Unseen greatness
The Book of Mrs. Noah explores the greatness of a character from the minor cast of an epic story which is perhaps the best-known story of all human time. The story of the flood was already one of the most popular myths when written language was invented, and it has been remembered in many fashions throughout the history of the earth, but how many stories zoom in on the wife of the hero? By examining "Mrs. Noah," we realize that it was not in Noah's person that his power was found, but his place in the story. By centralizing Mrs. Noah's place in the story, her greatness becomes evident.
Fate and heroism
The novelist suggests an ironic idea, that the secret to being a hero is actually not found so much in a person's independent strength or weakness, but in their fate. Fate selects a person and then sets the standard for their success or failure. In this book, the protagonist's natural respect for her community leads her to behave in a less authoritative way, winning more people to her side. The irony was that she did not have to do much except be in the right place at the right time and keep her head on her shoulders instead of letting power go to her head.
Feminism and power
Feminine examples of authority abound in both public and private spaces around the world and have always existed. In fact, several examples of women in positions of power are found in the Bible, which makes it extremely ironic that such traditions survive like the celebration of men as of a higher nature than woman. That idea is still preserved in conservative environments. This novel shows plainly why that traditional opinion of gender is foolish. Without amazing the reader with some sort of masculine display of power, the heroine is able to easily succeed in an epic heroic plot.
Venice and doom
Venice is a city whose beauty naturally exemplifies the ironic tension between the remembered past and the forgotten past. With one disaster, so much of Venice's history would be destroyed, and a lot of scientists have predicted exactly such a fate for Venice. Setting the novel within that dynamic is a powerful way of accelerating the naturally religious tone of doom which is found in Noah's story in the first place; although to modern religious folks, the Noah story is remembered for God's mercy and salvation, the story is clearly about God destroying the whole earth with prejudice—pure doom.
Water and irony
Water is an ironic symbol in the text because it is a bad thing and a good thing, first of all—without water to drink, humans shrivel up and die very quickly, but when floodwater rises too far, humans drown. The book plays on this duality in the same way the book of Genesis does, by taking those dual ideas (salvation and destruction) and giving them absolutely infinite associations; now water's destructive power is ultimate, threatening all life (mythically speaking), and why? Because God is angry at the reality he created. The mythic choice to use water (the life giver) to take life away is deeply ironic and archetypally significant.
