Noah's Ark
The Ark is a symbol of rescue, or salvation, but in this book it also represents the institution that protects religious tradition. The narrator sides with the woodworms who also feel they are divinely created, like the other animals, but whose job it is to eat wood. Will they try to eat the Ark? Possibly. That makes Noah disenfranchise them because they threaten his institution. Then, in "Project Ararat," Noah's Ark is seen as a kind of Holy Grail, the mythic object of a sacred quest.
Jonah and the fish
Without a doubt, one of the most compelling stories of all Jewish folklore is the tale of the lonely prophet Jonah who is asked to go to a people he despises to offer them God's salvation. Instead, he runs away, and in this book, there is a retelling of his descent toward the sea, then into the sea as God's wrath boils against them, to be eaten by a fish and vomited back up later. This story is shown in tandem with two others, one where refugees are accepted (the Titanic episode), and one where they are rejected (the US rejecting Jewish refugees).
Mountain imagery
The novel makes use of an important religious motif that connects mountains with mysticism. The goal of a mystic journey on a mountain is to unite one's soul to God, and that motif is seen in "Project Ararat," where Spike Tiggler (a name that should win awards) is heading toward "Ararat," where he hopes to find Noah's Ark, because Noah's Ark landed on a mountain. Then there is the story, "The Mountain," where a woman makes her mystic voyage to a monastery to try and make atonement for the sins of her father.
The Parenthetical
The title references a half-chapter that we find lodged between Chapters Eight and Nine. This chapter is a metafictional essay where the narrator (who expressly denies being the author!) explains his (but not the author's) opinion of art and literature. The depiction uses layers to construct a kind of "Chain of Being," where the reader sees levels of reality. The narrator is less real than the artist, and the opinion of the narrator is further removed still. This is a potent symbol that deserves thorough treatment, especially in light of the transcendental religious motifs found in other chapters.
Art as a symbol
The use of art as a symbol is also an important quality of these stories. The most striking is the allusion to the Bible and its folklore, but also important are the depictions of The Raft of the Medusa by the painter Gericault, and also the parenthetical descriptions of El Greco's Burial of the Count of Orgaz. Then, there are other works of literature referenced, all in a suggestive manner that can be used to decipher this book, which is also art.
