A Confederacy of Dunces

1. C (Chapter 1)

2. B (Chapter 2)

3. A (Chapter 3)

4. D (Chapter 3)

5. A (Chapter 4)

6. C (Chapter 5)

7. B (Chapter 6)

8. D (Chapter 7)

9. A (Chapter 8)

10. B (Chapter 9)

11. A (Chapter 10)

12. C (Chapter 11)

13. D (Chapter 12)

14. B (Chapter 13)

15. A (Chapter 14)

Long-Answer

1. The focus is drawn immediately to the ridiculous nature of the hat and the way it barely sits on the head of the unidentified character. The hat is the subject, not Ignatius. By opening in such a manner, the true absurdity of Ignatius’s character is slowly revealed to the reader. It is a small hint at what is to come. (Chapter 1)

2. It is a metaphor for the state of big business in 1960s America. There is a severe disconnect between the factory workers and management. The owner is disconnected from the business and exists only to reap the profits and fund his extravagant lifestyle. Those who work in the bureaucracy are abject failures and frauds, either trying to do well despite their shortcomings or so dedicated to a long-promised retirement that they have mentally checked out. The business is in no way efficient or sensible. (Chapters 3-4)

3. The Night of Joy represents the culmination of all Ignatius’s minor mistakes. If Dorian’s party is a repudiation of Ignatius’s ideology, then the bar is a repudiation of Ignatius’s character and his actions. At the beginning of the novel, the bar was a safe-haven. It was a place where Ignatius and his mother could hide after Ignatius was almost arrested, but their presence was not welcome, and they were told not to return. Structurally, the return to the bar represents a return to these earlier mistakes. (Chapter 13)