I'll Give You the Sun

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2014

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

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

Beta

Discussion Questions

Chapters 1-2Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary: “The Invisible Museum: Noah, Age 13”

Noah Sweetwine is chased by Zephyr and Fry, two older boys from the neighborhood who regularly bully him. They catch him and go through his sketchbook, which is filled with sketches of Michelangelo’s David, Noah’s twin sister Jude, and drawings of Zephyr and Fry as well, which Noah drew while spying on them as they surfed. Noah worries that if Zephyr and Fry see the latter, they will beat Noah up. Fry begins to rip up Noah’s sketches, but Zephyr stops him when they reach the sketches of Jude. Noah suspects that it is because Zephyr has a crush on Jude and is relieved that the boys do not flip further. Zephyr and Fry prepare to throw Noah over Devil’s Drop, the second-highest jump on the hill overlooking the sea. Noah is terrified of drowning and dying and begins to thrash about, preventing the boys from getting a good grip on him. In the process, he develops an erection, and Zephyr drops Noah as soon as he realizes this. However, Zephyr does not call Noah out on it, leaving with Fry instead. Noah runs away to a cave near a creek where he proceeds to black out whole, blank pages of sketchbook using his charcoals, titling them “(A SERIES: Boy Inside a Box of Darkness)” (7) in his head.

At dinner the next night, Noah and Jude’s mother, Dianna, announces that she has a message from Grandma Sweetwine. Grandma Sweetwine was Noah and Jude’s paternal grandmother. Before she died, she promised Jude that if she ever needed her, Grandma would reappear. While Dianna, an art history professor, subscribes to Grandma’s worldview and believes in signs, superstitions, and connecting with the afterlife, her husband Benjamin, a scientist, doesn’t. He dismisses Dianna’s announcement, which annoys her; Dianna and Benjamin have not been getting along lately. Jude is eager to hear Grandma’s message, and Dianna describes how Grandma appeared next to her in the car as she was driving by California School of Arts, suggesting that it would be a perfect fit for the twins. Jude is disappointed that this is the message, but Noah is thrilled and voices his enthusiasm, mind-painting “(SELF-PORTRAIT: A Window Flies Open in My Chest)” (12-13) as he imagines attending CSA.

Dianna explains that it will take them a year to prepare, as CSA is one of the best and very difficult to get into. She believes that the twins have natural ability and is excited to start museum and gallery visits on the weekends, and have the twins do “drawing contests” between each other. Her excitement revs up Noah, though Jude is silently disinterested. Benjamin asks Dianna to slow down with her plans and stop projecting her unfulfilled dreams on the twins, at which point Dianna asks the twins to leave the room, an argument between the parents brewing.

While waiting in the next room, Jude confesses that she thought Grandma’s message might have been about something more magical or profound. She does not want to go to CSA, telling Noah that only “freaks” go there; this excites Noah even further, as he is a self-admitted recluse. To cheer Jude up, Noah suggests that Grandma’s message may be prompted by the flying women that Jude has been sculpting in the sand, though Jude thinks the message is because of Noah. Their parents’ sudden yelling cuts through the conversation, and Noah sketches a "(PORTRAIT: Mom and Dad with Screeching Tea Kettles for Heads)” (17) in his head. Jude and Noah sit shoulder to shoulder in a pose Noah calls the “smush.” It is their pose, one they have been seen in since their very first ultrasound picture; when Noah sketches himself and Jude in any position but the “smush,” he draws them as half-people. The “smush” allows Noah to block out his parents’ yelling as well as what happened the previous day, calming the twins down until they feel like "one complete and whole person” (18).

A week later, everything changes between the twins. After winning the argument about CSA, Noah, Jude, and Dianna visit the city museum on the weekend. The twins are having a drawing contest of which Dianna will be the judge, and Jude continually glares at Noah, believing that his drawings are turning out better than hers. At the museum café, Dianna and Jude discuss Grandma, and Dianna gives Jude Grandma’s “Bible”—a handwritten “encyclopedia of odd beliefs” (19) collected by Grandma throughout her life. It has been bequeathed to Jude, as Grandma believed that she carried the “Sweetwine Gift.”

Dianna asks to see the twins’ work, and Noah hands his over: four pastel drawings based on work hanging in the museum. Noah can tell Dianna thinks they are good, as she looks through the drawings multiple times, then up at Noah in wonder. Simultaneously, Noah can feel Jude’s jealousy. Dianna finally declares that contests are “silly” without even looking at Jude’s work, going on to declare Noah’s work “extraordinary.” Noah is thrilled, but Jude crumples inwardly, and declines to show Dianna her own work when Dianna finally asks. While Jude is clearly Benjamin’s favorite child, Noah and Jude had never been able to figure out who Dianna’s favorite was; now, both realize that it is Noah.

Chapter 2 Summary: “The History of Luck: Jude, Age 16; 3 years later”

Three years later, Jude is a student at CSA. Noah did not get into CSA, and Dianna died two years ago when her car veered off a cliff as she was driving. Ever since, Jude has been on a “boy boycott,” having cut off her long, blond hair and keeping the rest hidden underneath a skullcap, while she dresses exclusively in oversized, boyish clothes. Jude has also developed hypochondriacal tendencies, constantly checking herself for various rare and severe illnesses, as well as an obsessive adherence to Grandma’s “Bible” and its prescriptions for luck. At CSA, Jude is nicknamed “Calamity Jude” or “CJ,” because all her work keeps mysteriously breaking. Her classmates and teachers think that she is careless, but Jude knows that Dianna is consistently destroying Jude’s artwork, rising from the grave because she is angry with Jude.

Jude receives peer feedback on her latest assignment, a clay sculpture that is supposed to be a self-portrait; hers is a broken and re-glued blob. As Jude half-listens to her peers’ criticisms on her work, Grandma appears as she often does, visible only to Jude, and begins chatting with her. Sandy, Jude’s advisor, meets with her after class. He explains that along with all the breakage in the kiln, Jude’s lack of investment in her work and her self-isolation is causing the faculty concern. Jude offers to give up her spot, but Sandy insists that Jude deserves to be at CSA, referencing the pictures of the sand women that came in as part of her application. Jude is taken aback, as she had only sent in dress patterns and sample dresses. She wonders if Noah secretly took pictures of the sculptures and sent them in, feeling guilty about how Noah has not picked up a pencil or paintbrush since he found out that he didn’t get into the school.

Sandy asks Jude if there is anything that she truly needs to say with her art; a picture of Michelangelo’s David in Sandy’s office gives Jude an idea, and she insists that she has something she must make in stone. Confident that Dianna won’t be able to break a stone sculpture as easily, Jude decides to create something that will impress Dianna enough to forgive her. Sandy gives Jude the name of a sculptor outside the institute—Guillermo Garcia. Dianna interviewed Guillermo years ago and described him as “the kind of man who walks into a room and all the walls fall down” (37). However, Sandy warns Jude that Guillermo is as eccentric as he is brilliant and has not mentored anyone for a couple of years; something tragic seems to have happened to him. Jude Googles Guillermo and decides to visit him right away. Grandma appears and accompanies her, criticizing Jude’s outfit along the way. She asks Jude to grow her hair back and wear something else, concerned about the lack of suitors in Jude’s life, to which Jude reiterates that her being with a boy is as dangerous as any portent of death.

Damp and cold from walking through thick fog, Jude stops at a church along the way to dry off and warm up; while she does so, she begins to strategize about how she will convince Guillermo to take her on. A loud noise startles Jude out of her thoughts, and she discovers that a boy has knocked over some candlesticks at the altar. The boy apologizes for scaring Jude in an English-accented voice. Jude is immediately attracted to him. He has a camera, and begins taking photographs of Jude, which she protests because of the “Bible”: “Every picture taken of you reduces your spirit and shortens your life” (42). However, the boy manages to convince Jude to let him take just one picture, and he does so while calling her perfect. Before he leaves, he tells Jude “You’re her,” which confuses her. She has the feeling that she’s seen the boy before.

Jude leaves for Guillermo’s studio, determined to put her guard up against the boy despite the obvious attraction between them. She does not want to be “that girl,” as her mother asked her while criticizing Jude’s appearance on the way to a party the night before she died. According to the “Bible,” “What someone says to you right before they die will come true” (46). Jude remembers how she lost her virginity to Zephyr two years ago; she felt unready and far too young but could not bring herself to say no. Dianna died that same night, convincing Jude that her being with a boy is what brought their family bad luck.

Jude arrives at Guillermo’s studio. He answers the door on the third knock but looks very different from his photographs online: He is drunk, his hair and beard unkempt. To Jude’s concerned query, he responds that he is not okay, and shuts the door in her face. The door opens again upon Jude’s repeated knocking, and it is the boy from the church, looking as surprised as Jude feels. Jude hears things being hurled and broken from inside the studio as the boy apologizes and claims that it is not a good time, before shutting the door again.

Jude receives a message from Heather, one of Noah’s friends, that he is headed to Devil’s Drop. Jude and Grandma head to the beach and hide in the brush above, waiting to save Noah’s life if necessary. Two weeks after Dianna died, Noah jumped and got caught in a riptide, and almost drowned; Jude was the one to retrieve him, and she had been furious and terrified. Ever since, whenever Noah proceeds to the beach, Heather secretly informs Jude. Noah and Heather appear, and Noah makes the jump. However, before he hits the water, he slows down. This happens every time, and Jude cannot fathom if it is just her imagination making it so. She catches a glimpse of his face as he falls, and Grandma comments that he looks like the old Noah. When he emerges from the water, however, no trace of this remains.

Chapters 1-2 Analysis

I’ll Give You the Sun is written in chapters that alternate between Noah and Jude’s perspectives. Noah’s chapters detail events that take place in the year between when they are 13 and 14; Jude’s chapters take place when the twins are 16. The alternation between Noah and Jude’s perspectives continually points at how each twin holds different pieces of the same story, and as the narrative progresses, the story comes together for both the readers and the characters.

The first two chapters of the book introduce most of its cast: the twins, Noah and Jude Sweetwine; their parents, Dianna and Benjamin Sweetwine; their paternal grandmother, Grandma Sweetwine; Guillermo Garcia; and Oscar Ralph, though his name is not revealed yet. Art is such a huge part of Noah’s world and identity, that even when he does not have paper and pencil in his hands, he is continually “mind-painting” his experiences and interactions with the world. Noah’s talent and affinity for the same brings him closer to Dianna, who is deeply invested in her children attending CSA.

Jude, on the other hand, is not as keen on attending the institute. A younger Jude is vivacious and well-loved; she is portrayed to be Noah’s protector, even when she is not present in person, as it is the sight of her sketch that prompts Zephyr to stop Fry from destroying Noah’s sketchbook. This dynamic between Jude and Noah is a recurring one—Jude is the one to pull Noah out when he jumps from Devil’s Drop and almost downs, after Dianna’s death. In keeping with her role as protector, she keeps tabs on Noah and makes sure she is nearby whenever he cliff-dives, to step in and help him if needed. Jude’s protective instincts towards Noah exist despite the rift between the twins.

The constant friction between Jude and Noah highlights the novel’s theme of Rivalry and Identity in Sibling Relationships. Though the reader may assume the root of Noah and Jude’s rivalry to be Dianna’s reaction to Noah’s work, further events over the course of the book indicate that it runs deeper. This is hinted at when Dianna tells Jude that Grandma Sweetwine has bequeathed her “Bible” solely to Jude. Noah and Jude are constantly perceiving instances of favoritism or preference for one twin over the other. Up until the crack in their relationship beginning with the museum visit, Noah viewed Jude and himself as two halves of one person. The Rock, Paper, Scissors game is an illustration of this unity: they are so attuned to each other that they have never been able to choose differently. Despite this, however, clear differences between the two do exist: Noah’s introversion is contrasted with Jude’s sociability, and these traits invert in the later timelines. Noah’s artistic talent is ever-present and obvious to everyone around him, while Jude’s is kept a secret even from her loved ones. Where these differences complemented each other when the twins were younger, they contribute to a rift when they are older. This change is reflected in the ways the twins alter their identities: Noah gives up art, while Jude becomes a recluse.

The latter is particularly influenced by Jude’s belief that her being with a boy spells a portent of death. The discomfort, regret, and trauma that Jude feels upon having been pressured into a sexual encounter with a boy is inextricably linked to Dianna’s death, in her mind. Thus, Jude self-imposes a “boy boycott,” goes to great lengths to make herself appear unattractive, develops a hypochondriacal paranoia about illness and death, and compulsively practices all of Grandma’s “Bible” recommendations to ward off the former. The Interconnection of Love, Luck, and Destiny is another major theme explored in the book, with the aspect of luck continually addressed through the “Bible” passages Jude keeps referencing.

Jude avoids her attraction to Oscar by citing the “Bible” and holding fast to its declarations as she fears a relationship developing with a boy. The supernatural or inexplicable aspect of luck and destiny, and their impact on love, are also illustrated in numerous ways. Jude upholds her beliefs in luck and destiny and their impact on love as she is convinced that her mother is the culprit behind her broken sculptures. Because she went against her loving mother’s wishes, Jude believes her luck to be marred. Jude recognizes her destiny will continue to be one of broken sculptures and an art school withdrawal if she does not appease Dianna. Noah’s lies to his sister and father about Dianna’s intentions for reconciliation are sourced from love, but his luck and destiny are both hindered by his own omissions in the process. The novel becomes one of magical realism as the narrative supports no other explanation for Grandma Sweetwine and Dianna’s appearances to Jude or as to why her art continues to be sabotaged.

That Jude and Noah believe wholeheartedly and tolerate the idea of Grandma Sweetwine and Dianna’s ideals, respectively, demonstrates a guiding set of principles between the two. Where the twins eventually find a middle ground, Benjamin and Dianna clash over their beliefs while their relationship disintegrates. Benjamin is a rational and logical person and doesn’t hold space for possibilities off the beaten path. This stands in sharp contrast to Dianna, who Noah later describes as a “blow in,” or someone who has arrived on earth from another universe. Dianna embraces the magical just as much as Benjamin rejects it. A major plot point in these initial chapters is the tension that is already present between Dianna and Benjamin. Thus, the early chapters set up interrelationship conflict, between Dianna and Benjamin, as well as between Noah and Jude.