The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2017

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Themes

The Cost of Fame

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses anti-gay prejudice, racism, and domestic abuse.

The morally corrupting and dehumanizing effects of fame are a recurring theme throughout the text, most often manifesting through Evelyn’s experiences. The cost of fame is first denoted by Evelyn’s virginity; after learning that she can weaponize her sexuality to take what she wants, Evelyn trades her virginity for a “ride to Hollywood” (44). From then on, Evelyn must make decisions to maintain her fame that are either immoral or compromise her safety and happiness. The most notable example of this is Evelyn’s refusal to come forward about Don’s abuse—or leave him—because she recognizes that it might ruin her career. Additionally, Evelyn repeatedly puts Celia’s feelings aside when making choices that negatively affect them both (e.g., sleeping with Mick).

Now that Evelyn looks back on her life, she realizes that it was her high estimation of fame and her greed that corrupted her. Despite thinking she’d be content after making enough money to live on, she learns that “no amount would ever really be enough” (205) to satiate her. Later in life, she would be embarrassed about “throwing money around so casually” (241). This literalizes the cost of fame; the money she earns will never be adequate to fill the void within Evelyn. Despite this, Evelyn is aware of the privilege and toxicity her money has impressed upon her, represented by her willingness to donate money to the LGBTQ+ cause, but her hesitation toward publicly advocating in fear of the damage it would do to her image.

The most profound materialization of the true cost of fame comes from Evelyn’s bitter realization of what fame demands from those who seek it: “[Y]ou have to be willing to deny your heritage, to commodify your body, to lie to good people, to sacrifice who you love in the name of what people think” (326). This results in choosing “the false version of yourself […] until you forget who you started out as” (326). This is the most damaging aspect of fame to Evelyn’s life, relationships, and sense of self. The novel uses the crumbling of her relationship with Celia and Evelyn’s perception of estrangement from her heritage and identity to communicate all that is missing from Evelyn’s life; despite having every material object she could ever want, she spends the final days of her life wishing she could trade them all for more time with those she loved. Therefore, the text employs this theme to posit that true emotional fulfillment is found in honoring oneself and loved ones.

Reconciling with One’s True Self

Through both protagonists, the novel crafts a study of the nuances of identity and the conflict one might feel in honoring all parts of themselves. For Evelyn, her confident demeanor obscures the self-loathing that afflicted her—and in some ways still does. Reid expresses the importance of identity politics to the text first through the negation of Evelyn’s Cuban identity; the studio is unwilling to cast a Latina, so Evelyn dyes her hair blonde, loses her accent, and changes her name from “Herrera” to “Hugo.” The success that immediately follows this transformation emphasizes the industry’s valuing of specific perceptions rather than authenticity; Evelyn is still Cuban but can be successful simply because she is perceived to be white.

The estrangement Evelyn feels from her Cuban heritage is symbolized through her relationship to the Spanish language. When she hears Luisa speak it, Evelyn is simultaneously defensive and nostalgic; she feels the need to assert the identity she once denied and feels comforted by the sounds that remind her of her mother. Evelyn’s anxiety about speaking Spanish represents her anxiety about being Latin enough. Seeing Luisa be “secure […] in her own skin” (199) starkly contrasts the self-doubt that constantly plagues Evelyn.

Similarly, Monique often wonders if she is “black enough” (284) to claim a connection to that part of her identity. This theme is represented through Monique as she struggles to see herself as whole because of her biracial identity. The loss of her father intensifies this, but growing up in a society that seeks essentialist definitions of self causes Monique to feel unrepresented and marginalized. However, both women overcome this and fully accept who they are. For Evelyn, it comes from age and experience; as she grows older and learns what really matters to her, she becomes less afraid to be her true self. She officially and publicly reconciles with her identity by explicitly outlining it in the biography. For Monique, it is her parents’ love that empowers her to love herself; she learns to see herself as wholly loved and wholly belonging to them, rather than being half of anything. The text uses both Monique and Evelyn to convey the importance of accepting one’s identity; they both have difficulty in resolving those aspects of their identity that they feel are at odds with one another, but eventually find fulfillment and peace in overcoming self-doubt.

The Oversexualization and Commodification of Women’s Bodies

Reid portrays the flagrant hyper-sexualization and commodification of women by demonstrating the world’s obsession with Evelyn’s body. The novel focuses primarily on Hollywood’s toxic treatment of women, using the film industry as a microcosm to represent the experience of many women around the world. Evelyn’s conventional embodiment of beauty is both empowering and destabilizing to her identity; she takes pride in her appearance but feels invaluable without it. Society’s constant emphasis on her physicality conditions Evelyn to believe her only redeeming quality is something she cannot control and that will fade. Therefore, she becomes incredibly insecure as she ages, demonstrating that even someone considered to be the most beautiful woman in the world is vulnerable to the demoralizing effects of self-doubt.

From a young age, Evelyn is exposed to unwanted attention from men. Even her father begins watching her too closely, making Evelyn realize that she will never be safe in Hell’s Kitchen. Her first sexual experience is unwanted, but she decides to use the encounter to her advantage. From then on, she learns that men will believe that “wanting [her] was [her] fault” (43). These lessons manifest in many ways throughout Evelyn’s life; first, she believes that her greatest power is her sexuality; she believes that men only want her because of her beauty; and, most cruelly, that she is nothing more than “a nice pair of tits” (239). This final lesson pushes Evelyn, making her constantly out to prove herself as a true actress. This pursuit makes her ignorant and corrupts her; she cannot see that her talent, wit, and grit earned her fame, and she is willing to sacrifice anything to achieve her next goal.

When Evelyn is still legally a child, Evelyn engages in oral sex with a middle-aged producer to get roles. It is not consensual in that she is too young, but she instigates the interaction because she believes it is the only way to land the part. The moment is a blaring example of the sexual power relations that exist between actresses and their producers/directors in which young women are often put in vulnerable positions and can only express agency through their sexuality. This theme highlights Hollywood’s—and indeed, society’s—commodification of female bodies as having lasting degrading effects on their self-esteem. Moreover, the theme represents the history of women’s dichotomic place in Hollywood, as either sexualized or nonexistent. Evelyn fights to maintain her status as a “sexpot” because she recognizes that not doing so would result in irrelevancy. Therefore, the novel’s demonstration of the effects this oversexualization has upon Evelyn’s life and state of mind calls for a reevaluation of how women are treated and perceived.