The Occasional Series of Ideas for Papers on John Kennedy Toole, Part 2

Archy and transmigration
John Kennedy Toole owned a copy of archy and mehitabel by Marquis (Evidence of Influences, page 19). The underlying premise of that collection of stories and poems is that a former poet has died and his soul has transmigrated into the cockroach named archy. archy ostensively supplied newspaper columns to his boss, Marquis. Because he has to jump on keys to type, he cannot capitalize or use punctuation. mehitabel is his friend, a cat who claims to have the transmigrated soul of Cleopatra.

In Confederacy, Ignatius is characterized as beastly. He is usually compared to an animal and his hands are usually described as paws. It is as though he has the transmigrated soul of a dog or other animal.

Thesis: Compare the use of animal and human characteristics in archy and mehitabel and Confederacy. Note for example that Ignatius tries to play with a cat, then describes her as a prostitute; similarly, mehitabel is sexually liberal. Columns that I have found especially relevant are "the wail of archy" and "archy at the tomb of napoleon."