Mrs. Noah
The title character is the protagonist of the novel is a present-day woman and the ark is metaphorical. Notably, however, in this retelling it is really Mrs. Noah’s ark rather than the possessive being associated with the patriarchal figure of the story. This figurative ark exists in Mrs. Noah’s mind as a feminist vessel onto which women can board to tell their own stories which have been ignored or diminished. Everything which proceeds forth from this construction is thus allegorical in nature rather than a literal reinterpretation of the story associated with the Flood.
Jack
Jack is the Noah figure here. He is, as might be suspected, the husband of Mrs. Noah, but the very fact that he is called Jack indicates the level of sophistication involved here in the use of symbolism to reconstruct the story of the ark as allegory. Jack is a devoted Noah-figure, placing God before all else and in this case, of course, God equals patriarchal domination committed to submission of the feminine.
The Sibyls
A group of women collectively referred to as the Sibyls represent the symbolic passengers aboard Mrs. Noah’s ark. The narrative is constructed partly as a series of prophetic tales which contribute to the complexity of the allegorical reinvention of the story of Noah. These stores are feminist in nature and thus reveal gaps and absences in the familiarity of the stories which they repurpose, foremost among them being the mythological romance of Daphne and Apollo. These stories comprise the centerpiece of the thematic floor plan of the narrative, creating a pathway to fitting together all the myriad components which may seem unrelated when approached out of context.
The Gaffer
In a book bearing such a title as this, it probably should not be surprising that the most significant male character is not Noah, but a mysterious figure known as “the Gaffer.” He attempts to impose a patriarchal presence within the Sibyls by announcing himself as literally the person who speaks “the Word of God.” This is literally true relative to his claim to be mired in the depths of an extreme case of writer’s block ever since finishing his last project: the Bible. Ironically, however, it is his presence that stimulates some of the efforts made by the Sibyls to fill in the gaps in the written historical record.
