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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
Monique Grant, in an article published in Vivant, describes the few weeks she spent with Evelyn. Sometimes, Monique writes, she thinks she admires Evelyn, and other days she despises her. She reckons Evelyn would be proud of that dichotomy, because by the time she gave her interview, she was focused on telling the truth. Monique reveals that Evelyn was bisexual and in love with Celia St. James, something Evelyn wanted the world to know because her love for Celia was “perhaps her greatest political act.”
Evelyn didn’t tell her story to be admired or revered but to be seen as a complicated human being—an opportunity the fickle media deprived her of throughout her career. Monique’s announcement in this article isn’t a moment of condemnation but of celebration—it’s a sign that times truly have changed since tabloids made furtive, disdainful reports of Evelyn’s intimacy with Celia.
Themes
Monique introduces an excerpt of the biography which will be published next year. She chose the title because when she asked Evelyn if she was embarrassed by the fact that her seven husbands are such a huge part of her identity, Evelyn said that once people knew the truth, she expected they’d be more interested in her wife.
The final word of the novel—“wife”—echoes the actual shape of Evelyn’s life, which ended with her transparent revelation of her love for Celia. It’s also a sign that the symbolic wedding ceremony she performed with Celia meant just as much (or perhaps more) to her than any of her seven official marriages.
Themes
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