more on Lloyd as cake

I am a bit reluctant to venture this interpretation of Lloyd as cake on his death bed, but here goes. I believe this is part of Ozeki's Christian symbolism in the book. I'm convinced she puts a lot of it in the book, but I'm also sure she puts in other symbolism I don't fully understand, some associated with pagan mythology, some with eastern mysticism.

Lloyd, however, is, at one level, a symbol of the Father and Creator. After all he puts the stars on the ceiling of Yumi's bedroom (see page 26) and he stands as the one who drives Yumi from the garden after her fall (consider the gardens in this book, and I think you will see a number of myths at work, including the story of the Garden of Eden).

At another level, Lloyd is a symbol of God the Son. In the first hospital scene (pages 28 ff), he is reciting Psalm 22, a psalm that in Christian tradition is associated with Jesus's suffering on the cross. Now, the cake scene, page 354, is like a party in palliative care and Lloyd is the big white cake, covering, as it were the table, around which his disciples (remember he is the "prophet of the revolution") are gathered. I think Ozeki is depicting Lloyd as the Eucharistic Host, the bread of the communion rite. The communion service in Christianity is tied to Jesus' last meal, the last supper, on earth, during which he told his disciples to eat the bread which "is my body given for you."