Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Let's talk about loincloths, shall we? Because—while that's definitely something we never thought we'd ever say at work—in this book, the loincloth covering Jesus's man bits in depictions of him on the cross bothers Torey a whole heckofa lot.
Why is Torey so concerned with what's going on in Jesus's nether-region, you ask? Because the loincloth represents something that Torey grapples with throughout the book: denial of truth in favor of comfort. See, Jesus was totally naked when he died, so by always showing him with this little loincloth, the truth of his death is being, well, covered-up. And this just doesn't sit well with Torey who, in case you hadn't noticed, is kind of on a truth mission in this book.
Though Reverend Harmon tries to differentiate between a lie and a, er, loincloth by saying, "[…] it's not a lie. It's a cover-up" (2.9) when Torey voices his concern, Torey can't get past the idea that what it amounts to is picking some facts and throwing out others, which he understands as a way of creating a sense of reality that's easier to cope with, but not fully true (for the record, we're inclined to agree with him).
The loincloth on depictions of Jesus isn't the only cover-up in the book, though, and we see fact selection occur repeatedly, perhaps most notably in Mrs. Creed's continued refusal to believe that Chris wrote the note about his unhappiness, even though he read it to her himself before leaving. She denies this to the very end, either unwilling or unable to accept the truth that her son was unhappy at home, and that he ran away from her as much as he ran away from anything or anyone else.
Torey sums up Jesus's loincloth—and the various other cover-ups in the book it represents—best himself. He says:
People only see as far as they are able, and the rest of the truth is lost on them. A kid in the midst of us led a tortured existence. Bo Richardson wants to be everyone's mother. Christ died naked. (21.16)
Loincloths: not just garments anymore, but symbols for hiding difficult truths from ourselves.