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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 and Robert hold Celia’s funeral and burial at the same place that Harry is buried. Though the ceremony is private, people know they’re there. After Celia’s coffin is lowered, Evelyn walks away to find Harry’s grave, where she sits and cries for as long as she can. When she stands up, she notices two paparazzi photographing her, but she doesn’t care—she walks away.
Even after his death, Harry is still a comfort and an anchor to Evelyn. The presence of the paparazzi emphasizes the insatiable appetite of the media: even in her grief, tabloids continue to attack Evelyn. Yet, instead of trying to frame the scene to tell a certain story, Evelyn has no energy left to control what people think about her.
Themes
Two weeks later, back in Aldiz, Evelyn receives mail from Connor: a magazine with the image of her weeping at Harry’s grave, with a note from Connor that says “I love you.” The headline for the image reads “Evelyn Hugo Weeps at Harry Cameron’s Grave Years Later,” confirming to Evelyn that the media will only pick up on the narrative they’re focused on telling, even when the truth is in plain sight. She realizes that the only way people will understand her story is if she tells them directly, in her own book.
Connor is one of the only people in Evelyn’s life who understands everything the media coverage overlooks—in effect, she’s one of the only people in the world who loves Evelyn for who she truly is. The magazine’s instinct to understand Evelyn’s emotion as being for her husband rather than for Celia shows that even if attitudes same-sex relationships are changing, the public will overlook and erase those relationships instead of acknowledging them. The only way Evelyn can validate her love for Celia is by telling her story plainly, leaving no room for misunderstanding.
Themes
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