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
Addie and Henry stay out all night, neither wanting to say goodbye. Eventually, they reach Henry’s subway stop and prepare to part ways. Henry takes out his phone to exchange numbers. Addie lies and says hers is broken. She offers to meet Henry at the store on Saturday. Before they part ways, Addie confesses to Henry that she lied about her name earlier (at the coffee shop, she called herself Eve). When Henry asks what Addie’s name is, Addie replies, “Addie.” And just like that, she can finally speak her name. They say goodnight, and Henry heads down to the subway.
This is another huge turning point in the novel: for the first time in 300 years, Addie is able to tell her name—her real name—to another person. While the reader should be wary of whatever’s going on between Henry and Addie right now, it’s also seeming increasingly possibly that things really are different with Henry—that something about him is allowing Addie to overcome the isolating invisibility of her deal with Luc.
Themes
Alone, Addie feels hopeful for the first time in years. How has Henry managed to get around the curse? But she realizes that she doesn’t care. Tonight, “the sound of her name, her real name, on someone else’s tongue,” is all that matters.
The hopefulness Addie feels once she’s finally able to speak her name aloud underscores the importance of a name and leaving one’s mark on others.
Themes
