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Chapter 29
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Da Vinci Code, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Conspiracies and Secrets
Art and Symbolism
Faith vs. Knowledge
Sacred Femininity and Revisionist History
Power and Manipulation
Summary
Analysis
Security warden Grouard aims his gun at Langdon’s back where he lays face down on the floor. Unable to radio for backup with the Mona Lisa’s extra electronic security, he moves toward the door. Suddenly, he sees Sophie moving with her blacklight. As museum security, Grouard knows this is Saunière’s granddaughter, but he doesn’t trust her. Sophie ignores Grouard’s orders and approaches another Da Vinci painting of the Mary, Jesus, John the Baptist, and the Angel Uriel. No invisible marks appear on the canvas, so she checks the back of the painting. There, she finds her grandfather’s strange key wedged into the frame. Sophie knows this is the item he wanted her to find and is the reason for his elaborate hunt.
That Grouard recognizes Sophie as Saunière’s granddaughter emphasizes how often the curator brought her to the Louvre. For reasons that aren’t clear, Sophie chooses to investigate another Da Vinci painting in the same room, where she finds the strange key she discovered as a child. That Saunière left this for her makes sense, since he told her the key would be hers one day. Based on the lack of additional riddles, this key is what Saunière has been leading her toward (at least inside the Louvre).
Themes
Grouard shouts into his radio, still unable to transmit. Knowing she must act, Sophie removes Da Vinci’s painting from the wall and threatens to put her knee through the priceless canvas. Unwilling to shoot her through the painting, Grouard begs her to stop. Sophie directs him to put down his gun and radio. Minutes later, Sophie and Langdon flee down the emergency stairwell once again. Langdon has Grouard’s pistol. He remarks on the painting Sophie threatened—Madonna of the Rocks—which features hidden pagan symbolism. Sophie tells Langdon that Saunière led her there: “So dark the con of man” is an anagram for “Madonna of the Rocks.”
Themes
