So, the impotance of whatever message or idea the authour is trying to get the reader to see relies on how the character is shaped, what qualities do they have. Since the bible is a very ancient text, its events are very familiar all around the world, seeing that alot of them are also historically accounted for. Being such a universal and ancient reference gives it alot of weight and validity to our human understanding of ourselves.
I remmember reading the short novel mentioned- The Old Man and the Sea rather quickly one afternoon at school, and it surprised me how fast of a read it had been, im even more ssurprised , having read now that it exhibits very obvious Christian imagery as Foster writes. at the time i was not obviously on the look out for this imagery, but even in my half focused mind i recognized the whole symbol of the fish and the mans relationship to the boy and his community was a primary part of the story, my interpretation did not move exactly in the direction that Foster explains, but as he says, the readers imagination engages and puts together their own puzzle pieces and connections.
This brings me to the unexpected characters who contain the Christlike elements, why would an author create these qualities in such seemingly broken characters? It creates irony no doubt, and confusion within the reader, pulling them in, making the character and their struggle very much more real, i suppose in order to make a reader more sympathetic, showing you another side of them that you wouldnt expect. Christlike qualities are from the 'good' side of the spectrum and helps complete another side of someone broken, eliminating the differences between people and their first impressions of each other and maybe their impression of themselves, allowing for someone to realize their own capabilities of compassion and love or the exact opposite, hidden within themselves.
