Light and Christianity
When the sailors ask the Governor of the House of Strangers how Bensalem became a Christian nation, he tells a story about the islanders encountering a large pillar of light coming out of the ocean. This imagery is a conventional way of describing the presence of God, who is often synonymous with light. The Governor's story emphasizes how the island of Bensalem is divinely inspired, and their utopian mission consecrated by Christ.
Clothing
Clothing is an important motif in New Atlantis, and the narrator provides detailed descriptions of the elaborate clothing worn by the Father of Salomon's House, as well as those participants at the Feast of the Family. Clothing imagery is an important marker of one's status on the island of Bensalem, and indeed the Father of Salomon's House wears clothing and dons accessories that convey his powerful but benevolent role.
Ceremony
The imagery of ceremony is present throughout New Atlantis, from the moment the sailors enter the well-provisioned House of Strangers to the one-on-one audience granted to the narrator with the Father of Salomon's House. Nowhere is ceremony more thoroughly described than during the Feast of the Family, where family members celebrate their patriarch and one of his children (the Son of the Vine) through elaborate rituals and richly adorned clothing, accessories, and symbols of familial prosperity.
Europe
As Bensalem is described in utopian terms and often associated with light and purity, Europe is consequently described with unsavory imagery. Joabin alludes to brothels, courtesans, and "dissolute houses" as staples of Europe, portraying European society as comparatively "dark" and morally corrupt.
