Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Mother doesn’t cook, she burns”: Mrs. Reilly, Thelma Toole, and When Life Imitates Art

Irene Reilly—also known as Mrs. Reilly, the mother of Ignatius—is a widow with a growing alcohol problem, a predilection for wearing too much makeup, and an increasingly stretched pension. She exists in the considerable shadow of her son.

In the 11th episode of “Yeah You Rite!,” a 1985 documentary series about New Orleans life, the filmmakers conduct an intimate interview with Thelma Toole, the mother of John Kennedy Toole. They discuss A Confederacy of Dunces and his effect on New Orleans culture at large, but the episode also gives an unprecedented glimpse at the woman who many speculate was the inspiration for Mrs. Reilly. The first 7:30 minutes of the episode are devoted to Thelma’s playing the piano and singing for the filmmakers, but further into the episode the interview begins. She discusses her son, life in New Orleans, Creole dialect, and her struggle to get the book published in the wake of her son’s suicide. Consider the following quotes by Thelma from the episode: