The American society is world renowned as one of democracy. It is a nation - state where all people are theoretically created equal and sustains the belief in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is a society that believes in the goodness of their constitution and the power that their nation has in world politics. In spite of this generally optimistic view, natural estrangement exists - by class, gender roles, and race. There is a constant struggle for the American Dream. This can be explained by taking an outside glance at their society. This outside scrutiny is best exemplified by Ignatius J. Reilly in John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces.

Politics is the recognition and negotiation of differences by public authority and private association in the creation of goods and values. The theories of Thomas Hobbes, Aristotle, and Plato are great influences in this and are evident when looking at Ignatius and his relationship with society. Ignatius' society, New Orleans, rejects him. He is a disruption to the order of society; he is estranged from it, and is constantly at odds with it. Tinder's statement synopsizes this well when he s

Ignatius' view was that society should be arranged in a certain way, reminiscent of a Platonic society, where everyone is content in the place where they are and have no desire to change social class. Plato's views on politics were also evident in A Confederacy of Dunces with the notion of the nature of man. Plato said that the nature of man is to be happy and in a just society all people recognise excellence in one another. In New Orleans society, people struggled for status, hoping to rise in rank but Ignatius saw this as a wholly terrible idea. His belief was similar to Plato's in that one should be happy as they are. Society, in being conservative and rigid, would not stray from their accepted belief in the seeking of the American Dream.

A Confederacy of Dunces was a true microcosm of American society. It makes one wonder just how many geniuses have been eliminated because of the demand of conformity and the struggle for the American Dream.

Characteristically this was not Ignatius' best attribute. By becoming enraged thusly by Myrna Minkoff's provoking, Ignatius was being drawn into selfishness. She was his motivation for outrageous acts that hindered Ignatius' ideas from being portrayed properly. By living in this world where no one was worth listening to except for Myrna, Ignatius became isolated. It was a world of two people with worthy ideas against society. With these two liberalists, differences were certainly recognised in pertaining to public authority, but negotiation did not occur. This was the heart of his estrangement.

There would thence be recognition and negotiation of differences and goods and values would be created. For Ignatius, having people behind him would have helped him succeed if they would have understood his ideas. Ignatius saw inequality everywhere, but such that one should be happy with his lot in life as Plato contrived. Ignatius' views were not justified by his radical actions and so the political system of New Orleans did not work for him. Leaving for New York with Myrna Minkoff was the only feasible solution. Perhaps as a united force change could be made with their radical ideas.

Thomas Hobbes said "to be human is to be concerned exclusively with personal interests and personal power." (Tinder, 1995, page 27) This was evident with the society of A Confederacy of Dunces where each established class seemed to not understand each other. The bourge

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Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)