Analysis Of I Ll Give You The Sun Moral Ambiguity

Moral ambiguity can be defined as obscurity in the ethics of characters when making certain decisions. Morally ambiguous characters are important to many works of literature because they often play an important part in the conflict/plot. In Jandy Nelson’s book, “ I’ll Give You the Sun”, the two fraternal twins’ moral classification can be disputed. Noah and Jude’s intense sibling rivalry causes them to do morally questionable things. Sibling rivalry is quite an issue in reality and in this book; however, because Noah and Jude are twins the rivalry between them is much more intense.Their moral ambiguity is derived from this rivalry in besting one another and competing for attention. Although they are two separate characters, it is essential that they are also viewed as one to fully understand the conflict and their actions.

Noah seeking love and acceptance made some bad decisions. Some of these bad decisions allow him to be perceived as evil. He, knowing that his sister has good sculpting talents, destroys all of her sculptures so that his mother wouldn’t notice them and continue to keep paying attention to him and his drawings. Noah struggles with his sexuality and he’s scared of what that means for him. He’s was constantly bullied and mistreated for being gay even though the abuser didn’t quite know that for sure. His father seemed to suspect it however and Noah feels like he treats him as if he were broken, so he resents his father for it. Because of all this once Noah’s mom really notices his talent he becomes absorbed in this kind praise and love so he doesn’t want to let it go. While destroying Jude’s sculptures and keep their mom’s love for himself is blatantly cruel and morally questionable upon further analyzing his character it is difficult to classify him as either purely good or purely