It happens that I was in the middle of the book when this was posted on xkcd last week(for anyone who does not regularly read xkcd you should). I think it offers interesting insight into the entire novel. I think, more than anything the book notes the unnatural nature, and consequences of, any man attempting to create life in his own image. The comic portrays a male desire or interest in this incapability, as well as our naivety to what it actually entails. The book shows the consequences of the Rabbi creating Joseph, Avram creating Yod, and God creating man (under the assumption that the destroyed, dystopiate world is the consequence of God creating man).
I will propose a biblical status for personhood (something I don't normally do, but I think it will be fun for this book)--an understanding of good and evil (morality). I suggest that Adam and Eve are not people until they eat the fruit, much like Joseph and Yod are not really people until the begin to understand good, evil , and morality, and children gain personhood as they learn a greater understanding of this.
What God, Avram, and Rabbi failed to realize is that one cannot create a something in our own image, with a high level of consciousness, without them grasping an understanding of these things. Piercy seems to contend that women do understand this, and understand the burden for emotional and moral development of their children.
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