Not Wanted on the Voyage

Dr. Noyes is a faithful worshipper of Yaweh, at least when he is present, but that is where his devotion ends. The head of the family has little care for the wants and needs of its other members. Assured that he always knows best, Dr. Noyes will have obedience or force it through dogma, threats, and abuse. Throughout the story, he refuses to entertain any idea that is not in keeping with his first instinctual understanding of any situation, unflinchingly certain that he is always correct. Dr. Noyes regularly conducts fatal experiments on kittens. Their mother, Mottyl, whom he has blinded through other experiments, describes him as a demon. 

As the story progresses, his abusive behaviors and declining mental state become more apparent. The self-aggrandizing patriarch gives himself a new title and begins mirroring the domestic behaviors of God. He becomes increasingly obsessed with maintaining control of his family through force and the insistence that he is fulfilling Yaweh’s will and is therefore infallible. When he takes actions he considers to be wrong, he races to find a convenient cover story which not only assigns blame to someone else, but also justifies his behavior. When reality conflicts with his delusions such that he can no longer deny the truth, he proves that he would rather falsify evidence confirming his worldview than risk changing it, especially if doing so would mean the risk of losing control.