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
The Cotswolds, England. December 31, 1899. It’s snowing outside. Addie sits inside her small cottage and reads a book. She’s had so much excitement throughout the years, but now she just wants to sit and watch the world become blanketed in snow. And this cottage is practically hers. She found it abandoned years ago. And over time, she has tended a wild garden out back and gathered wood for the fire. The storm stops, and Addie gets up, wraps her cloak around her shoulders, and ventures outside.
Addie’s zest for life isn’t limited to overtly exciting, stimulating experiences. She finds value and meaning in simple pleasures like sitting inside on a snowy evening and reading a book before the fire as well. Luc originally believed that becoming bored of immortality would be Addie’s downfall, but scenes like this one demonstrate that Addie’s capacity to find meaning even in the mundane means that she’ll never tire of life.
Themes
Addie remembers a time it snowed heavily when she was a little girl in Villon. She ran happily through the neat blanket of snow, marking up “every inch of the canvas.” Afterward, she mourned the sight of the once pristine—but now ruined—field. The next day, the snow melted. And after that, Addie never played in the snow again—until now.
Since her deal with Luc, Addie has lamented her inability to make a mark on the world. This memory of her childhood sadness at having somehow degraded the snow with her footprints is a reversal of this position.
Themes
Addie happily runs through the hills, but she leaves no footprints behind her in the freshly fallen snow. She sinks into the snow and lets it consume her. Luc appears and mocks Addie for being over 200 years old and still playing in the snow like a child. Luc looks back at Addie’s decrepit cabin and mocks her for “still longing to grow up and become Estele.” Addie looks at Luc. She realizes that she’s never seen him in the winter before. The season suits him, and she wishes she could draw him with charcoal.
Addie’s discovery that her curse allows her to run through the snow without tarnishing the pristine ground with her footprints is yet another way that Addie manages to put a positive spin on her curse. Luc believed that the stipulations of Addie’s curse would wear her down, and yet Addie consistently figures out how to use her curse to experience the world in new, meaningful ways.
Themes
They move inside and Luc tries to get Addie to surrender, but she refuses. Addie thinks he’ll leave, but he doesn’t. Instead, he manifests cups of wine, and they sit before the fire together. He tells her stories of Paris at the end of the decade: of all the art and beauty that has emerged. Addie falls asleep. When she wakes, the fire is out and a blanket is draped over her shoulders.
Luc and Addie’s intimate evening together concludes with a notably tender gesture on Luc’s part: he covers Addie with a blanket so she won’t be cold when she wakes up. Increasingly, Luc’s behavior suggests that he cares about Addie herself—not just about possessing her soul.
Themes
Get the entire The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue LitChart as a printable PDF.
