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Part 6, Chapter 17
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
It’s nearly time. Henry and Addie are on the roof—the same roof that Henry nearly jumped from one year ago. The storm grows more violent. Addie grips Henry’s hand tightly. Henry wonders what it will feel like to lose his soul. Will it feel like a heart attack? Will something compel him to jump from the roof as he’d originally planned to do? He realizes that he doesn’t need to know anything, though, because he’s ready. And because Addie is by his side.
This section shows how much Henry’s character has changed over the course of the novel. Before, he resented his flaws and insecurities and the way they made him emotionally vulnerable. He made his deal with Luc because he thought that being able to control the way others felt about him would improve his quality of life and shield him from pain and suffering. Now, Henry understands that there is balance and beauty in accepting life’s uncertainties, even if that leaves him vulnerable to pain and confusion.
Themes
Henry’s watch has stopped ticking. Addie is speaking to Henry, but he can’t hear what she’s saying. But then he listens. Addie is telling him to listen and write everything down. Henry nods. The journals are on the shelf, he tells Addie: he’s written everything she’s told him to write. But Addie shakes her head: she hasn’t told Henry how the story ends.
Suddenly, Henry’s fate is less certain. On the surface, the “story” that Addie is talking about seems to be her own—the story that Henry translated into words and wrote in his notebooks. But when Addie shakes her head, it’s clear that she’s not talking about her story alone—she’s talking about her and Henry’s story: the one they’ve written together. Tension builds as the reader waits to see what final trick Addie has up her sleeve.
Themes
