Analysis of “A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole“A Confederacy of Dunces” is a brilliant satire written by the late John Kennedy Toole. Toole was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Satire after its publication in 1981. The book became a cult classic soon after its publication and has since entered the literary canon in some resumes. In my analysis I will focus on the three main themes present in the book; slavery, work ethic and destiny. Toole was vocal in his views on the issue of unfair treatment and working conditions of the African American population in the South. He wrote the book in the early 1960s, at the height of the civil rights movement; the South at that time was a place full of hatred and discontent towards African Americans. Unfair working conditions were the norm for most African Americans in the South, and Toole highlighted these conditions in multiple places in his book. You first glimpse this disparity when you are introduced to the character Burma Jones. Jones was falsely accused of stealing nuts from a store and put in prison. Once released from prison he finds a job well below minimum wage during the “Night of Joy”. Police of that era were often harsh towards African American citizens and treated them poorly. Jones is constantly afraid of losing his job during the “Night of Joy” because he believes he will be arrested for “loitering,” a charge often used to harass African-American men. The vagrancy laws were enacted after the abolition of slavery and were still enforced until the mid-1960s, when they were found to violate the 4th Amendment or were struck down due to their vagueness. (Dudley) Toole made Jones earn less than minimum wage in the book to allude...... middle of paper... nts. This is clearly the case in this novel and I think it really shows how banal Toole wanted to make the American work ethic seem. Toole's ability to capture the reader's attention even though the first three-quarters of the book seems to be a nonsensical jumble of several ideas. plots and stories tell of his ability to write. Writing a book like this and incorporating such significant themes into the content is not easy and requires many rewrites to accomplish. His ability to criticize and challenge the stereotypes, blind ambition and hatred of his culture in a comedic way is also impressive. Most of his points are blindingly obvious and I think that's what makes this book so great. The ease with which people understand meanings and learn from them while laughing is the mark of an excellent author. It's a shame he isn't alive today to see how far his book has come.