Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Memory and Meaning
Love and Vulnerability
Freedom
Art, Creativity, and Expression
Wonder and Knowledge
Summary
Analysis
New York City. March 10, 2014. Addie walks around. In Flatbush, Addie finds Fred sitting at the green folding table where he sells books. As usual, Fred’s eyes are glued to a thriller. Over the past two years, Addie has learned that Fred is a widower. The books on the table belonged to his late wife, Candace. Fred began to sell the books after Candace died, even though doing so feels like selling pieces of Candace. Once, Fred told Addie that he sits outside every day because he’s terrified of dying and not being found. Today, Addie deftly scoops up a book in a single motion and keeps walking—she’s had practice at this; Fred doesn’t notice.
Fred’s fear of dying and not being found resonate with one of the book’s central themes: the relationship between memory (or forgetting) and meaning. Fred’s fear about not being found seems to stem from a broader fear of not being remembered by—or mattering to—others. Can a person’s life have meaning if nobody thinks or cares about them?
Themes
