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Chapter 12
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Ambition vs. Morality
Femininity, Sexuality, and Power
Truth and Identity
Family
Summary
Analysis
The first morning of rehearsals for Little Women, Don brings Evelyn half a grapefruit and a cigarette: breakfast in bed. She’s charmed by the gesture. Her maid, Paula, is cleaning the bedroom, and Evelyn notices her picking the cigarette butt off the duvet. Her room’s a mess. She asks Paula to continue cleaning later. She doesn’t want to get dressed in front of her, because then she’ll see the bruise on her ribs that she got when Don pushed her down the stairs a week ago. A moment later, Paula comes back in, and Evelyn snaps at her.
Evelyn’s diet hasn’t changed much since she was encouraged to eat mainly cabbage soup and smoke cigarettes—a sign that even now she’s established a strong career, she has to stay slim. The fact that Evelyn hides her bruises from Paula suggests that she’s ashamed of being a victim of Don’s violence—and that Don only hurts her when nobody, not even Paula, is around.
Themes
On set, Evelyn realizes that Celia has no idea how much the other actors hate her. She looks youthful and perfect in a girl-next-door way—a beauty that people can relate to. Evelyn and Ruby know the kind of power that accessibility gives Celia. Celia tells them she’s scared, and Evelyn tells her she can see right through her modesty. Celia acts hurt, but Evelyn continues, saying that Celia’s Oscar nomination is virtually guaranteed. When she realizes that Celia is only acting naïve, she begins to like her more.
Celia has a different kind of beauty than Evelyn, so she’s more of an outright threat to Evelyn than an equal competitor. Evelyn likes Celia once she knows Celia’s only pretending to be innocent, which shows that Evelyn has no time for sweetness—she respects ambition and cunning, perhaps because those qualities are the foundations of her own success.
Themes
