A Confederacy of Dunces

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Mother doesn’t cook, she burns”: Mrs. Reilly, Thelma Toole, and When Life Imitates Art

Irene Reilly—also known as Mrs. Reilly, the mother of Ignatius—is a widow with a growing alcohol problem, a predilection for wearing too much makeup, and an increasingly stretched pension. She exists in the considerable shadow of her son.

In the 11th episode of “Yeah You Rite!,” a 1985 documentary series about New Orleans life, the filmmakers conduct an intimate interview with Thelma Toole, the mother of John Kennedy Toole. They discuss A Confederacy of Dunces and his effect on New Orleans culture at large, but the episode also gives an unprecedented glimpse at the woman who many speculate was the inspiration for Mrs. Reilly. The first 7:30 minutes of the episode are devoted to Thelma’s playing the piano and singing for the filmmakers, but further into the episode the interview begins. She discusses her son, life in New Orleans, Creole dialect, and her struggle to get the book published in the wake of her son’s suicide. Consider the following quotes by Thelma from the episode:

• “No one has ever caught the flavor, the intonations, the dialect of the New Orleanians dialogue [like A Confederacy of Dunces]”
• “He [John Kennedy Toole] didn’t mingle with those people [the lower-class minor characters in the novel, like Darlene and Jones]. He had the seeing eye, the hearing ear. When he went shopping, he’d take the bus, not have the trouble parking the car. On buses you can get wonderful language.”
• “My son was a slopperino. People pinned Ignatius on him…they pin Irene on me.”

After watching the episode, discuss the relationship between Ignatius and Mrs. Reilly alongside that of John Kennedy Toole and Thelma Toole. How are they similar? How are they strikingly similar? In what ways do they differ? After the discussion, ask students to write a short, imagined dialogue between the fictional Mrs. Reilly and very real Thelma Toole in which the two discuss their sons’ most notable achievements. What would Mrs. Reilly say about Thelma Toole’s “slopperino” son winning the Pulitzer Prize? How would she react to the news of his untimely death?

Teaching Suggestion: The episode is roughly 36 minutes long, and it is somewhat slow-moving, which may be a challenge for certain learners. Teachers are strongly encouraged to watch the video in advance and annotate the sections you’d like to draw attention to in your lesson plan, allowing you to fast-forward to the relevant portions. Some key moments in the video are (1) 7:33, Thelma begins the interview proper; (2) 8:41, Thelma talks about where her son developed an “ear” for writing dialogue; (3) 10:12, she refers to her son as a “slopperino”; (4) 10:36, the filmmakers ask Thelma how Irene talks, to describe how their speech is similar/different; (5) 11:15, Thelma imitates Santa Battaglia’s voice; (6) 22:39, Thelma talks about the response of Robert Gottlieb, the infamous Simon & Schuster editor, to the character of Myrna; (7) 23:16, Thelma talks about her personal biography and her life as a retired schoolteacher. Content warning: Thelma’s language is inappropriate at times.