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Part 1, Chapter 4
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Memory and Meaning
Love and Vulnerability
Freedom
Art, Creativity, and Expression
Wonder and Knowledge
Summary
Analysis
Villon-Sur-Sarthe, France. Spring 1701. Years pass, and Adeline is 16. Isabelle dreams about having a family, but Adeline dreams of freedom. Now, Adeline carries a hamper of laundry against her hip as she walks down to the riverbank. When she reaches it, she tips the clothes into the grass, and then she finds the secret sketchbook she hid in the hamper. She removes a page containing one of her favorite drawings and places it in the river as “[a]n offering.”
This passage suggests that Adeline’s dream of freedom and Isabelle’s dream of having a family are mutually exclusive: a person can have personal freedom, or they can have a family—but they can’t have both. This idea further suggests that Adeline is willing to give up close relationships with family to live the adventurous life she desires.
Themes
Adeline prays to the new God when her parents are around, but when they’re not, she prays to the old gods. So far, none of them have answered her prayers—though Adeline suspects that they are listening to her. When George Caron started to pay attention to her last spring, she prayed for him to stop—and then he started to look at Isabelle instead. Now, Isabelle is George’s wife, and she’s pregnant with their first child.
That Adeline hides her worship of the old gods from her parents suggests that they’d be upset if they found out about it. Whether this is simply because they want Adeline to conform to their religious beliefs or because there’s real danger in praying to the old gods remains to be seen. Isabelle’s pregnancy is further proof that freedom and family are mutually exclusive. Isabelle will soon have the family she’s long dreamed of, but the tradeoff is that she won’t have much time for anything else.
Themes
Now, Adeline sits beside the river, removes some bits of charcoal from her pocket, and begins to draw pictures of “a stranger,” filling every blank space in the sketchbook with his image. Addie knows he’s just her imagination—someone she’s created to pass the time. He has black curls, pale eyes, a sharp jaw, and a cupid’s bow mouth. He represents a life she’ll never have, and she thinks of him when she can’t sleep, lying awake and imagining the stranger beside her.
In an earlier chapter, Addie looks at Toby’s physical features and remembers how “the darkness” accused her of having “a type,” as “the darkness” has these same features, too. The “stranger” Addie draws in this scene also shares these physical features, which seems important—might the personified darkness and the stranger be the same person/entity?
Themes
The stranger tells Adeline stories, but they’re different than the ones Adeline’s father used to tell her. These aren’t fairy tales: they’re about real places that lie beyond Villon. Adeline tells the stranger she’d “give anything” to see these places. When Adeline was a little girl, such dreaming was harmless, and her parents reasoned that she’d grow out of it. But she hasn’t grown out of it, and it makes her feel trapped.
Another thing to consider: is Adeline really having discussions with the stranger, or are they imaginary? Given that Adeline, at the novel’s present, has been alive for over 300 years, it’s clear that the world of the novel is one where supernatural or fantastical forces exist, so it’s not unreasonable to figure that Adeline really is talking to the stranger. Finally, this section underscores how determined Addie is to have a more exciting, independent life: she’d “give anything” to see the world—even, perhaps, her soul.
Themes
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