The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

by

Taylor Jenkins Reid

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Femininity, Sexuality, and Power Theme Analysis

Themes and Colors
Ambition vs. Morality Theme Icon
Femininity, Sexuality, and Power Theme Icon
Truth and Identity Theme Icon
Family Theme Icon
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.
Femininity, Sexuality, and Power Theme Icon

Throughout the novel, Evelyn constantly uses her feminine beauty and sexuality to secure success in a world run by men. Though at first, she’s frustrated that what many people admire about her—her appearance—is something she did nothing to earn, she quickly learns to use her sexuality to her advantage. Many of Evelyn’s early-career successes arise from situations where she uses her body to convince men to give her what she wants, whether that’s through marrying Ernie Diaz in order to move to Hollywood with him or allowing producer Ari Sullivan to pleasure her so that he’ll agree to give her lead roles in films. Evelyn understands what men want from her and decides to take something from them in return, effectively using her femininity as a weapon. Throughout her career, she continues to marry—and divorce—tactically, based on what each man can offer her, whether it’s a job or media approval.

However, the power Evelyn wields by using her sexuality and exploiting her femininity has its limits. For example, although she succeeds in eloping, marrying, and annulling her marriage with popstar Mick Riva, she finds herself carrying an unwanted pregnancy from their single sexual encounter. Though her plan succeeds, she’s still unable to control every element of it, and even though she uses her body to tempt Mick, she’s essentially powerless to control what he does with it. Ultimately, this means her plan—which was to draw media attention to her failed marriages so that they’d ignore her relationship with Celia—fails. When Evelyn tells Celia about the pregnancy (Celia didn’t know Evelyn planned to have sex with Mick to entice him to marry her), she loses the relationship with Celia she was working so hard to preserve. Similarly, though Evelyn and her second husband, Don, both deliver admirable performances in Max Girard’s movie Three A.M., Don is awarded an Oscar while Evelyn is refused a nomination because the sex scene between them was too explicit, proving that though Evelyn’s success depends on her willingness to share her body with individuals and audiences, she’s also punished for her sexuality. Ultimately, though Evelyn consistently finds ways to subvert the power that men have over her by using the very thing they desire the most—her body—she can never truly overcome the limits a male-dominated industry imposes on her due to her gender.

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Femininity, Sexuality, and Power Quotes in The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Below you will find the important quotes in The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo related to the theme of Femininity, Sexuality, and Power.
Chapter 1  Quotes

My mother raised me to be polite, to be demure. I have long operated under the idea that civility is subservience. But it hasn’t gotten me very far, that type of kindness. The world respects people who think they should be running it. I’ve never understood that, but I’m done fighting it. I’m here to be Frankie one day, maybe bigger than Frankie. To do big, important work that I am proud of. To leave a mark. And I’m nowhere near doing that yet.

Related Characters: Monique Grant (speaker), Frankie, Monique’s Mother
Page Number: 7-8
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2 Quotes

There are two men seated next to her, names lost to history, who are staring at her as she looks ahead at the stage. The man next to her is staring at her chest. The one next to him is staring at her thigh. Both of them seem enraptured and hoping to see the tiniest bit farther.

Maybe I’m overthinking that photo, but I’m starting to notice a pattern: Evelyn always leaves you hoping you’ll get just a little bit more. And she always denies you.

Related Characters: Monique Grant (speaker), Evelyn Hugo, Celia St. James, Max Girard, Mick Riva
Page Number: 16
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

“I was gorgeous, even at fourteen. Oh, I know the whole world prefers a woman who doesn’t know her power, but I’m sick of all that. I turned heads. Now, I take no pride in this. I didn’t make my own face. I didn’t give myself this body. But I’m also not going to sit here and say, ‘Aw, shucks. People really thought I was pretty?’ like some kind of prig.”

Related Characters: Evelyn Hugo (speaker), Monique Grant
Page Number: 35
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

I blame pheromones, ultimately.

That and the fact that, at least at first, Don Adler treated me like a person. There are people who see a beautiful flower and rush over to pick it. They want to hold it in their hands, they want to own it. They want the flower’s beauty to be theirs, to be within their possession, their control. Don wasn’t like that. At least, not at first. Don was happy to be near the flower, to look at the flower, to appreciate the flower simply being.

Related Characters: Evelyn Hugo (speaker), Don Adler, Ernie Diaz
Page Number: 62-63
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

Our maid back in Los Angeles, Paula, made his breakfast every morning. She knew just how he liked it. I realized in that moment that I’d never paid attention.

Frustrated, Don grabbed the pillow from under his head and smashed it over his face, screaming into it.

Related Characters: Evelyn Hugo (speaker), Don Adler, Paula
Page Number: 75
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 45 Quotes

What Max was talking about was a graphic portrayal of female desire. And my gut instinct was that I loved the idea. I mean, the thought of filming a graphic sex scene with Don was about as arousing to me as a bowl of bran flakes. But I wanted to push the envelope. I wanted to show a woman getting off. I liked the idea of showing a woman having sex because she wanted to be pleased instead of being desperate to please. So in a moment of excitement, I grabbed my coat, put out my hand, and said, “I’m in.”

Related Characters: Evelyn Hugo (speaker), Celia St. James, Harry Cameron, Don Adler, Max Girard, Rex North
Page Number: 262
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 46 Quotes

“People were shocked by the representation of a woman wanting to get fucked. And while I’m aware of the crassness of my language, it’s really the only way to describe it. Patricia was not a woman who wanted to make love. She wanted to get fucked. And we showed that. And people hated how much they loved it.”

Related Characters: Evelyn Hugo (speaker), Don Adler
Page Number: 270
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 54 Quotes

“Did you ever love me?”

“Yes, I did. When you made love to me and you made me feel desire and you took good care of my daughter and I believed that you saw something in me that no one else saw. When I believed you had an insight and a talent that no one else had. I loved you very much.”

“So you are not a lesbian,” he said.

Related Characters: Evelyn Hugo (speaker), Max Girard (speaker), Celia St. James, Connor Cameron
Page Number: 308
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 57 Quotes

With her blond hair and her face thinning out, I was starting to fear that she looked more like me than Harry. Sure, conventionally speaking, she would be more attractive if she looked like me. But she should look like Harry. The world should give us that.

Related Characters: Evelyn Hugo (speaker), Harry Cameron, Connor Cameron
Related Symbols: Evelyn’s Blond Hair
Page Number: 337
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 59 Quotes

“I think being yourself—your true, entire self—is always going to feel like you’re swimming upstream.”

“Yeah,” she said. “But if the last few years with you have been any indication, I think it also feels like taking your bra off at the end of the day.”

Related Characters: Evelyn Hugo (speaker), Celia St. James (speaker)
Page Number: 346
Explanation and Analysis: