I'll Give You the Sun

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.