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Chapter 46
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
Evelyn’s history picks back up a few years after Celia leaves her. John dies of a heart attack just before he turns 50. Connor is five, and Evelyn doesn’t know how to explain to her why Harry is so sad and only gets out of bed to drink. Evelyn wants to comfort Celia, but she knows she can’t, so she tries to help Harry by staying at his apartment with Connor and making sure he eats and bathes. Harry is visibly distraught at the funeral, and though Evelyn knows this seems suspicious to those who believe that Harry and John were just friends, she doesn’t tell Harry to hide his feelings. Celia barely looks at Evelyn during the service. Connor recognizes Celia as “the nice one” from Little Women, which confirms to Evelyn that her family has fallen apart.
Evelyn funnels her desire to comfort Celia into other tasks, emphasizing her tendency to accept the reality of difficult situations. Harry, usually the one to shepherd Evelyn through heartbreak and instability, now relies on her, and during this period Evelyn proves she’s just as much of a stabilizing force for Harry as he is for her. When Connor recognizes Celia from a film, not from her own life, it’s a moment that emphasizes not just Evelyn’s distance from Celia, but also how difficult it is for Evelyn and Celia to separate their true identities from their celebrity personas.
Themes
An article in Now This reports that Celia and newcomer actor Joan Marker have been seen shopping and dining together around Hollywood. The reporter suggests that the two are planning to shoot a movie together.
This brief article is markedly similar to the one that commented on Evelyn and Celia’s friendship when they filmed Little Women—a similarity that implies Joan and Celia’s relationship is deeper than friendship, just like Celia and Evelyn’s was.
Themes
