A Slothful, Gluttonous, and Patronizing Character in A...

A Confederacy of Dunces – written by John Kennedy Toole – took place during the early 1960s in New Orleans. In A Confederacy of Dunces, Ignatius J. Reilly, the main character of the book, acquired two jobs after his mother had gotten into an accident. He worked at Levy Pants and as a hot dog vendor to make money to help his mother pay for the damages caused by her accident. Ignatius is the following: slothful, gluttonous, and patronizing. Ignatius is a slothful human being. After his mother found out that she owed a lot of money for the damages caused by her accident, she told Ignatius that he would need to get a job to help her pay. He thought it was inconceivable that his mother wanted him to get a job. Ignatius is too slothful to get a†¦show more content†¦Nut and bakery cakes (263). Ignatius is a patronizing human being. When Ignatius was standing underneath the clock of the D. H. Holmes department store, he was looking down upon other people standing near him. He observed the new and expensive outfits of the people, which he thought could be considered offenses against taste and decency. He believed that anything new or expensive reflected a person’s lack of theology and geometry (1). When Ignatius was gathering all of the factory workers to prepare them for the riot, he patronized them. The factory workers started to complain about all of his requests. Ignatius responded to their complaining saying that they are not deserving of the cause and that they are not prepared to make any sacrifices (137). Ignatius’s mother wanted to read the letter that Mr. Levy had brought to their house when he wanted to ask Ignatius if he had written it. Ignatius told Mr. Levy to not let her read the letter because it would confuse her for days (367). Ignatius is indeed a slothful, gluttonous, and patronizing man. These qualities are seen constantly throughout the entire book. His own mother began to consider putting him in the psychiatric ward at Charity because she could not deal with him. Santa Battaglia, a friend of Mrs. Reilly, even pushed for Mrs. Reilly to put Ignatius in the psychiatric ward. Miss Annie, the