A Confederacy of Dunces

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-book review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Dorian buys what item from Mrs. Reilly when they first meet at Night of Joy?

A) shoes

B) kerchief

C) hat

D) cloak

2. Why does Officer Mancuso visit Mrs. Reilly after she crashes her car outside the Night of Joy?

A) He wants to have a word with her about her obnoxious son.

B) He pities her because of how she cried right after crashing the car.

C) He heard unusual sounds from her car and wants to help her repair it.

D) He is worried about her because he noticed she has a drinking problem.

3. Why does Mancuso begin his investigation of the Night of Joy?

A) Ignatius complains to him about how he and Mrs. Reilly have been treated by staff there.

B) Mancuso has heard they have an illegal gambling ring in the basement.

C) Mancuso suspects Darlene is running the business without an appropriate liquor license.

D) Mrs. Reilly says she thinks Jones, an employee at Night of Joy, stole her wallet.

4. What item does Jones insist on wearing while working at Night of Joy, despite protests from Lana?

A) A baseball cap

B) Red shoes

C) A gold necklace

D) Sunglasses

5. What object does Ignatius trip over at Levy Pants and blames it for breaking his back?

A) A stool

B) A button

C) A marble

D) A spool

6. How does Ignatius feel about Mr. Palermo, the foreman at Levy Pants?

A) He likes him as a friend and companion and worries that he works too hard.

B) He is suspicious that Mr. Palermo might not be paying his assistant properly.

C) He is not impressed with Mr. Palermo as a worker.

D) He pities Mr. Palermo because he has worked at Levy Pants for his entire adult life.

7. What does Ignatius use to decorate the office at Levy Pants?

A) Balloons

B) Crepe paper

C) Tin-foil stars

D) Garlands

8. What is Jones’s first attempt at “subtle sabotage” at Night of Joy?

A) He puts water in the liquor bottles.

B) He steals money from the register.

C) He drinks beer on his shift.

D) He doesn’t clean the floor properly.

9. Why is Trixie invited to the Levy house?

A) So Mrs. Levy can make use of her psychology correspondence course

B) So Mr. Levy can press her for details about Ignatius as a colleague

C) So Mrs. Levy can test out a new recipe for gumbo on her

D)  So Mr. Levy can find out if she has any new ideas to improve business at Levy Pants

10. How did Ignatius sign papers written to Dr. Talc, his old professor?

A) Tarzan

B)  Zorro

C) The Phantom Detective

D) Flash Gordon

11. Jones frets about quitting Night of Joy because the police might think he’s a what?

A) A vagrant, which he phonetically refers to as a “vagran”

B) A communist, which he phonetically refers to as a “communis”

C) An anarchist, which he colloquially refers to as “a rebel”

D) A beggar, which he colloquially refers to as a “down-and-out Joe”

12. What alliterative nickname does Ignatius give to Myrna in Chapter 11 when he says he wants to make her “seethe” with what emotion?

A) Myrna magpie, seething with fury

B) Myrna mallard, seething with anxiety

C) Myrna minx, seething with envy

D) Myrna mayfly, seething with quiet resentment

13. At Dorian’s party, why do a group of women attack Ignatius?

A) Ignatius says Dorian’s decorations are tacky.

B) Ignatius steps on the toes of one of the women.

C) Ignatius steals one of the women’s purses.

D) Ignatius refuses to dance with Timmy.

14. At his hospital bedside, Mrs. Reilly returns what missing item to Ignatius?

A) His green hat

B) His Boethius book

C) His plastic cutlass

D) His letter to Myrna

15. What does Mrs. Reilly want to have Ignatius declared as so he’ll be committed to the Charity psychiatric ward?

A) Temporarily insane

B) Bipolar

C) Obsessive Compulsive

D) Schizophrenic

Long-Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. What effect does opening with a description of Ignatius’s “green hunting cap” have on the novel?

2. What does Levy Pants represent, metaphorically speaking?

3. What does the Night of Joy represent, metaphorically speaking?