Like Peter, in J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan.
There, at the end, when Peter sits on the rock, the memory of Wendy Darling sliding from his mind, and it is sad, of course, to forget.
But it is a lonely thing, to be forgotten.
The third-person narrator is here penetrating into the thoughts of the title character. In these thoughts lies the thematic heart of the novel. Addie’s invisibility is the result of a deal with the devil—or, at least, some type of very power “dark god”—in which gains eternal youth and beauty for the small payment of instantly being forgotten by all who meet her. Is this a wise tradeoff? Ask yourself: is any of the Faustian deals with devilish negotiators ever a good deal in the end? But, of course, this is not really simply another version of Faust. It is an examination of Faustian deals and Addie is fully cognizant of the tendency for those making devilish deals to get the fuzzy end of the lollipop. Maybe this time—finally at last—the Faust character beats the odds.
“I am not some genie, bound to your whim. Nor am I some petty forest spirit, content with granting favors for mortal trinkets. I am stronger than your god and older than your devil. I am the darkness between stars, and the roots beneath the earth. I am promise, and potential, and when it comes to playing games, I divine the rules, I set the pieces, and I choose when to play. And tonight, I say no.”
That’s some pretty high and mighty talk for a super-powerful entity named Luc. But that aside, this outburst by the dark god enticing Addie to make her deal raises some interesting questions regarding the characterization of the novel as merely another version of the Faust fable. Nobody ever characterized Mephistopheles as being more powerful than God. In fact, there is some question as to whether he is really the devil himself or just some lesser minion in Satan’s employ. But this guy, this…Luc…he is decidedly a left turn on the interstate highway of Faustian deals. There is something more complex and ambiguous in his relationship with Addie that suggests even this outburst of hubris tainted by an almost pathetic sort of narcissistic low self-esteem may not be entirely what it seems.
Outside the window, the day just carries on as if nothing’s changed, but it feels like everything has, because Addie LaRue is immortal, and Henry Strauss is damned.
This a girl meets boy story, but one with a twist. The girl is destined to live forever until she grows bored and decides to hand her soul over to a very weird figure named Luc. The boy is Henry Strauss and here’s the problem with this story ending happily: Henry also had a stranger encounter with Luc resulting in a negotiated deal for possession of his soul. The crux of the conflict is that Henry’s deal comes with a very definite time limit. And by the time Addie learns of this deal, that limit is a mere thirty-six days away. Well, thirty-five days since she learns of his deal just a little after midnight.
