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Part 4, Chapter 1
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
Henry sits alone on a step outside. He’s too drunk. He fishes around in his pocket for the pills Muriel gave him (“Little pink umbrellas,” she called them) and swallows them dry. It’s pouring now. He’s soaking wet, but he doesn’t care.
The depth of Henry’s despair reaffirms the novel’s main idea that emotional vulnerability and the possibility of being hurt are a fundamental part of any meaningful, genuine human connection.
Themes
A strange man (Luc) sits down beside Henry and says, “Bad night.” The man is dressed in a swanky suit and trench coat. He has black hair and a sharp jaw, and the rain doesn’t touch him—he’s completely dry. Henry wonders if the man is a ghost. The man asks Henry what he wants. Henry says he feels alone and confused; he doesn’t know what others want from him and wishes they would love him. The man says he can make people love Henry—in exchange for Henry’s soul. Not quite believing that any of this is even happening, Henry agrees and makes a deal with the man.
As he did with Addie, the strange man/Luc offers to give Henry the one thing he thinks he wants—to be loved. But as with Addie, it’s clear that what Luc gives Henry is a distorted version of that wish. Present-day Henry has no shortage of admirers, yet his recurrent complaint is that none of their admiration is “real.” Another interesting detail to note is that Henry’s deal/curse is essentially the inverse of Addie’s: Addie gave up love and connection for freedom/immortality, while Henry gave up his freedom to live out his natural life for love.
Themes
