A Study of Stereotypes in a Confederacy of Dunces
Floyd Carey “God’s Servant First”
Mrs. Guillory
AP English III-5th
19 October 2012 Character Development through Stereotypes in A Confederacy of Dunces All satire derives from a person’s ability to manipulate the circumstances of the human condition in order to reveal a fundamental truth about humanity. This revelation is often very humorous. John Kennedy Toole is among one of the greatest satirists in literary history because he is able to draw his conclusions about the nature of humanity with great success. He creates characters that, according to Thomas Travisano, are “vivid, if flat, characters” (484). While it is true that Toole uses many stereotypes in his writing to convey relatable characters to the reader, Toole’s funniest characters are more than simply perfect stereotypes. Through character development and the use of a shifting omniscient limited point of view, Toole expands the personalities of his characters in A Confederacy of Dunces, moving them beyond one-dimensional stereotypes and into fully realized characters. The grotesque Ignatius, The dumb cop Mancuso, the black vagrant Jones, and the greaser George all live up to their stereotypes, but also take on personality traits that are entirely unique for the stereotype they exemplify. As a result, the reader sympathizes with and feels for the characters as well as crying with laughter at them (Travisano 484-85; Simmons; McNeil). Stereotypes are essential to the success of A Confederacy of Dunces, but advancing the characters past the point of a simple type through the point of view of the novel’s main character Ignatius is what truly sets the stereotypical characters apart as distinguishable characters. Stereotypes are, in their very nature, representations, albeit crude and sometimes inaccurate, of the groups that they are typing. As Jane Arnold puts it “...stereotypes are not necessarily inaccurate descriptions; they are simply unbalanced. Stereotypes might be described as the
Mrs. Guillory
AP English III-5th
19 October 2012 Character Development through Stereotypes in A Confederacy of Dunces All satire derives from a person’s ability to manipulate the circumstances of the human condition in order to reveal a fundamental truth about humanity. This revelation is often very humorous. John Kennedy Toole is among one of the greatest satirists in literary history because he is able to draw his conclusions about the nature of humanity with great success. He creates characters that, according to Thomas Travisano, are “vivid, if flat, characters” (484). While it is true that Toole uses many stereotypes in his writing to convey relatable characters to the reader, Toole’s funniest characters are more than simply perfect stereotypes. Through character development and the use of a shifting omniscient limited point of view, Toole expands the personalities of his characters in A Confederacy of Dunces, moving them beyond one-dimensional stereotypes and into fully realized characters. The grotesque Ignatius, The dumb cop Mancuso, the black vagrant Jones, and the greaser George all live up to their stereotypes, but also take on personality traits that are entirely unique for the stereotype they exemplify. As a result, the reader sympathizes with and feels for the characters as well as crying with laughter at them (Travisano 484-85; Simmons; McNeil). Stereotypes are essential to the success of A Confederacy of Dunces, but advancing the characters past the point of a simple type through the point of view of the novel’s main character Ignatius is what truly sets the stereotypical characters apart as distinguishable characters. Stereotypes are, in their very nature, representations, albeit crude and sometimes inaccurate, of the groups that they are typing. As Jane Arnold puts it “...stereotypes are not necessarily inaccurate descriptions; they are simply unbalanced. Stereotypes might be described as the
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