the fiction of new orleans

In the process of community service, site seeing, field trips, blogs and other experiences we have been given the opportunity to learn about the city through the voices of two New Orleans authors.  Even though the concept is daunting and overwhelming we have been able to learn through the characters of Ignatious and Binx about different aspects of life in the crescent city.  Binx and Ignatious are very different characters, while at the same time both characters are trying to find their way through the world during the books.  Ignatious is a lazy, fat, “fraudulent” man who uses the little income of his mother to live his thirty years of life.  While Binx is still searching for the meaning of his life, he is able to do so in a much more independent way.  He was a successful orphan who understands the meaning of hard work and will often complete many long hours to reach the success he had achieved.  I think the difference of these characters can be identified as the Cresant city.  I do not think for this reason that one could pick one character that would symbolize the city; one of the largest most influential aspects of the city is how the citizens are so different.  A combination of all the characters in both novels symbolize different aspects and facets of the city.