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Part 3, Chapter 5
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
Paris, France. July 29, 1724. Addie wipes away tears as she walks through the empty street. Then Luc appears, dressed impeccably. Addie hates how relieved she is to see him. And this just makes her hate him more. Luc tells Addie he has come because he can sense when she’s vulnerable. Then, eying her men’s clothing, he notes that he liked her “in red.” Addie realizes that he was watching her four years ago.
Luc comes to see Addie when she needs him to come to her—not when she wants him there of her own accord, as was the case years ago, when she dressed “in red” and prepared a feast for him that he willfully chose not to partake of. Once more, this is a power play on Luc’s part meant to disarm and put Addie in her place, showing her which of them holds the power and control in their relationship.
Themes
Addie tries to appear strong; she hasn’t missed Luc and doesn’t need his visits, she tells him. Luc is unfazed. If that’s the case, Luc suggests, maybe he will abandon their visits altogether. The thought of this terrifies Addie, but she tries not to show it. She tells Luc that he would never abandon her, for then he would never get her soul. Luc tries to get Addie to yield her soul to him now, but she refuses.
Addie and Luc’s odd, almost quasi-romantic relationship is founded not on mutual vulnerability and understanding, but on a battle over who has more power and control over the other. Their playing field is never level—Luc always has a godlike superiority over Addie, and Addie always wields her mortal soul over Luc—and so, the novel seems to suggest, this is why they will always fail to connect with each other.
Themes
Darkness eventually breaks. Addie walks to the top of the Sacre Coeur and watches the sun rise over Paris. She almost forgot the Voltaire book she stole from Remy’s room. She picks it up now and tries to read it. The word on its cover, Henriade, is unfamiliar. She closes her eyes and tries to remember the joy with which Remy spoke of reading, learning, and thinking. And then she begins her own educational journey.
La Henriade is an epic poem by Voltaire. It was published in 1723 to honor the life of Henry IV of France. Not only does the book represent Addie’s sense of wonder and quest for knowledge that drives her to continue living, but it also seems to foreshadow the relationship she will later develop with another Henry many centuries down the road.
Themes
