True Colors: A Novel

True Colors is a character-driven novel, and the dynamics between different characters are as central to how the plot unfolds as the characters’ personalities themselves. In particular, the story explores how insecurities can affect personal relationships, with the novel’s events suggesting that addressing these insecurities is necessary to have loving relationships in one’s life. At the same time, the novel also shows that healthy and loving relationships can help individuals overcome their insecurities.

Winona and Noah are two prime examples of how insecurities can harm personal relationships. Winona’s relationship with Vivi Ann is complicated by her comparison of herself to her younger sister. Winona wants to earn Henry’s approval, which he has always afforded Vivi Ann. Winona also struggles with body image issues that cause her to resent her conventionally beautiful sister, and this is exacerbated when Vivi Ann effortlessly wins the heart of the man Winona has loved for years. In her bitterness toward Vivi Ann, Winona makes choices that harm their relationship, like betraying Vivi Ann to Henry and Luke and refusing to help when Dallas is convicted. Noah is similarly angry and frustrated at the world and lashes out at everyone around him, though his insecurities are of a different nature: He is confused and conflicted about his identity because he doesn’t know anything about his father and because he is teased and bullied for his parentage. Noah’s insecurity particularly harms his relationship with his mother, whose grief prevents her from discussing Dallas in the way Noah wants and needs to do.

Winona’s character arc demonstrates how addressing one’s insecurities can improve personal relationships. She finds success professionally, and this helps improve her low self-esteem. Because she feels more settled with herself, she is less desperate for Henry’s approval, less willing to settle for a relationship with Mark, and more able to accept the mistakes she has made in the past and sincerely try to repair them. The result is strengthened, or at least more intentional, relationships with others. Winona distances herself from her father’s toxic behavior, finds a second chance at true love when Luke returns, and grows closer to both Vivi Ann and Noah by taking Dallas’s case (something that also earns her Aurora’s increased respect and support).

The story also suggests that healthy and loving relationships can themselves heal insecurities. Noah’s feelings about himself and his life begin to improve when he meets Cissy. In her, he finds a peer who accepts and loves him despite knowing his family history. He consequently becomes happier and less sullen with everyone else around him, including his mother and aunts. This mirrors Dallas’s experience of beginning a relationship with Vivi Ann, whose love encourages him to step up and be a good father to Noah. Thus, the novel explores the interdependency of insecurities and personal relationships; the former can influence the latter just as the latter can help heal the former.