Character Analysis
George
A kid who helps Lana Lee distribute her pornographic pictures in high schools. He's constantly worried about being arrested and then eventually does get arrested. The moment where George tries to escape the police and realizes there's no back exit from his family's small apartment (13.80) is about as close to pathos as A Confederacy of Dunces gets.
Dr. Talc
A popular but largely ignorant (and very lazy) professor at Tulane University, Ignatius and Myrna Minkoff terrorized him when they were in school. He doesn't really have any roll in the novel except to be ridiculed. John Kennedy Toole attended and taught at Tulane himself, and he seems to have just been unable to resist the opportunity to throw in some jokes about university life.
Mr. Clyde
The irascible owner of Paradise Vendors, Mr. Clyde wields a mean rusty fork.
Santa Bataglia
Officer Mancuso's aunt, after Mancuso introduces her to Mrs. Reilly, Santa takes it upon herself to get Irene away from her son and into matrimony with Claude Robichaux. She likes to bowl and dance, both of which disgust Ignatius.
Claude Robichaux
An elderly man whom Mrs. Reilly gets arrested early in the novel. Later he falls in love with her, and it is implied that they marry after the novel's close. He thinks that everybody is a Communist, but, on the other hand, he is fairly well off—so practically speaking, not a bad matrimonial catch, Mrs. Reilly figures.
Miss Annie
The Reilly's neighbor, Miss Annie screams at them constantly. She's always good for a few scenes of quality bickering, which is good since A Confederacy of Dunces thinks bickering is funny (it isn't wrong.)
Lana Lee
The owner of the Night of Joy and a skinflint obsessed with money. She terrorizes her employees, Darlene and Burma Jones, while selling pornographic pictures of herself to high school students on the side. She is mean and generally unpleasant, but her greed and amorality are fun to watch.
Darlene
A B-girl—which means that she works on commission, trying to scam lonely drunks into buying her worthless watered-down drinks—Darlene wants to move up to exotic dancing (a.k.a. stripping) with an act involving her beloved cockatoo. Darlene is sweet to everyone (Mrs. Reilly, Burma Jones, even Ignatius before she gets to know him) and she is rewarded at the end of the novel when all her (very limited) dreams come true. Justice
Mrs. Levy
The wife of Mr. Levy, she spends most of her time vibrating on her exercise board and insulting her husband for not having enough ambition. She feels he has betrayed the hard work and vision of his father, the founder of Levy Pants. She also inexplicably thinks Miss Trixie needs her psychological help to feel like a fulfilled and beautiful person, even though really all Miss Trixie wants is to be left alone to retire.
Mrs. Levy is perhaps the most inspired bickerer in a novel filled with inspired bickerers. Somebody get this lady a trophy.
Miss Trixie
An elderly assistant accountant, Miss Trixie is senile and should have retired long ago, but Mrs. Levy wants to keep her on. Now she mostly falls asleep, occasionally waking up to tell people to be quiet.
Mr. Gonzalez
An office manager, Mr. Gonzalez is absurdly grateful to have his really quite wretched job. Ignatius hates him, which just goes to show that Ignatius can hate anyone if he puts his mind to it, because Mr. Gonzalez couldn't be much more inoffensive if you covered him head to toe in Nerf footballs.
Dorian Greene
A flamboyant homosexual who has parties at his home and sells used clothing (he buys Mrs. Reilly's hat), Dorian Greene finds Ignatius amusing for a bit. But then Ignatius wears out his welcome, as he tends to do.
Frieda Club, Betty Bumper, and Liz Steele
Three aggressive lesbian women who like to wrestle with each other and have a number of clashes with police. Dorian rents them an apartment; they're good security because the burglars are afraid of them.