A Confederacy of Dunces

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the play over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. A Confederacy of Dunces is inextricably tied to its location, the city of New Orleans.

• If New Orleans is another character in John Kennedy Toole’s novel, how would you describe it? (topic sentence)
• New Orleans in the novel becomes a self-contained world, a cauldron in which the lives of such bizarre characters can bubble over and affect one another. Describe 2-3 minor characters’ plot lines and how they contribute to the color and richness of the New Orleans in the book.
• In your conclusion, describe how Toole’s New Orleans becomes almost unreal/surreal, therefore becoming more of an eccentric, chaotic character in and of itself.

2. Ignatius is frequently described as crazy, mad, and out of his mind, as are several other characters.