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Chapter 12, Part 1
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 wakes up in hospital with Irene at his bedside. Irene is furious with Ignatius because he has caused a public scandal which has ended up in the paper. She shows him a report of the night’s events, complete with photographs. Ignatius reads it, amazed. Lana Lee, Betty, Liz, and Frieda were all arrested by Patrolman Mancuso. Jones even led Mancuso to the stash of pornography under the bar. Ignatius asks Irene what Mancuso was doing there and Irene says that she had Ignatius followed to find out if he was a communist.
Irene is more worried about how Ignatius’s antics make her look than she is about her son, suggesting that she cares more for herself than she does for Ignatius. In the aftermath of the incident at the Night of Joy, fate has drawn the main characters of the novel together and resolved their overlapping storylines. Jones was freed from his servitude, Lana was caught, and Mancuso redeemed himself in his job—all because of Ignatius’s hapless mistake. This suggests that Ignatius’s belief in the medieval wheel of fortune is perhaps not totally misguided—even though people may not always be able to influence or predict the outcome of their actions, every action has a fated consequence.
Themes
Ignatius is very indignant about this and laments that he is gravely injured. Irene scoffs and says that he only fainted and bumped his head. Ignatius realizes that he is aroused and tries to dismiss his mother from his bedside. She is furious with him, however, and tells him that she has considered leaving the neighborhood because she is so ashamed. On top of that, she still has no money and now knows that Ignatius spends all his time with strange people from the French Quarter in strip bars.
Ignatius seems to have strange sexual urges although he claims to despise sex and sexual deviancy. Irene is concerned with her own reputation and feels that Ignatius’s odd behavior will make it impossible for her to fit in and maintain a good reputation in the community. This suggests that, although American society claims to be free, it is very concerned with conformity.
Themes
Irene gives Ignatius his copy of The Consolation of Philosophy back and tells him that Patrolman Mancuso found it in the Night of Joy after it was stolen from him at the bus station. Ignatius is horrified. He believes that Patrolman Mancuso and Lana Lee may have worked together to lure him there. Irene tells him this is ridiculous and says that Claude is coming down to pay Ignatius’s hospital bill. Ignatius tries to protest but Irene is angry and determined. Ignatius feels that Fortuna’s wheel has spun downward again.
Fate ultimately brings Ignatius’s book back to him. This suggests that, just as Ignatius has been on what he believed to be a fated quest, the book, too, has been on a journey of its own. Ignatius feels that he is persecuted, and that society conspires against him because he does not fit in. Although he is misguided in his paranoia about Mancuso and Lana, he is right to think that people want to lock him up because he does not conform, as Claude, Santa, and Irene are plotting to do just that.
Themes
