Art is an important symbol and motif in this novel. Tao lives in a world where drawing and painting are forbidden to all but a few Chosen Ones, whose selection is largely dependent on status in the tribe. Cave Painters must be the sons of leaders or chosen by the elders. As Tao is a marginalized figure in his tribe, he is very unlikely to be chosen to be a Cave Painter. The people believe that making images is a sacred act that serves the spirits of the great animals. If the spirits are pleased, they believe that the animals will come to the valley for the hunters to kill, which then feeds and provides for the people. If the spirits are angry, the animals will not come, and the people will starve.

The art taboo for Tao’s people is like that of reading and writing in earlier Western societies. In some Christian and Catholic traditions, common people were discouraged from becoming literate. In American slavery systems, laws were passed forbidding slaves from learning to read or write and criminalizing the act of teaching them. Painting, like reading and writing, conveys an elite status that is highly guarded within the culture.