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
En Route to Berlin, Germany. July 29, 1872. Addie sits in the dining car of a train passing through the German countryside. She spots Luc in the next car. Luc ushers Addie into his compartment. But when she steps inside, she’s transported into a vast darkness. When the darkness dissipates, Addie finds that they are standing outside a grand opera house. Addie is suddenly wearing a fine gown, and Luc is wearing a gray scarf, suit, and silk top hat. They walk inside. Later, Addie will learn that the opera they see is Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, and that it is Wagner’s masterpiece. Luc places his hand on Addie’s back and guides her to their seats in a box at the front of the balcony. She remembers what he told her in Florence: “Do not mistake this for kindness. […] I simply want to be the one who breaks you.” Luc sends for Champagne and toasts to their anniversary.
Before, Luc’s visits to Addie had one purpose: to taunt and intimidate her into surrendering her soul to him. Now, the point of his visits is increasingly unclear. This visit, in which Luc and Addie don formal attire and visit an opera house, seems more akin to a date. Addie thinks as much, but her memory of Luc’s words to her in Florence causes her some apprehension. This scene builds tension as the reader wonders whether Luc’s treatment of Addie is ever genuine—or whether everything he does is merely another attempt at manipulation.
Themes
The opera begins. It’s beautiful and passionate, and the music brings Addie to tears. Addie notices that Luc is watching her—not the stage. After the first act, Luc laughs, pleased at how much Addie is enjoying the performance. Then he smiles as he asks her to guess which performers have sold their souls to him. Addie’s mood darkens. But Luc reminds her that the performers made a deal, and now they, like everyone else, must pay. Addie wonders why anyone would trade a long, successful life for a few years at the top. Luc explains that “time is cruel to all,” but it’s most cruel to artists, because “vision weakens” over time.
Sure enough, this scene shows that Luc hasn’t brought Addie to the opera for her enjoyment: he’s done so to remind her of his fearsome power, tarnishing her experience by revealing that he has in fact come to collect the souls of the performers whose music she has just enjoyed. Still, that Luc’s eyes remain on Addie as she looks on the stage in wonder suggests that he’s begun to doubt that his manipulation will ever break her. Can someone with so much wonder in their eyes ever feel that they’ve seen all there is to see in life—that they are ever ready to relinquish their soul?
Themes
