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
An article for the New York Tribune announces that movie star Evelyn Hugo, now 79 years old, will auction off 12 of her most iconic gowns. The proceeds from the gowns, many of which Hugo wore to events like the Academy Awards, will go to breast cancer research, presumably because her daughter, Connor, died of breast cancer last year at the age of 41. Hugo, as the article notes, is not only famous for her career, but for her seven different husbands and her transformation from Evelyn Herrera, the daughter of Cuban immigrants in Hell’s Kitchen, to blond, Hollywood-dwelling Evelyn Hugo.
The fact that the novel begins with a news clipping—the first of many that punctuate the novel’s chapters—emphasizes Evelyn’s celebrity status and suggests that the novel will focus on the public and private perceptions of Evelyn Hugo. The focus on Evelyn’s dresses and appearance implies that much of her fame depends on her outward appearance.
Themes
