the classic hero’s journey of confederacy of dunces is undertaken not by ignatius j reilly, but by his mother. irene reilly is the hero of the story. here is why.
1. ordinary world (in which we meet our hero): irene is a widow who lives in a broken down house in a shabby new orleans suburb, with her grown unemployable son, a hostile neighbor, and no friends.
2. call to adventure (in which an adventure starts): irene, drunk and distracted by her son’s behavior in the back seat, crashes her ancient plymouth into a building, causing $2000 in damage. her meager widow’s pension is not nearly enough to cover it.
3. refusal of the call (in which the hero digs in their feet): irene encourages her son to look for work to help pay the damages. she reminds him of how competent he is (or should be, after almost 8 years of college and post grad studies).
4. meeting the mentor (in which the hero acquires a personal trainer): irene meets santa battaglia, the raucous, bawdy, plainspoken italian great aunt of patrolman angelo mancuso. santa can see the miserable circumstances of irene’s life, and she begins to invite irene out to bowling with angelo and herself. “we gotta get you out that house, girl.”
5. crossing the first threshold (in which the hero enters the other world in earnest): irene puts a can of soup on the stove for her son before readying herself for a night out with santa and angelo. she tells her son she will probably end up getting a chili dog for dinner at the bowling alley, enraging him.
6. tests, allies, enemies (in which the hero faces new challenges and gets a squad): ignatius is fired from his first position at a clothing company, for attempting to incite a workers’ riot. he takes a new job pushing a weenie wagon downtown, to his mother’s embarrassment. irene deepens her friendship with santa and angelo, over ignatius’s constant protests. through santa, she meets claude robichaux, a kind and rather dimwitted old man with a railroad pension who would really like to get to know her better.
7. approach to the inmost cave (in which the hero gets closer to his goal): irene’s continuous clashes with her son create mounting chaos in their household, and her neighbor miss annie warns them time and again that she will have them evicted for disturbing the peace. she drinks too much in front of claude and breaks down in tears over the ruin her life has become.
8. ordeal (in which the hero faces her biggest test thus far): ignatius gets accidentally caught in a madcap scene at a seedy bar, in which the owner is arrested by the undercover patrolman mancuso for distributing pornographic pictures of herself to high school boys. the atmosphere overwhelms ignatius and, still in his weenie wagon uniform, he faints in the street. a photo of his obese, unconscious body in his white apron is on the front page of the newspaper, sending his mother into paroxysms of shame.
9. reward/seizing the sword (in which the hero sees the light at the end of the tunnel): irene is in the hospital with her son, who is being treated for shock. she tells him that his cruelty, manipulation, and attempts to isolate her will no longer be tolerated. she sees deep into the heart of his inner character as only a mother can, and she tells her son exactly what she sees. she is going to say yes when claude proposes to her, because at least he can be kind to a person, and she deserves some comfort, security, and to be treated decently in her old age.
10. the road back (in which the light at the end of the tunnel might be a little further than the hero thought): irene and ignatius are back at home. one of his old bosses is on the front lawn, asking to speak to ignatius about a fraud case. he is talking about a a $500,000 lawsuit and saying it may be all ignatius’s fault (he is correct). what is irene going to do?
11. resurrection (the last test is met): santa intervenes. “hasn’t everything i’ve ever told you worked out for the best? listen to santa now.” santa is going to call one of her contacts in the psychiatric asylum, and they’re going to come take ignatius away. irene braces herself to do the unthinkable: she says goodbye to her son, kisses his cheek, and disappears into the night, making her way to santa’s house.
12. return with the elixir (in which our hero has a triumphant homecoming): john kennedy toole denies us this, actually. ignatius absconds in his ex-girlfriend’s car, evading the psych ward goons, and that’s the end. we probably don’t need it, though. we know what the future holds for irene, and we are just so proud of her.
