The Color Black
The color black is featured prominently in the novel as a pattern of ill omen, specifically for Yakov. Every event that would mean harm for either himself or the Jewish community would be preceded or would have an element of black in it. When he leaves the Jewish ghetto, night falls upon him and he is immersed in deep, ominous darkness. The buttons worn by the anti-Semitic group--unsurprisingly called the “Black Hundreds”--are a deep black. The priest that sets out to get rid of the Jews and falsely accuse Yakov, Fr. Anastasy, brings a black umbrella with him when he drops by the Jewish settlement, acting almost like a banner of death.
Misfortune
Yakov is largely a victim of circumstances, seemingly always at the wrong place at the wrong time. The incidences of misfortune are often foreshadowed by smaller, seemingly unrelated occurrences that he participates in that set off a chain of events that ultimately produces a completely disastrous outcome for him. When Yakov picks up an elderly Christian woman, dressed in black, she blesses him for his kindness--an act that he actually considers an ill omen. Later, as if to confirm his superstitious belief, one of the wagon wheels breaks off. Later still he rescues Nikolai Ledebev in the snow, again proving that there might jut be more than a grain of truth to his bad luck. He discovers soon afterwards that the man he rescued is actually a member of an anti-Semitic group. This concept of bad luck however changes during the course of the novel into bad fate. Yakov, it would seem, is fated to just suffer.
Biblical Allusions
Beyond the obvious reference to Jesus there are also allusions to the parable of the Good Samaritan that appear in the novel. This is especially apparent when Yakov selflessly and repeatedly helps those whom, at least from a cultural perspective, individuals whom he should have nothing to do with, much like the Samaritan who helped a badly injured Jew who was ignored by his fellow Jews during his most desperate hour. His humanity shines through consistently, never refusing assistance to anyone only to have it sadly come back to bite him in the end. The choice to make use of the Good Samaritan as reference is also tied up with the author’s outrage against anti-Semitic sentiment effectively emphasizing Yakov’s last statement that a Jew--any Jew, regardless of time and place, no matter how beneficial to society--will ever be looked at favorably, most especially in a unethical government.
Messianic Undertones
There are parallels from the life of Jesus that echo--albeit ironically--in the life of Yakov. He is falsely accused and imprisoned, much like Jesus. Unlike Jesus however, Yakov does not believe in God, and his death will not bring redemption to his people but rather serve as a death knell for the Jews in the shtetl. He is a fall guy, the random Jew that they had just happened to arrest to pin the blame on for the death of a Christian boy. Yakov, despite being a Jew, acts most consistently with Christian ethics and his belief of trying to remain apolitical, his kindness not limited by creed or ethnicity. The characters that condemn him also draw parallels from the passion: Nikolai echoes the high priests condemning Jesus, quoting scriptures out of context, and those that act in his defense are, like Jesus’ followers, persecuted with an equivalent brutality. The saddest irony perhaps is this: Yakov actually inspires others to treat others with great humanity but is maltreated for it.
Social Commentary
The novel, at the very heart of it is an outcry against racism and social injustice; specifically violence and unethical business practices levied against the Jewish nation. Interestingly, the novel doesn’t treat the unfair treatment of the Jewish people as a social evil that needs to be corrected. Instead, it is looked at with a stoic, almost factual outlook as if to say that the hatred of the Jewish people is not a matter that can be fixed but rather a reality that is here to stay. Having said that, because it is something that is inexplicably bound up in the human spirit, it is something that is to be endured much like any human reality like the heat of summer and the cold of winter.