A Confederacy of Dunces: Chapter 13, Part 13 Summary & Analysis

Mrs. Levy wants to start the charity so that she can make herself look good and make her husband look bad by comparison. However, she has not earned the money for the charity herself and, therefore, uses Mr. Levy’s father’s reputation to make herself appear philanthropic. On the other hand, Mr. Levy genuinely thinks of others before himself and considers his employees in his decision to keep Levy Pants.

Mrs. Levy wants her husband to fail so that she will look merciful and like a patient martyr because she stays with him. This is not a very charitable impulse and, although Mrs. Levy says that Mr. Levy will ultimately get what he deserves, this prophecy might rebound more negatively on her than she thinks.

Mr. Levy is finally spurred into action because he realizes that he must try to take control of his destiny and that, if he lets Mrs. Levy have her way, he will give up and fail. The more Mr. Levy tries to avoid his responsibility at the factory, the more it seems to trap him, and this suggests that one cannot escape one’s fate.

Mrs. Levy wishes to make Mr. Levy seem mad and herself seem sane. Although she claims that she wants her husband to seek psychological help for his own good, she really just wants to have control over him.

Annie’s story supports Ignatius’s idea that his wheel of fortune has been in a bad cycle for many years. Ignatius’s belief that his life is out of control and that he cannot do anything about it because a medieval goddess, Fortuna, has absolute power over his fate, seems to have started young and persevered through his whole life. Although Annie does not realize it, part of Ignatius and Myrna’s attraction to each other was the fact that they had an argumentative nature in common.

Although America claims to be a free society in which people can do as they please so long as they do not hurt others, Annie’s behavior suggests that, really, people must conform to strict behavior standards or face social ostracization. Ignatius’s interpretation of Irene’s love life as gratuitously sexual is clearly ridiculous and overdramatic, showcasing Ignatius’s disgust when it comes to sexual relationships.

Ignatius’s reaction to Irene and Claude’s relationship is immature and disproportionate. It demonstrates his desire to control his mother for his own selfish means and again highlights his disgust with sex, which may be based in the repression of his own urges. It is also ironic that Ignatius thinks Claude is a fascist, as Claude believes that Ignatius is a communist. Claude and Ignatius have highly divergent views on proper behavior, and both wish to impose their worldview on the other and to limit the other’s freedoms. This suggests that people of different beliefs must learn to co-exist and that attempts to stamp out behaviors that one doesn’t like often stem from an authoritarian impulse.

The consequences of Ignatius’s behavior—his letter to Mr. Abelman—finally catch up with him because of a random twist of fate: his appearance in the newspaper after his accident at the Night of Joy, which was similarly brought about by a series of fateful events.

Although Ignatius story about his persecution sounds far-fetched, he is, in fact, quite right—Santa, Irene, and Claude have made a plot to incarcerate him so that he will not tarnish their reputations. Although Santa has convinced Irene that this plan is for her own good, really, Santa is annoyed by Ignatius because he will not conform and wants him out of the way.

Ignatius’s journal account has been largely fabricated to make himself look better than he is (he wrote it with Myrna in mind and wanted to make himself look good to provoke her because of their love/hate relationship) but it works out in his favor now. This supports Ignatius’s belief that fate often work in mysterious ways.

Irene has totally lost faith in Ignatius and no longer has any hopes for his future success, which was once a source of hope and pride that she clung to. Although Irene presumably wanted the best for Ignatius, she also hoped his success would make the neighbors envious.

Mrs. Levy’s true intentions toward Miss Trixie (to use her to get back at her husband) come out here, when Mrs. Levy flies at Miss Trixie. She has never really cared what is best for Miss Trixie and only cares about herself and the power struggle within her marriage. Miss Trixie earns her freedom at last and can retire.

The revelation of Mrs. Levy’s truly selfish motives, which she disguised behind a veneer of selflessness, finally frees Mr. Levy from his wife’s abuse. This shift in power also frees Mr. Levy from his father’s influence, which Mrs. Levy has also held over his head—Mr. Levy can finally call his father out for what he is, not what Mrs. Levy portrayed him to be. The change in Mr. Levy’s attitude supports the idea that people are more content and productive when they are free.

Mrs. Levy is a hypocrite and, although she wanted to set up a charity, she only wanted to extend that charity to those she considered deserving of it and who conformed to her view of what constitutes respectable society. The history of racism in the South means that black people were often considered criminals purely because of their race. Mrs. Levy hypocritically reveals this uncharitable belief here, and Mr. Levy finally frees Miss Trixie.

Ignatius’s actions have unexpectedly benefitted Jones and freed him from his servitude under Lana at the Night of Joy. Jones will receive a degree of freedom with a job at the factory because he will no longer have to work for slave wages and will not have to worry about the police. However, Jones’s freedom here is meant to be slightly ironic, as Jones will still likely be paid less than a white person and is still required by law to have a job, so it is not an entirely liberating outcome. The fateful conclusion to Ignatius’s letter suggests that fate does operate in mysterious ways as Ignatius believes, and that actions often produce unexpected results.