A Confederacy of Dunces

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-2

1. What is the name of the department store in which the opening of the novel is set?

2. How old is Ignatius?

3. Darlene listens to Ignatius tell (for the fifth time) the familiar story of him travelling to what city by bus?

4. What breed of dog did Ignatius have?

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What catastrophe occurs as Ignatius and Mrs. Reilly leave the Night of Joy and causes Officer Mancuso to tell them they are being asked for an immediate settlement of $1,020?

2. What are the two reasons Jones takes a job at Night of Joy?

Paired Resource

On Stage | Outside of the D.H. Holmes Department Store

• A clip from the opening of The Huntington’s theatrical performance of A Confederacy of Dunces
• Does Huntington’s theatrical adaptation of the opening of the novel look anything like what you pictured when you read the opening pages of the novel?

Ignatius J. Reilly Statue in New Orleans, Louisiana

• Standing in front of the former D.H. Holmes Department store in New Orleans, this statue pays tribute to one of the city’s most famous fictional characters, in a sense upending the concept of Society and the Outsider as personified by Ignatius.
• Is Ignatius a character worthy of having a statue erected in his honor?

Chapters 3-4

Reading Check

1. What type of company rejects Ignatius for a job in Chapter 3?

2. What disguise does Officer Mancuso don to investigate the Night of Joy in Chapter 3?

3. What product does Ignatius use to slick back his hair?

4. Ignatius compares Miss Trixie to what monster in Greek mythology?

5. What title does Ignatius award himself while working at Levy Pants?

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is the general premise of Ignatius’s writing project that he calls “THE JOURNEY OF A WORKING BOY, OR, UP FROM SLOTH”?

2. What does Levy Pants symbolize, generally?

Paired Resource

What’s a Picaresque? The Top 5 Novels

• A Confederacy of Dunces is considered a modern “picaresque,” as defined in this Publishers Weekly article.
• How does Levy Pants help define the novel as a picaresque? How might the modern interpretation of a picaresque novel tie into the theme of Capitalism and Consumerism?

Chapters 5-6

Reading Check

1. What animal does Darlene suggest Lana use to draw business to Night of Joy?

2. Mr. Gonzalez complains about Ignatius having “constant conversation” about what?

3. What figure in classic literature does Ignatius compare himself to in describing one of his visits to the factory?

4. Where did Ignatius meet Myrna?

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What happens when Ignatius attempts to rally the factory workers at Levy Pants to revolt?

2. What is one example of the way class politics are explored in this section?

Paired Resource

Revealing Film Captures 1960s Students Rebelling at UConn

• Ignatius and Myrna are meant to be satirized versions of a 1960s radical student protestor, as seen in actual footage here from Connecticut.
• Why are Ignatius and Myrna seen as satirized version of a 1960s radical student?

Chapters 7-8

Reading Check

1. What type of product does Paradise Vendors, Incorporated create?

2. Jones convinces Lana that Darlene should do what type of performance in the bar to attract business?

3. Trixie mistakenly refers to Ignatius by what name?

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What book does Ignatius give to Mancuso and why is it significant?

2. What minor characters have parallel plot lines converge in this section?

Paired Resource

Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy

• The School of Life gives an overview of one of “the greatest and most useful books ever written,” by the Roman statesman and philosopher Boethius, shedding light on his Outsider status.
• What are the similarities between Boethius’s and Ignatius’s lives?

Chapters 9-10

Reading Check

1. Why is Ignatius reported to the Board of Health?

2. Who sends Ignatius a letter in Chapter 9?

3. What toy weapon does Ignatius don when he is sent to the French Quarter to sell hot dogs?

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What happens when Ignatius lays down in an alley behind the cathedral?

2. What are the various POVs in this section, and how does it affect the overall story?

Paired Resource

Battle of New Orleans: Pirate’s Alley, The Arsenal, Creole House, & Jackson House

• A piece that describes the storied history of Pirate’s Alley in New Orleans’ French Quarter, where Chapters 9 and 10 are mostly set
• Do you think Toole drew upon the real-life history of Pirate’s Alley when writing this section?

Chapters 11-12

Reading Check

1. What does the sign Ignatius pins to Mrs. Reilly and his home in Chapter 11 say?

2. How much does Abelman plan to sue Levy Pants for?

3. Who does Ignatius think the girl in the pornographic photograph in Chapter 11 is?

4. What famous singer’s music is playing when Ignatius enters the party being held at Dorian Greene’s?

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is the irony of Ignatius’s plot to bring about world peace?

2. Describe the moment during Dorian Greene’s party in Chapter 12 that demonstrates Ignatius’s self-delusion is at its peak.

Paired Resource

Systemic Racism, Queer White Privilege, and the Carnivalesque Humor of John Kennedy Toole’s

• This scholarly article in The Southern Quarterly, published in 2020 and written by Tison Pugh, unpacks the homophobia and racism woven into the novel, which is especially prevalent in this section

Chapters 13-14

Reading Check

1. Who is a revealed In Chapter 13 as the person who tipped of Officer Mancuso to Ignatius’s “communis” behavior?

2. How much does the hospital charge for Ignatius’s treatment in Chapter 13?

3. Who offers to pay Ignatius’s hospital bill?

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. In the closing chapters, we learn the fate of several of the minor characters who populate Night of Joy. Describe what happens with at least two.

2. How does Ignatius evade going to the Charity psychiatric ward in the final chapter of the book?

Recommended Next Reads

The Neon Bible by John Kennedy Toole

• The only other novel by the author, published before he died by suicide at the age of 31
• Shared topics include Southern America and the decay of society
• Shared themes include Society and the Outsider and Fate
• The Neon Bible  on SuperSummary

Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra

• A classic work of literature generally recognized as the first modern novel and also written in the same “picaresque” style as A Confederacy of Dunces
• Satirizes then-modern life, focusing on the adventures of one (often misguided) man
• Connects to the themes of Society and the Outsider and Fate
• Don Quixote on SuperSummary