I AM SO GOOD. I basically predicted the end of the book perfectly….well kind of. In an earlier post I said, “If I were to make a guess, I would say that there is going to be a crime at the Night of Joy, which Mancuso will investigate. He will probably tell Irene, who will then tell Ignatius. Somehow, stories of the Night of Joy and Ignatius will become intertwined, but at the moment I am not sure how. Until then, the Night of Joy provides an interesting side story and break from the real story.” As it turns out, there was a crime at the Night of Joy: the boss was charged with possession and distribution on pornography. Mancuso was indeed the policeman who busted Lana Lee, but it happened slightly differently than I expected. Basically, Lana Lee unknowingly showed undercover Mancuso a naked picture of her, and invited him into the bar. Ignatius had previously obtained the picture of her, and then he passed out when a bus almost hit him in front of the Night of Joy. Lana Lee took the picture and showed it to Mancuso who had been following Ignatius. This effectively tied together the stories of the Night of Joy and of Ignatius.
I found this technique of tying the loose ends together very smooth and interesting. Although Toole tied both stories together, this event was still not quite the end of the book. Irene went on to try to put Ignatius in a mental hospital, but Ignatius escaped with Myrna. Mr. Levy finally straightened things out with his wife, and Miss Trixie got what she wanted. As the book ended, I was quite satisfied. Ignatius got away just like I wanted him too, Irene did not get her way, Mrs. Levy lost, and Mr. Levy got his life straightened out. In my opinion, Toole ended the book quite nicely. I especially like the very end, because it was a cliff hanger. Unlike Toole’s set in stone setting, he left the end to the imagination. The book ended with Ignatius and Myrna leaving New Orleans. Personally, I like to imagine that Ignatius and Myrna have a wonderfully kooky relationship, and that someone finally learns to appreciate Ignatius. Other readers, perhaps, may hope that Irene gets her way and the people from the mental hospital catch Ignatius. Cliff hanger endings are great because the story can end in any way the reader wants, and it does not have to end with the book. Unfortunately, there will never be a sequel because John Kennedy Toole committed suicide before this book was ever published. Oh well, A Confederacy of Dunces is a great book, and I highly recommend it to everybody.
