I'll Give You the Sun

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2014

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-6

Chapters 7-8

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Noah’s Mind-Paintings

Noah’s mind-paintings form a motif throughout the book as the chapters containing Noah’s narrative are consistently interspersed with mind-paintings that capture his response to events. The mind-paintings highlight which aspects of Noah’s experiences are significant to him as a character, as well as how he perceives different people and incidents. Besides lending insight into Noah as a character, the mind-paintings also serve as a motif for the theme of Self-Expression in Art. Noah’s constant mind-painting displays how he is naturally inclined to viewing and responding to the world in his own, unique way. He is able to translate these mind-paintings into tangible art as a medium for creative self-expression. Even when Noah stops making art and turns into an unrecognizable version of himself in the later timeline, one of the few things indicating that the real Noah is still trapped inside himself is Jude’s conviction that Noah is still mind-painting. This is confirmed when, unable to contain all the paintings in his head any longer, they burst forth in a magical display of color and skill when Noah spray paints the wall at an abandoned construction site. Fittingly, Noah’s chapters are all titled “The Invisible Museum,” in reference to the paintings that are created and housed solely inside his head.

Grandma Sweetwine’s “Bible”

Grandma Sweetwine’s “Bible” is introduced in the very first chapter, and is described as a handwritten encyclopedic collection of numerous beliefs about luck, collected throughout Grandma’s lifetime. As an object, it points to numerous things: the element of the magical and the supernatural that exists in the book, as well as the favoritism that exists within the family towards one twin or the other, as the Bible is bequeathed only to Jude. Passages from the Bible are interspersed throughout Jude’s chapters, echoing the mind-paintings that appear in Noah’s chapters. Like Noah’s mind-painting references, the Bible entries display how Jude perceives and interacts with the world around her, giving insight into her character.

The Bible passages also point to the theme of The Interconnection of Love, Luck, and Destiny. They are a reminder of Jude’s obsession with warding off bad luck and a response to the lack of agency she felt with both her first sexual experience, as well as her mother’s death. While the former is something she takes back control of later, Dianna’s death is something she must come to terms with, as it was an unforeseeable and unpredictable event. The passages also point to how destiny plays a role in the story: Oscar and Jude exchange oranges, and their love for each other intensifies, like the Bible declares it would. The fate of the Bible also points to the limitations of luck, and how life is an interaction of choice and destiny. Thus, rather than choose to blindly depend on the dictates of the book and limit her life, Jude chooses the use the book differently and create art out of its pages. Fittingly, and paralleling the naming of Noah’s chapters, Jude’s are titled “The History of Luck,” referencing the role that the idea of luck, influenced by the Bible, plays in Jude’s journey.

Rock, Paper, Scissors

The game of Rock, Paper, Scissors is an important symbol that reflects the journey of Noah and Jude’s relationship and their respective discoveries of their individual identities. At the beginning of the book, Noah describes how he and Jude have never chosen differently, indicating how their identities are closely entwined with each other. The game highlights Noah’s perception of himself and Jude functioning as two halves of a whole. By the end of the book, however, the twins are unable to choose the same way, no matter how much they try: Their separation from each other and development of unique identities is complete.

Beyond this, the objects of Rock, Paper, and Scissors within the game also each indicate Noah and Jude’s journey with identity. Despite Noah’s perception of Jude and him as sharing a soul, there are obvious differences from the start, including the medium of art in which they are comfortable creating. Noah sketches, draws, and paints, represented by the Paper in the game. Jude sculpts, moving from sand to clay and finally to stone, represented by the Rock in the game. Noah and Jude’s separation from each other, key to the development of their individual identities, is symbolized by Jude sawing her sculpture of the conjoined twins in half. This separation is symbolized by the Scissors in the game.