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 18, 2014. Addie and Henry are still at the Artifact. They trade one of their colorful wristbands for entry into each exhibit. The yellow wristband gets them into soundproof cubes that amplify or dampen noise. There are instructions for what they are to do written on the cubes’ walls. One message tells them to WHISPER. Addie says, “I have a secret.” The next message tells them to SHOUT, so Addie does. Henry follows her lead, screaming as loud as he can. He realizes that he feels happier than he’s ever felt before. When he’s with Addie, time speeds up—but he no longer worries about it.
Up until now, Henry has spent his life so fixated on self-preservation—on minimizing hurt and disappointment and maximizing happiness and meaningfulness—that he’s counterintuitively prevented himself from living the full life he longs to have. His carefree, joyous experience with Addie at the Artifact shows him that true joy requires a person to lower their guard and risk being hurt and disappointed. In other words, the greatest joys aren’t possible without some degree of risk. With Addie, he stops being so protective of his time, and as a result, the time he yields to her becomes more meaningful—not less meaningful.
Themes
