"Oh, Fortuna, blind and careless goddess, I am attached to your wheel. Do not crush me under your rays. Lift me on high, divinity" (Toole: 42) . Here, Ignatius Reilly makes one of his many appeals to Fortuna, the goddess who he believes controls his destiny and his life by spinning him in circles of good and bad luck. The cycles Ignatius Reilly goes through in John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces play an important role in the story, as they affect not only him, but also several others in the book. The cycles that Ignatius goes through in fact influence those around him. These cycles that Ignatius goes through look a lot like gears, linked to the cycles of the other characters in the novel. Although it is not obvious at first, it can be seen that as the cycle, or gear of Ignatius, is turned downward by Fortuna, the cycles of those around him, who at first , experience bad luck, end up turning upwards. This can be seen by examining the effects of Ignatius Reilly's cycles on situations occurring in Night of Joy, Levy Pants, as well as with his mother and acquaintances. The situation at the Night of Joy bar is certainly an interesting case to examine. At first, Burma Jones and Darlene both experience bad luck, or a down cycle. However, as Fortuna turns Ignatius Reilly down, their situation begins to improve. We are introduced to Jones at the police station, at the beginning of the novel, after he has been arrested for allegedly stealing a bag of cashew nuts. He exclaims: "I'm in Woolsworth and a cat steals a bag of cashews from the star of 'Nut House' and screams like she's been stabbed. Hey! Next thing, a flo'walk me' catches, and then a policeman dragged me. A man had a chance Whoa (middle of paper...... in A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, it works a bit like gears. That of Ignatius Reilly is the main gear of the machine and the other characters occupy the role of secondary gears While Fortuna turns the fortunes of Ignatius downward, the fortunes of the other characters, who are, at the bottom. beginning, unlucky, is then turned upwards. This irony makes the work all the more "grotesque" and attractive to the contemporary reader, a modern classic - the working machine of A Confederacy of Dunces. , William Bedford. "All Toole's Children: A Reading of A Confederacy of Dunces." David. » Mississippi Quarterly 38.1 (1984-1985): 33-47. Toole, John Kennedy A Confederation of Dunces Grove Weidenfeld: New York., 1980.