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Symbols
The Night of Joy is a strip club which represents Ignatius’s idea of modern vice and impurity throughout the novel. Ignatius views the modern world as inherently corrupt and overly focused on sex. The strip club, which is associated with criminal activity such as gambling and pornography (both prohibited in New Orleans in the 1960s, when the novel is set) is a literal place in which all the things Ignatius despises about the modern world come together. It is significant that shortly after the reader is first introduced to Ignatius, he and his mother, Irene, flee from the police and escape into the Night of Joy to hide from them. This Night of Joy comes to symbolize Ignatius’s clash with modernity and represents his reluctant descent into modern life, as Irene gets drunk at the club and crashes their car as they leave, which sets off a chain of events in which Ignatius must go out into the world and look for a job to pay the fine for the crash.
The Night of Joy is also the place where the disastrous conclusion of Ignatius’s escapades takes place, and the club symbolically both opens and closes the narrative, which mainly revolves around Ignatius’s conclusion to successfully find work and become a respectable citizen in New Orleans. As the strip club is a place where performances take place, it is also connected to the theme of appearance, identity, and disguise throughout the novel and suggests that, with his entry in the Night of Joy, Ignatius enters a temporarily altered state, where the normal order of things is reversed—indeed, Ignatius’s life is turned upside down by the aftermath of his evening in the Night of Joy.
The Night of Joy Quotes in A Confederacy of Dunces
The A Confederacy of Dunces quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Night of Joy. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 5, Part 1
Quotes
“Now look here, Darlene, don’t tell that Jones we suddenly got the whole force in here at night. You know how colored people feel about cops. He might get scared and quit. I mean, I’m trying to help the boy out and keep him off the streets.”
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Chapter 6, Part 1
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“I’m workin in modern slavery. If I quit, I get report for bein vagran. If I stay. I’m gainfully employ on a salary ain even startin to be a minimal wage.”
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Chapter 9, Part 2
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“I know this business. Stripping’s an insult to a woman. The kinda creeps come in here don’t wanna see a tramp get insulted […] Anybody can insult a tramp. These jerks wanna see a sweet, clean virgin get insulted and stripped. You gotta use your head for Chrissake, Darlene. You gotta be pure. I want you to be like a nice, refined girl who’s surprised when the bird starts grabbing at your clothes.”
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Like a note in a bottle, the address might bring some reply, perhaps from a legitimate and professional saboteur. An address on a package wrapped in plain brown paper was as damaging as a fingerprint on a gun, Jones thought. It was something that shouldn’t be there.
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Chapter 10, Part 2
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“Color peoples cain fin no job, but they sure can fin a openin in jail. Coin in jail the bes way you get you somethin to eat regular. But I rather starve outside. I rather mop a whore floor than go to jail and be makin plenny license plate and rug and leather belt and shit. I jus was stupor enough to get my ass snatch up in a trap at that Night of Joy. I gotta figure this thing out myself.”
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The Night of Joy Symbol Timeline in A Confederacy of Dunces
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Night of Joy appears in A Confederacy of Dunces. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1, Part 1
...Ignatius protests that he did nothing and Irene ushers them into a nightclub, called the Night of Joy , for a rest.
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The Night of Joy is dark, dingy, and deserted. Irene takes a seat at the bar and sets the...
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Chapter 1, Part 3
Evening begins to fall outside the Night of Joy and a few more customers join Ignatius and Irene. A young, sad looking woman named...
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Chapter 2, Part 2
Jones goes to see Lana Lee at the Night of Joy and applies for a job as the porter. Jones tells Lana that he needs a...
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...spent a lot of money and, she says, they get far worse people in the Night of Joy . Darlene thinks the sight of Ignatius’s strange cap annoyed Lana. She tells Jones not...
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Chapter 2, Part 4
...probably assumes he is going to rape her and bitterly considers his job at the Night of Joy . It pays very badly, but at least it will ensure he won’t get arrested....
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Chapter 3, Part 2
...and screamed at him to leave them alone and to investigate a club called the Night of Joy instead. Ignatius said the bar had real suspicious characters in it, not like him and...
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...Mancuso has gone, the sergeant turns to another officer and tells him to investigate the Night of Joy . The sergeant does not want Mancuso to know, however, or to get the credit...
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Chapter 3, Part 4
In the Night of Joy , Jones sweeps the floor and Lana reprimands him for wearing his sunglasses indoors. Jones...
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Chapter 4, Part 2
At the Night of Joy , Jones asks Lana if she has seen Ignatius hanging around recently. Lana says no,...
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Chapter 5, Part 1
At the Night of Joy , Lana complains to Darlene that the only people they get in the club are...
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...to Lana that all the other nightclubs have shown that involve animals. Darlene thinks the Night of Joy should get an animal, too, and suggests that they use her cockatoo; she has taught...
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Chapter 5, Part 3
...for brawling the previous night. The sergeant is also disappointed with Mancuso’s tip about the Night of Joy ; so far, they have turned up no criminal activity in the club. The sergeant...
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Chapter 6, Part 1
...Jones drinks beer with the bartender, Mr. Watson, and complains about his job at the Night of Joy and his boss, Lana Lee. Jones complains that Darlene’s bird, who now works at the...
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Jones tells Mr. Watson that he knows Lana is operating something illegal from the Night of Joy . The “head orphan,” George, has not been in for a while, and Jones suspects...
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Mr. Watson says that Jones ought to try and sabotage the Night of Joy . Another man in the bar says that, where he works, they are planning a...
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Chapter 7, Part 2
At the Night of Joy , Lana Lee goes out on an errand and leaves Jones to mop the floor....
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Chapter 9, Part 2
Lana Lee sits on a stool in the Night of Joy and thinks about how strong and beautiful her body is. Backstage, Darlene prepares for her...
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...her classy establishment. Darlene protests but Lana says that the men who come into the Night of Joy do not want to see a stripper because “stripping’s an insult” to women.
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...move anything in the cabinet, Jones gets a pencil and writes the address of the Night of Joy in very small letters on each packet.
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Chapter 10, Part 2
In Mattie’s Ramble Inn, Jones complains to Mr. Watson about his job in the Night of Joy . Mr. Watson agrees that Jones is in a bad situation; he is not happy...
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Chapter 10, Part 3
...doesn’t leave, Ignatius asks irritably about Irene’s hat, which Dorian bought from her in the Night of Joy . Dorian says the hat was destroyed at a party and Ignatius is disgusted. Dorian...
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Chapter 10, Part 4
...George gets on a bus and rides around for a while. The bus passes the Night of Joy and George sees Jones and Lana Lee arguing outside. Jones flicks a cigarette at Lana,...
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Chapter 11, Part 4
Ignatius arrives at the address and is amazed to find that it belongs to the Night of Joy club. There is a sign on the window which announces a show by “Harlett O’Hara...
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...job. Ignatius sneers at this and asks Jones if any of the women at the Night of Joy like to read.
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Chapter 12, Part 1
...not want to go home to his mother and decides, instead, to go to the Night of Joy and watch Harlett O’Hara’s opening night. He hopes that news of this will sufficiently upset...
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Outside the Night of Joy , Ignatius finds Jones dressed up like a plantation slave. Jones tells Ignatius that there...
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Chapter 13, Part 1
...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...
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Chapter 13, Part 8
In his house, George sticks the article about Ignatius and the Night of Joy into his scrapbook. He thinks that Patrolman Mancuso must be an amazing cop to have...
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Chapter 13, Part 11
...Harlett O’Hara dress and wonders what she will do for a job now that the Night of Joy has been shut down. Lana was right about Ignatius—he was a harbinger of doom for...
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Chapter 13, Part 12
...he is in much the same position as he was before his job in the Night of Joy . Still, he says, things could be worse.
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