Previous
Part 6, Chapter 2
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
Chicago, Illinois. July 29, 1928. There’s a stained-glass angel over the bar. But this is a speakeasy, not a church. Everybody here has heard about the place only through word of mouth. Addie loves it here. She dances alone to the jazz music that pulses through the space. It’s nearly midnight now, and she touches the wooden ring that hangs from a silver cord around her neck. She often reaches for the ring, especially when she’s lonely. But for 14 years, she’s been too “stubborn” to put it on. She wants to win this battle against Luc.
Juxtaposed with Addie’s thoughts about the uncertainty and vulnerability that characterizes mortal love, this scene plays up how clear-cut and decisive her immortal relationship with Luc is. Nothing is left to chance or mystery: if she slips the ring onto her finger, Luc will know without question that she wants him there.
Themes
Addie orders a gin fizz at the bar, but the bartender hands her a glass of Champagne instead. Addie smiles when she sees it, embarrassed to admit how relieved she is. “I win,” she tells Luc: she didn’t call him, but he came anyway. Luc objects—this bar actually belongs to him. So really, Addie came to him first. Addie looks around the room, and this is suddenly obvious to her: the stained-glass angel behind the bar doesn’t have wings. She wonders why she was drawn to this place; perhaps she and Luc “are like magnets” to each other.
Over the years, Champagne has become Luc’s calling card, so when Addie smiles when she sees it now, it’s because she knows that Luc is here—and she’s happy about it. Still, the exact reason for her happiness is rather ambiguous: she claims that she’s happy because she has beat Luc, with Luc—not she—being the one to cave and visit the other first. But it’s also possible that she’s genuinely happy to see Luc—that she’s missed him. Again, this scene builds tension, suggesting that a romance is developing between Luc and Addie who, increasingly, “like magnets,” seem drawn to each other.
Themes
But Addie insists that Luc wouldn’t have come if he didn’t miss her. Luc denies this, reasoning that humans are mostly boring, and that Addie makes for “better company.” Besides, Addie “ha[s] not been human since the night” they made their deal. Addie feels suddenly angry. She is human, she insists. But Luc tells her she moves through life as a ghost, not a human. Also, she “belong[s] to [Luc].” Addie snaps that she’d rather be a ghost than belong to Luc. At this, Luc’s eyes grow shadowy and angry. He coldly tells Addie to go back to her humans. She does, but she feels so different from the others now.
This section poses important questions about the relationship between power, control, and love. Luc responds defensively to Addie’s accusation that he misses her, suggesting that Luc resents the possibility that his feelings for Addie leave him out of control or beholden to her on an emotional level. This section is also important because it raises the question of Addie’s humanity. Luc suggests that her immortality makes her fundamentally unable to relate to human beings. This suggests that vulnerability and uncertainty are fundamental parts of the human experience, and that Addie, by virtue of her immortality, can no longer take part in that experience.
Themes
