Clothing

Clothing is depicted as a sign of status in the novel. When Cohen the Narrator first meets Kor, he is wearing a T-shirt for a "Beat Leukemia" race that he clearly never ran. Another example comes when Iz walks through the mall with her group of women and sees fashionable clothing. Iz is a Muslim woman who wears an abaya, so she cannot easily be distinguished from other women. Clothing is an aspect of identity, which becomes even more evident when Cohen the Narrator marks her back with his chalky hand-print. Even Cohen the Narrator admits that words are like clothes in that they are used to cloak what really lies beneath, concealing deeper meaning and even functioning as a distraction.

Women

Women are used as symbols of sexuality and fertility throughout the novel. Women such as Iz are depicted as faceless, just like the Venus...