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Meaning and Purpose
Themes and Colors
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Hugo and Isabelle are both children who are more mature than they should have to be at their age. Part of their maturity comes from the fact that they are both orphans who have had to find their own way in the world. Although Isabelle has Georges and Jeanne to look after her, she becomes independent at a young age and is often out wandering the Paris streets by herself. Meanwhile, following the death of his father, Hugo is almost completely on his own. Although his Uncle Claude is around, he is more of a hindrance than a helpful role model, and, before long, Claude disappears anyway. Essentially, Hugo acts as an adult: he doesn’t go to school, he works a job, and he supports himself.
Repeatedly, however, the adults in the story underestimate Hugo and Isabelle because they are children. The Station Inspector does not believe Hugo could maintain the clocks by himself, and no one would have believed that Hugo could reconstruct the automaton on his own. Sometimes adults try unsuccessfully to trick Hugo and Isabelle or keep information from them. Georges tells Hugo he burned his notebook, but Hugo quickly finds out he is lying. Similarly, Jeanne and Georges try to keep the truth of Georges’ past from the children, but they manage to find out anyway using their investigative skills. And their maturity isn’t limited to skills or street smarts; even though Hugo and Isabelle aren’t as emotionally mature as adults, they do have the maturity to come to terms with their troubled pasts and share their problems with one another on their own. In fact, the children even help Georges to accept his past and return to his former, jovial self. This suggests that Hugo and Isabelle’s difficult pasts have not only equipped them to fend for themselves, but also to help others.
Time and time again, Isabelle and Hugo use the precocious abilities they’ve gained through their hardships to meet challenges. Although Isabelle and Hugo’s upbringings are far from ideal, they enabled both children to develop traits and skills that are useful both for themselves and the adults in their lives.
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Hardship and Maturity ThemeTracker
The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Hardship and Maturity appears in each part of The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
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Hardship and Maturity Quotes in The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Below you will find the important quotes in The Invention of Hugo Cabret related to the theme of Hardship and Maturity.
Part 1, Chapter 1: The Thief
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“Ghosts. . .” the old man muttered to himself. “I knew they would find me here eventually.”
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Part 1, Chapter 5: Hugo’s Father
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Dogs barked in the distance, and the rumblings of the street cleaners pierced the quiet of the night. Where was Hugo supposed to go? What was he supposed to do? He had no one. Even the automaton was dead.
Part 1, Chapter 6: Ashes
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Hugo touched the ashes and then let them fall to the floor with the handkerchief. He staggered backwards. All of his plans, all of his dreams, disappeared in that scattered pile of ash.
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Part 1, Chapter 12: The Message
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Suddenly, Hugo felt stupid for thinking he could fix it and especially for imagining there would be a letter from his father waiting for him.
All his work had been for nothing.
Hugo felt broken himself.
Part 2, Chapter 5: Papa Georges Made Movies
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He related the whole story, from his father’s discovery of the automaton up in the attic of the museum, to the fire, to the arrival and disappearance of his uncle. He told her about discovering the toys in her godfather’s booth and how he used them to fix the automaton. He told her everything.
When Hugo finished, Isabelle was quiet for a few moments, then she said, “Thank you.”
Part 2, Chapter 6: Purpose
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“Maybe it’s the same with people,” Hugo continued. “If you lose your purpose . . . it’s like you’re broken.
“Like Papa Georges?”
“Maybe . . . maybe we can fix him.”
“Before you go home, come with me,” Hugo said, and he helped Isabelle through the nearest air vent into the walls. Between Hugo’s injured hand and Isabelle’s sprained foot, it was extremely difficult for them to get up the staircases and the ladder, but they helped each other and at least they came to the glass clocks that overlooked the city.
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Part 2, Chapter 9: The Ghost in the Station
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“Remember the drunken old Timekeeper of the station?” continued Madame Emile. “It was him! Dead for years!”
Part 2, Chapter 10: A Train Arrives in the Station
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When Hugo opened his eyes, all he could see where stars. Stars and moons and what looked like a rocket ship. It was the cape from A Trip to the Moon, and Georges Méliès was wearing it.
Part 2, Chapter 12: Winding it Up
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Once upon a time, I was a boy named Hugo Cabret, and I desperately believed that a broken automaton would save my life. Now, that my cocoon has fallen away and I have emerged as a magician named Professor Alcofrisbas, I can look back and see that I was right.
But now I have built a new automaton [. . .]. When you wind it up, it can do something I’m sure no other automaton in the world can do. It can tell you the incredible story of Georges Méliès, his wife, their goddaughter, and a beloved clock maker whose son grew up to be a magician.
