5 reactions
I read A Confederacy of Dunces and thought it was pure genius
This was an incredible read that I found very insightful, and the book is pure genius. I think the genius of this book is because this is the type of book where you either get it or you don’t, and to not get this book, in my opinion, is enviable to those who do. Obviously this all hinges on your perception of Ignatius J. Reilly. It’s very easy to dismiss him as a ridiculous unlikable buffoon because that’s what he is to everyone around him. I often see him interpreted as the archetype of the modern day incel but I feel as though that is a gross oversimplification of the character. He might technically fit that definition but to write him off as an incel is missing the entire point of the book.
As humans we have this tendency to look down on other people so we can feel better about ourselves. In the book everyone looks down on Ignatius, while Ignatius looks down on everyone else and everything that consists of society. Ignatius sees himself as better than everyone else, and I think it’s important to read the book as if he really is better than everyone else, even though we, and society as a whole, inherently look down on him. The way I see it, Ignatius is a man who is incapable of conforming to societal norms and therefore being a normal person which largely explains his abrasive nature; it’s not that he refuses to abide by the expectations of society, it’s that he literally can’t fit in with the human race. The majority always gets to decides what constitutes as normalcy and anyone who opposes that is ostracized. Regardless of the society you find yourself in at any time period or culture, if you can’t fit into that society then you’re doomed to be a lonely outcast. As humans we need to fit in to some group. That is the nature of human beings as social animals. We need to fit in, but what if we can’t? I think Ignatius is the embodiment of someone who can’t.
What the book is trying to get at is that society is by default full of dunces because everyone falls in line to conform with the societal expectations of them and their underlying desire to fit in, but those dunces are quite literally in confederacy together whether they know it or not. And by being the majority they have the power to declare who is and isn’t a dunce, so if someone stands out among them then they are automatically the outcast. In other words, Ignatius inevitably becomes the dunce because the world around him is full of dunces that see him as the crazy one, so we the reader should sympathize with Ignatius because he is incapable of conforming to the confederacy of dunces around him.
#entertainment
source
This was an incredible read that I found very insightful, and the book is pure genius. I think the genius of this book is because this is the type of book where you either get it or you don’t, and to not get this book, in my opinion, is enviable to those who do. Obviously this all hinges on your perception of Ignatius J. Reilly. It’s very easy to dismiss him as a ridiculous unlikable buffoon because that’s what he is to everyone around him. I often see him interpreted as the archetype of the modern day incel but I feel as though that is a gross oversimplification of the character. He might technically fit that definition but to write him off as an incel is missing the entire point of the book.
As humans we have this tendency to look down on other people so we can feel better about ourselves. In the book everyone looks down on Ignatius, while Ignatius looks down on everyone else and everything that consists of society. Ignatius sees himself as better than everyone else, and I think it’s important to read the book as if he really is better than everyone else, even though we, and society as a whole, inherently look down on him. The way I see it, Ignatius is a man who is incapable of conforming to societal norms and therefore being a normal person which largely explains his abrasive nature; it’s not that he refuses to abide by the expectations of society, it’s that he literally can’t fit in with the human race. The majority always gets to decides what constitutes as normalcy and anyone who opposes that is ostracized. Regardless of the society you find yourself in at any time period or culture, if you can’t fit into that society then you’re doomed to be a lonely outcast. As humans we need to fit in to some group. That is the nature of human beings as social animals. We need to fit in, but what if we can’t? I think Ignatius is the embodiment of someone who can’t.
What the book is trying to get at is that society is by default full of dunces because everyone falls in line to conform with the societal expectations of them and their underlying desire to fit in, but those dunces are quite literally in confederacy together whether they know it or not. And by being the majority they have the power to declare who is and isn’t a dunce, so if someone stands out among them then they are automatically the outcast. In other words, Ignatius inevitably becomes the dunce because the world around him is full of dunces that see him as the crazy one, so we the reader should sympathize with Ignatius because he is incapable of conforming to the confederacy of dunces around him.
#entertainment
source
| 11,000 mlx | |
| 16 | |
| 5 |