Finally, Ignatius got a job at Levy Pants, a place that “impressed and overwhelmed” Ignatius. He likes the office because the “atmosphere of the place reminded Ignatius of his own room, and his valve agreed by opening joyfully.” When Ignatius gets there, there are two other people, Mr. Gonzalez and Miss Trixie, working there.
I think that Toole includes Levy Pants as a source of conflict for the novel, as well as a symbol of his own view of the lower middle class.
Levy Pants works very well as a source of conflict for the novel because it is a place where Ignatius will go cheerfully, but there are still things about the office which he wants to change. Mr. Gonzalez, like Mrs. Reilly, is a pushover, and Ignatius promptly starts taking advantage of that. Mr. Gonzalez’ ability to be pushed around is another reason that Levy Pants works as a perfect job and source of conflict for Ignatius. Ignatius has many ideas that he feels are great, but a good and strong boss would never approve of. Luckily for Ignatius, Mr. Gonzalez is anything but a good and strong boss. Ignatius’ ideas range from throwing away records instead of filing them to building a cross in the middle of the office that supposedly helps with productivity. Although Mr. Gonzalez does not actually know that Ignatius throws away records instead of filing them, I am sure that he would not do anything if he found out. Levy Pants should be the site of lots of humorous and wacky adventures in the chapters to come.
Toole’s portrayal of Levy Pants also makes me think that he finds the lower middle class to be a depressing, failure ridden rat hole. This is apparent because of the working conditions of Levy Pants, and because of the employees who are unfortunate enough to be employed at Levy Pants.
The working conditions at Levy Pants are awful. The office itself is small and smells funny, and it’s lit by flickering florescent lights. There are rats in the filing cabinets, and including Ignatius there are only three workers who have not quit or been fired within the first few weeks of their employment. The working conditions are surprising because the owner of the company, Mr. Levy, is rich. I think Toole is criticizing rich company owners who do not care at all about their employees, but only about getting more money.
He also criticizes the lower middle class by characterizing the employees as lazy quitters who do not care about their jobs at all. I feel like he had a bad experience with workers such as the ones portrayed in the novel, and therefore has a prejudice against them.
