Jessica
How would you feel if no one remembered you? That is something that is explored with our young protagonist, Addie La Rue, who is a peasant girl in a small village in France. She has dreams of exploring the outside world and being free. However, one of the villagers, a recent widow, wants to marry her. She has no desire to marry, especially a man with kids. However, her family expects her to accept the marriage offer. As her family prepares her for the wedding, she flees the village. It is dark, and she can hear the villagers searching for her. She makes a desperate plea for any god that is listening to her to set her free. Strangely enough, a god answers her wish in exchange for her soul when she is ready to die. With her wish granted, Addie is overjoyed, but should she be?
After the wish is granted, Addie notices that she doesn’t hear the villagers calling for her. When she goes back into the village, no one recognizes her, not even her family. She comes to realize that her wish was really a curse. For her to be “free”, the god prevents anyone from remembering Addie’s existence. For example, if someone is talking to Addie, leaves the room, and comes back, the person will have already forgotten about her. She treads along slowly in her cursed existence for 300 years. One day, she visits a local bookstore in New York. When she comes back the next day, she is surprised that the store employee remembers her. How does someone remember her after all these years? Addie is determined to find out.
How can someone go through life if no one knows they exist? That is what Addie discovers through her 300 years. Since no one can retain their memories of her, Addie’s life is extremely hard. She can’t hold a job because the person won’t remember that they hired her. She can’t own a home because no one will remember she paid for it. She can’t even leave her mark on the world. Anything she draws or writes disappears. She has to resort to morally questionable things to survive, like lying and stealing. Imagine not being able to make roots anywhere: no friends, family, or co-workers to rely on. It is a lonely and tired existence that could lead to so much misery. However, Addie continues to rise and meet the occasion with as much strength and bravery as possible. It is inspiring to see her continue living in a world that she can never be a part of as much as she wants to.
During the 1700s, it isn’t surprising that Addie had a lack of agency to start with, as many other women did during that time period. Misogyny was highly present, and men controlled everything. Women were expected to do what they were told, be pleasant, marry, and have a lot of kids. They weren’t expected to have dreams or goals.
When Addie meets the dark god Luc, he takes away any bit of agency she has left. Before her “wish”, she at least had a community to call her own. After her “wish”, her agency goes to zero. Luc wanted power over Addie and took a very important thing from her: Addie’s name. Addie couldn’t speak her name to anyone to prevent anyone from getting to know the real her. Luc is the only one able to call Addie’s name, forcing her to be as reliant on him as possible. Luc wants Addie to be his and doesn’t want to let anyone have access to her. Addie tries to resist, while Luc tries to break her down at every turn. It demonstrates how toxic a forced relationship is.
One of the things that I like about Addie is that she found ways to make herself known in little ways. She helped musicians and artists create their pieces even though they have no memory of her. She was a spy in the war, helping with intelligence, which worked to her advantage for several years because no one would remember her during her trips through war-torn countries.
Overall, I found the story heartbreaking. All Addie wanted to do was to escape the rules of society. Instead, a higher power decided to strip her of everything. In a sense, it is an allegory of what is going on with society right now. People are losing their agency left and right in the U.S.: women losing the rights over their own bodies, immigrants being deported, a ban on books and certain subjects being taught in school, and so much more. It is scary to realize how easily your agency and freedom can be taken away from you. However, I like to think that there are people out there like Addie, who rise to the occasion and continue to fight. She refuses to let her oppressors win, and neither should the rest of us. In the spirit of the book, I ask the following question: How would you feel if there were no reminders of you anywhere in the world?
Originally posted at jdavismallory.substack.com.
How would you feel if no one remembered you? That is something that is explored with our young protagonist, Addie La Rue, who is a peasant girl in a small village in France. She has dreams of exploring the outside world and being free. However, one of the villagers, a recent widow, wants to marry her. She has no desire to marry, especially a man with kids. However, her family expects her to accept the marriage offer. As her family prepares her for the wedding, she flees the village. It is dark, and she can hear the villagers searching for her. She makes a desperate plea for any god that is listening to her to set her free. Strangely enough, a god answers her wish in exchange for her soul when she is ready to die. With her wish granted, Addie is overjoyed, but should she be?
After the wish is granted, Addie notices that she doesn’t hear the villagers calling for her. When she goes back into the village, no one recognizes her, not even her family. She comes to realize that her wish was really a curse. For her to be “free”, the god prevents anyone from remembering Addie’s existence. For example, if someone is talking to Addie, leaves the room, and comes back, the person will have already forgotten about her. She treads along slowly in her cursed existence for 300 years. One day, she visits a local bookstore in New York. When she comes back the next day, she is surprised that the store employee remembers her. How does someone remember her after all these years? Addie is determined to find out.
How can someone go through life if no one knows they exist? That is what Addie discovers through her 300 years. Since no one can retain their memories of her, Addie’s life is extremely hard. She can’t hold a job because the person won’t remember that they hired her. She can’t own a home because no one will remember she paid for it. She can’t even leave her mark on the world. Anything she draws or writes disappears. She has to resort to morally questionable things to survive, like lying and stealing. Imagine not being able to make roots anywhere: no friends, family, or co-workers to rely on. It is a lonely and tired existence that could lead to so much misery. However, Addie continues to rise and meet the occasion with as much strength and bravery as possible. It is inspiring to see her continue living in a world that she can never be a part of as much as she wants to.
During the 1700s, it isn’t surprising that Addie had a lack of agency to start with, as many other women did during that time period. Misogyny was highly present, and men controlled everything. Women were expected to do what they were told, be pleasant, marry, and have a lot of kids. They weren’t expected to have dreams or goals.
When Addie meets the dark god Luc, he takes away any bit of agency she has left. Before her “wish”, she at least had a community to call her own. After her “wish”, her agency goes to zero. Luc wanted power over Addie and took a very important thing from her: Addie’s name. Addie couldn’t speak her name to anyone to prevent anyone from getting to know the real her. Luc is the only one able to call Addie’s name, forcing her to be as reliant on him as possible. Luc wants Addie to be his and doesn’t want to let anyone have access to her. Addie tries to resist, while Luc tries to break her down at every turn. It demonstrates how toxic a forced relationship is.
One of the things that I like about Addie is that she found ways to make herself known in little ways. She helped musicians and artists create their pieces even though they have no memory of her. She was a spy in the war, helping with intelligence, which worked to her advantage for several years because no one would remember her during her trips through war-torn countries.
Overall, I found the story heartbreaking. All Addie wanted to do was to escape the rules of society. Instead, a higher power decided to strip her of everything. In a sense, it is an allegory of what is going on with society right now. People are losing their agency left and right in the U.S.: women losing the rights over their own bodies, immigrants being deported, a ban on books and certain subjects being taught in school, and so much more. It is scary to realize how easily your agency and freedom can be taken away from you. However, I like to think that there are people out there like Addie, who rise to the occasion and continue to fight. She refuses to let her oppressors win, and neither should the rest of us. In the spirit of the book, I ask the following question: How would you feel if there were no reminders of you anywhere in the world?
Originally posted at jdavismallory.substack.com.