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. July 30, 2014. Addie is in Central Park. Luc is with her, though he’s no longer dressed in his suit. Now, he’s dressed in the plain tunic he wore when she first imagined him so many years before. He promises he’ll give Addie what she wants—but she must dance with him first. Addie agrees, and they dance. As they dance, Addie can hear the sound of string instruments, then the opera in Munich, and then the brass band in L.A. Then the music stops. Addie looks at Luc. He’s crying. All he had to do was let her go, she says—why couldn’t he do that? Luc says he can’t because Addie is his. Addie pulls away from him and says she was never his: this has been a game all along, just like Luc said.
The montage of music that accompanies Luc and Addie’s dance—music they danced to over the course of their romance—seems to reflect Luc’s nostalgia for their romance. Luc’s crying, too, reinforces the notion that he truly does love Addie. But as Addie points out here, Luc’s idea of love is more akin to possession, and throughout their relationship, he has repeatedly denied her the right to choose when and in what capacity she wants to be with him. Their relationship was little more than a game—and one in which his rules were the only ones that mattered.
Themes
Luc claims he was lying. This was never a game: their love was real. If Luc really loved her, Addie asks, why did he wait to see her until she found someone else? Luc reveals that Addie didn’t meet Henry by chance—he arranged for them to meet. He explains that he gave her Henry because she was so fixated on love, and he wanted to show her that human love is fragile and not worth it—and it certainly won’t be once Henry is gone. Addie counters that any amount of time with Henry would be worth the pain of losing him. Luc tells Addie to return to Henry if she loves him so much—he’ll be gone soon, but Luc will still be here, and so will Addie. Then Luc disappears.
Luc’s words and actions contradict each other. He insists that he’s not playing games with Addie, all the while admitting that he intentionally arranged for Addie and Henry to meet in order to show Addie that mortal love is inferior to the kind of love that Luc can offer her. Even Luc’s logic has a game-like quality to it: he’s speaking about love as though it's something one can quantify, adding and subtracting costs and benefits to calculate its overall worth.
Themes
Addie returns to Brooklyn at sunrise. On her way to Henry’s apartment, she eyes a paper at a newsstand and reads the date: August 6, 2014. Addie left Henry’s apartment on July 30. She and Henry only have so many days left, and Luc has taken a whole week from them. Addie reaches Henry’s apartment. She holds him close as she weeps and apologizes. He pleads with her to stay with him. She wants to fight Luc some more, but she owes it to Henry to stay. So that’s what she does.
With her decision to stay with Henry—even though she would prefer to keep fighting Luc—Addie demonstrates one key aspect of love that Luc can’t seem to grasp: that love is about selflessness, not possession. For Luc, love is something you covet, not something you reciprocate with the person you love.
Themes
