Why choose Jonah?

As I've mentioned before, I recently held the rather weak conviction that Jonah might have been allegorical rather than historical. That weak conviction has been altered; I'm now weakly convicted that it is historical and not allegorical.

(Cue all the pitchforks and torches, I suppose, since it's apparently a horrible thought to wonder about these things. Sorry, folks. I can't say I'm strongly convicted that something is true if I'm not, not if I'm being honest with you and myself.)

One of the reasons I've been thinking about it is the choice of Jonah in the first place.