Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Ambition vs. Morality
Femininity, Sexuality, and Power
Truth and Identity
Family
Summary
Analysis
Monique tells Evelyn not to say goodbye, but Evelyn ignores her. She instructs Monique to emphasize that she would make all the decisions she made to protect her family again—and would do worse, if she thought she could save them. When Monique says most people would do the same, Evelyn pulls out an old, crinkled piece of paper. She tells Monique that Harry’s lover, the passenger, was a Black man: James Grant.
Evelyn stands by the decisions she made that prioritized her loved ones over other people. She doesn’t have a hero mentality, and she’s aware of her limited capacity to care only for the people closest to her. She understands that telling Monique the truth about her father means she’s revealing the cruelest, most selfish side of herself.
Themes
