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
Villon-sur-Sarthe. July 29, 1914. It’s raining hard. Villon has changed even more since the last time Addie was here, but some things have remained the same: there’s still a church at the center of town, for instance. Addie stands in the doorway to the chapel. Then she thinks of Estele, who used to stand in the rain, and she abandons her shelter and walks into the rain toward the cemetery gate. She’s instantly soaked through. Addie walks to Estele’s grave and is shocked to find that the tree she planted is no longer there—only a jagged stump remains. Addie throws herself over the grave, suddenly awash with grief. What’s the point of “planting seeds,” she wonders, when “Everything dies” in the end anyway?
When Addie wonders what’s the use of “planting seeds” when “Everything dies” anyway, she’s asking why a person would choose to love or grow attached to anyone or anything when doing so opens a person up to grief, disappointment, and abandonment. She’s asking if the love is worth the pain it inevitably causes. Her question resonates with Henry’s struggles with feeling unwanted, too.
Themes
Luc appears behind Addie. She angrily asks him if he has taken the tree. Luc looks offended—he “can be cruel,” he explains, “But nature can be crueler.” Then Luc orders Addie to come with him. Addie obliges. And then, they are sitting on a patio in Paris. Addie wears a summer dress, and there’s a bottle of port for them to share. Luc wishes Addie a happy anniversary. He reminds her of what she once said about him wanting company. Luc offers Addie back her wooden ring, explaining that she need only put it on to summon him to her.
Luc’s cruelty is intentional and direct: he taunts and manipulates Addie with the express purpose of breaking her and collecting her soul. Nature’s cruelty, by contrast, lies in its indifference, unpredictability, and ultimate meaninglessness. This meditation on nature’s cruelty lends credence to the novel’s high regard for art: art, unlike nature, can be controlled and intentional. Through it, humans can organize and breathe meaning into elements of life that are otherwise beyond their ability to control and understand.
Themes
Luc offers Addie back her wooden ring, explaining that she need only put it on to summon him to her. Addie realizes the ring is “a challenge.” Now, she need only put on the ring when she’s distressed, and Luc will see it as surrender. Luc changes the subject. He tells Addie that war is imminent. He offers to take Addie away from Europe before the war begins. Looking back, she should have accepted his offer. But she doesn’t. A week later, she gives in and travels to New York by boat. By then, the war has begun.
This scene is important because it finally explains why Addie, in the novel’s present, has come to despise the wooden ring she once held in such high regard: it’s because the ring reminds her of the power Luc wields over her.
Themes
