in the hospital. The picture of him passed out ends up in the paper, causing him to lose his job. ''And all that'' is [[UpToEleven the tip of the iceberg]] ]].

** Irene fussing over getting Ignatius his beloved cake while her elbow aches demonstrates her nature as a [[PushoverParents Pushover Parent]].
* EverythingIsRacist: Myrna often accuses people who disagree with her ideas of being anti-Semitic. At one point, she accuses Ignatius of it for writing her a letter on stationery bearing the letterhead of Levy Pants, Ignatius's workplace.
* ExtremeDoormat: Mr. Gonzalez is insanely tolerant of Ignatius and Miss Trixie's antics. Irene is this to Ignatius, and spends much of her plot arc growing out of it.
* FanSequel: A man also calling himself John Kennedy Toole and claiming to be the original's illegitamite son wrote a sequel novel called ''A Cornucopia of Dunderheads'' that focused on Ignatius' adventures in New York.
* FatalFlaw: Much of Ignatius' troubles would be resolved if he understood that his own actions actually had consequences and accepted his need to improve himself.

** Ms. Annie, of all people, explains that [[spoiler: most of Ignatius' bizarre habits and beliefs can be traced back to [[TearJerker the death of his dog, Rex,]] as well as (what he felt was) the inappropriate response to his loss from his pastor and his mother.]]

** Ignatius's [[ListingTheFormsOfDegenerates speech to Mancuso]] at the beginning of the book is hilariously hypocritical, as he fits into at least two or three of the categories of people he rails against.
** Ignatius rails against modern Western civilization -- while reading [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' comics and watching ''WesternAnimation/YogiBear''.
* IfIWereARichMan: Jones comments on his desire to get out of poverty.

** Also [[InvertedTrope inverted:]] the one thing that goes worst for Ignatius is the single disaster that (mostly) ''wasn't'' his fault.

** [[spoiler: Lana Lee and George]] get their just deserts in the end. Though due to ValuesDissonance, the crime they go down for, distributing pornography to high school kids, is much less villainous than their other actions from a modern perspective.

* ManipulativeBastard: Ignatius, surprisingly, seems to be very good at getting people to do what he wants them to do... at least, in the short run.

* NeverMyFault: Ignatius is the ''king'' of this. His mother [[LampshadeHanging calls him out]] when he blames his problems on Myrna, who isn't even in town.
* NiceGirl: Darlene. She's one of the few characters who doesn't mistreat or look down at Burma for being black, and she's even (relatively) tolerant of Ignatius, only calling him out when the big oaf drives Irene to tears, [[spoiler: and only resenting him when he ruins her performance]].

** Burma Jones is this at the Night of Joy.

* PoliceBrutality: Burma Jones's subplot is him trying to find employment so the police stop arresting him as a vagrant.
* PsychoLesbian: Frieda, Betty and Liz, incredibly violent and stereotypical [[ButchLesbian butch lesbians]] whose main pastime seems to be brawling. They are last seen preparing to [[spoiler:rape Lana Lee]].
* PushoverParents: Irene at first. But eventually she grows a spine and becomes increasingly frustrated with Ignatius' failures and excuses, [[spoiler: and decides to have him shipped off to the mental ward]].

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Ignatius's mother gives him a good one towards the end.
-->'''Mrs. Reilly''': You learnt everything, Ignatius, except how to be a human being.

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Ignatius's preferred method of speech.
* ShoutOut: Numerous, but the most obvious one that isn't a direct reference is Dorian Greene, who was named for the title character in ''Literature/ThePictureOfDorianGray.''

* SpicyLatina: [[{{Deconstruction}} Deconstructed]] with a waitress who works at Lana Lee's bar. She speaks in a combination of colorful Spanish phrases and YouNoTakeCandle English. Toole initially describes her as vaguely flirtatious and wearing high-heeled sandals, so we get the sense that she's a sexpot. However, beauty is only skin-deep: she's loud, pushy, and has ''really'' bad breath.
* StrawmanPolitical:
** Ignatius and Myrna hold political and philosophical positions that are both almost (''almost'') too absurd to be believed. Ignatius believes that Western civilization took a wrong turn at ''the Renaissance'', favors the return of feudal monarchy, and believes the Catholic Church to be insufficiently strict at a time (the book probably takes place in 1963, during Vatican II) when most Catholics felt quite the opposite; Myrna is a combination of a StrawFeminist and [[TheSixties a free-love hippie]] whose favorite activity--besides sleeping with random men--is organizing protests and rallies of various sorts (usually about how sex can solve everything). Naturally, [[OppositesAttract they're perfect for each other]].

* UnreliableNarrator: While everyone embellishes the truth a bit, any story told by Ignatius is guaranteed to be at least 50% untrue. His [[LargeHam grandiose language and mannerisms]] help him to over-dramatize his problems.

** Jones's dialogue is peppered with exclamations of "Whoa!" and "Ooo-wee!"

* YouNeedToGetLaid: What Myrna thinks Ignatius's problem is. [[SexIsGood She thinks it's the whole world's problem]], [[SingleIssueWonk actually]], but in Ignatius's case she might be right (stopped clocks, you know).

** Ignatius' copy of ''The Consolations of Philosophy''. He insists that his mother pass it on to Patrolman Mancuso to improve his mind; when Mancuso is stuck on plainclothes duty in the bus station restroom, he takes to reading it to pass the time, and when George stops by the restroom and Mancuso tries to arrest him, George steals the book in the ensuing scuffle. Recalling that Lana needs a book for a teacher-themed photo series, he passes the book on to her; when he tries to persuade Ignatius to stash his delivery envelopes in his hot dog wagon, Ignatius looks inside one of the envelopes, sees the title of the book, and becomes very interested in meeting the book's subject, leading him to the Night of Joy on the day the book's plotlines collide in spectacular fashion.

[[quoteright:178:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ignatius_9231.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:178:This page needs proper geometry and theology!]]

** Ignatius' copy of ''The Consolations of Philosophy''.
** Darlene's "dance" routine.
** Ignatius' letter from Levy Pants.
* TheChewToy: Patrolman Mancuso, oh so very much.

* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler:Myrna showing up to whisk Ignatius away]] doesn't come completely out nowhere, but the timing is so perfect that Fortuna herself had to have ordained it.

* EpicFail: Ignatius' "Crusade for Moorish Dignity", an attempt to organize the workers at Levy Pants. After they march up to the office, they get a bit tired of Ignatius' exhortations to violence, and the whole thing peters out. The end result is Ignatius getting fired, being the only person Mr. Levy has ''ever'' fired.

* HappyEnding: For the most part.

* UsefulNotes/NewOrleans: Said to be the best portrayal of the city and its accents.

* OnlySaneEmployee: Mr. Gonzalez, who has to deal with the stubborn Ignatius, the senile Miss Trixie, and the aloof Mr. Levy, whose only motivation for keeping Levy Pants alive becomes giving Mr. Gonzalez a job.

* OnlySaneMan: Mr. Levy, moreso than anyone else. He's about the only character to feel compassion for Ignatius without being taken in by his fabrications.

* VerbalTic: Jones's dialogue is peppered with exclamations of "Whoa!" and "Ooo-wee!"

* EpicFail: Ignatius' "Crusade for Moorish Dignity", an attempt to organize the workers at Levy Pants. After they march up to the office, they get a bit tired of Ignatius' exhortations to violence, and the whole thing peters out. The end result is Ignatius getting fired, being the only person Mr. Levy has ''ever'' fired.
** His attempted political rally at Dorian Greene's party. Nobody cares what he has to say, he kills everybody's good vibes, and in the end he has to flee before he gets his ass kicked by some lesbians.
** His trip to Night of Joy to see "Harlott O'Hara": [[spoiler: He ends up attacked by Darlene's bird, is nearly hit by a bus, and ends up in the hospital. The picture of him passed out ends up in the paper, causing him to lose his job. ''And all that'' is [[UpToEleven the tip of the iceberg]] ]].
* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
** Ignatius picking a fight with Mancuso, showing his insane disregard for basic human manners and egomania, all because the guy asked him a few questions.
** Irene meekly buying some wine cakes for Ignatius, showing her as a depressed and broken old woman.

* GrayAndGreyMorality: No one is really a bad guy, but very few people seem to be actively working towards any good either. It makes it difficult to say who the heroes or the villains are in this story, but it works quite well.

-->'''Ignatius:''' This city is famous for its gamblers, prostitutes, exhibitionists, anti-Christs, alcoholics, sodomites, drug addicts, fetishists, onanists, pornographers, frauds, jades, litterbugs, and lesbians, all of whom are only too well protected by graft. If you have a moment, I shall endeavor to discuss the crime problem with you, but don't make the mistake of bothering ''me''.

** Ignatius and Myrna hold [[PoliticalStereotype political and philosophical positions]] that are both almost (''almost'') too absurd to be believed. Ignatius believes that Western civilization took a wrong turn at ''the Renaissance'', favors the return of feudal monarchy, and believes the Catholic Church to be insufficiently strict at a time (the book probably takes place in 1963, during Vatican II) when most Catholics felt quite the opposite; Myrna is a combination of a StrawFeminist and [[TheSixties a free-love hippie]] whose favorite activity--besides sleeping with random men--is organizing protests and rallies of various sorts (usually about how sex can solve everything). Naturally, [[OppositesAttract they're perfect for each other]].