The characteristics that Ignatius brings up could be characteristics of many cities, not just New Orleans. This is because in all urban environments you find corruption in some shape or form. Thus, there are many more important characteristics of New Orleans to focus on that make the city unique. Whenever people ask me what living in New Orleans is like, I tell them that it is like no other place in the world. This is because it is a city that feels so old and European in so many ways, yet also very metropolitan and modern in others. This city attracts so many different types of people, many who Ignatius frowns upon, but nonetheless interesting and culturally diverse.
Monday, January 25, 2010
In A Confederacy of Dunces, Ignatius refers to New Orleans as a "city famous for its gamblers, prostitutes, exhibitionists, antichrists, alcoholics, sodomites, frauds, jades, litterbugs, and lesbians..."(15). This quote, although humorous and dramatic, has some truth to it. New Orleans is famous for a extremely fun and wild lifestyle. This lifestyle is often linked to alcoholism, excessive partying, and corruption. Although these characteristics of New Orleans may be true, they are not the most defining characteristics of the city in my eyes.
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I think it is true that many of these characteristics are present in other places around the world, but one thing definitely separates New Orleans from other metropolitan cities: The focus on the very specific tourist trade. There are no other cities I can think of save Las Vegas that attracts so many Midwestern tourists for the sole purpose of going out and ‘having a good time’ (one could easily carry over the whole “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” to New Orleans). In this way the city sort of has itself in a loop – people go down to Bourbon, go crazy, build the reputation of the city as a place for this sort of thing, which then attracts more people to go down to Bourbon – and now the economy is pretty much dependant on it, since it generates billions of dollars a year. I definitely think it is more pronounced in New Orleans than most cities. I don’t really think it is either bad or good, just another enduring part of the city that is inevitably intertwined into life around here. It is pretty easy to avoid, but doing so would sort of be missing the point, anyway. You can’t walk to Preservation Hall without going past the bars.
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