Noah
Several of the stories in this work involve the biblical character of Noah. Noah's story is retold, but is basically this: Noah was a man who lived in the legendary past to whom God offered salvation from an impending flood where God would eliminate all life on earth. In this story, Noah is like a minor character who builds the ark and saves animals, but denies access to the woodworms for fear that the ark will not be safe from their appetites.
Jonah
Jonah is also an important character in the novel. In the Bible story, Jonah is a prophet who runs away from an assignment of God because he doesn't want to allow pagans to turn to God. When his boat is beset by storms, he sacrifices himself for the sake of the crew and is eaten by a fish who vomits him up on dry land three days later. The story is paired with a story of death by raft accident (in "Three Simple Stories") and the denial of access to Jewish refugees seeking asylum in the U.S.
The religious woman
This character is attempting to make some sort of connection with God that she hopes can spare her father in his afterlife of unnecessary judgment or suffering. This journey takes her to a mountain where she stays in a monastery and considers human art and questions about divine nature. She is described as a religious woman who cares about the dead.
Spike Tiggler
Spike Tiggler is a fictitious astronaut from Chapter Nine, "Project Ararat," who gets a chance to find Noah's Ark and mans an expedition to discover what might remain of it. This is clearly a metaphor for a Holy Grail-type quest where Tiggler's character is set in space, adding a cosmic element to the quest. The character seems influenced by the real astronaut James Irwin.
The narrator
The book's narrator appears in the text as a character in the 1/2 Chapter referred to by the title. Here, Julian says that it is Julian, but in the context of the book, the reader should remember that there is no reason to suspect that the character Julian (that is, the narrator) should agree whatsoever with the real life Julian in any way. Julian the character is completely hypothetical, but offers sincere-sounding analysis of major artworks.
