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 19, 2014. Addie leans against the window, sips a cup of tea, and watches the sun rise. She returns to the bedroom, where Henry is sleeping peacefully. She picks up Henry’s watch, which is resting on his bedside table, and sees the engraving on it: Live well. The words chill her. Henry wakes up just as she’s about to pick up the watch. Addie says she should go. But when Henry finds out that she doesn’t have a place of her own, he tells her she can stay at his place. He removes his things form the bottom drawer of his dresser and tells her she can store her things there. Henry leaves to shower. Addie wonders what would happen to any things she tried to store in the empty dresser drawer. Would they disappear over time?
The watch’s engraving chills Addie because it reaffirms her suspicion that there’s something about Henry’s deal with Luc that he’s not telling her. Addie’s apprehension about what would happen to any personal effects she were to place in the drawers Henry has set aside for her show that, unlike Henry, she hasn’t fully accepted that Luc has made a mistake in allowing them to meet. She knows that she’s still indebted to Luc and, as such, there is always a price to pay.
Themes
Addie dresses in yesterday’s outfit. Then she stumbles upon the notebook Henry was writing in last night, which has ended up on the floor. She expects it to crumple as soon as she touches it, but it doesn’t. She reads what Henry wrote under her name: “This is how it starts.” Addie reads the story of her life until there are no more words. The empty space below is waiting to be filled with the rest of her story.
The permanence of Addie’s words that Henry transcribed last night is an encouraging sign that at least something about her curse is changing—she’s able to leave a mark on the world in a way that she hasn’t been able to before. Addie’s optimism about the blank page waiting to be filled with more stories is characteristic of the general optimism and curiosity that has allowed her to persevere for so many years already. The notebook also foregrounds the importance of creativity and self-expression and the role they play in creating meaning.
Themes
