What is the importance of the Chinese Lanterns in the book, The Unnamable?

The Chinese lanterns - which decorate the jar that the narrator's limbless body resides in - symbolize the absurdity of existence, by way of their juxtaposition with the narrator's unsettling situation. Generally, the lanterns symbolize good fortune and a hopeful wish for a bright future, which, in light of the narrator's dispiriting and hopeless circumstances, functions as an ironic marker of the complete lack of control he has over his life.