Disparity Between Dunce and Genius in Tooles A Confederacy of Dunces E

Disparity BetweenDunce and adept in Tooles A compact of Dunces When a true conceiver appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in due south against him. -Jonathan Swift In Swifts voice communication, there is a potential for the existence of a genius, indicated by the group of dunces acting in opposition. In A fusion of Dunces by ass Kennedy Toole, Ignatius J. Reilly plays twain parts of the genius and the dunce. As Ignatius plays both parts, the Wheel of Fortuna determines the path of events in his life although he is not witting of it, Fortunas spin is also determined by his actions. Just as the stray is circular, so are the events in his life. Ignatius moves through his own bildingsroman, showing qualities of a genius in his words and qualities of a dunce in his actions at the wickedness of Joy, Levy Pants, Paradise Vendors, and (to complete the circle) again at the Night of Joy. At the opening of the novel, Ignatius and his mother esc ape the clutches of the police by entering a nearby bar, the Night of Joy. Ignatius and his mother meet Darlene and the barman in the sudden visit. As he speaks to Darlene, Ignatius stories are unimportant only he tells them in an elevated fashion. Although the content may be trivial, Ignatius uses words that make the stories sound significant. For example, in his story about vomiting on his trip in a Greyhound Scenicruiser, he says, that was the only time I had ever been out of New Orleans in my life. I hazard that perhaps it was the lack of a center of orientation that might excite upset me(10). Ignatius continues to speak in an educated style to the bartender, even though his message is condescending. Ignatius tells him that, it is your duty to sile... ... he is labeled a dunce. He does in the long run break free from the circles of Fortuna when he runs away to New York with Myrna Minkoff, but his independence is only circumscribed by a new location. The reader is left wi ng to believe that Ignatius will create more circles and spins in New York. In Confederacy of Dunces, Toole emphasizes the disparity between the bodily dunce and the intellectual genius to underscore the impossibility of separating the mental and physical capacities of his characters. Works Cited and ConsultedClark, William Bedford. All Tooles Children A Reading of A Confederacy of Dunces. Essays in Literature 14.2 (1987) 269-280.McNeil, David. A Confederacy of Dunces as Reverse Satire The American Subgenre. Mississippi Quarterly 38.1 (1984-1985) 33-47.Toole, John Kennedy. A Confederacy of Dunces. Grove Weidenfeld New York, 1980.