Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Time Traveler’s Wife, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Here and Now
Love and Absence
Free Will vs. Determinism
Language and Art
Self-Love
Summary
Analysis
Saturday, May 9, 1992 (Henry is 28). Henry takes the subway to his father Richard’s apartment. Richard won’t answer the door, but Kimy immediately comes from her apartment to greet Henry. They discuss Clare, and Henry tells her he is planning to propose and has come to ask his father for Annette’s rings. Though Kimy is happy for him, Henry can tell from her unusually somber mood that something is wrong. She admits that his father’s alcoholism has worsened and that he hasn’t paid his rent in months. Henry insists she take a check from him, and she eventually relents. He promises to come visit with Clare soon.
The novel juxtaposes Clare’s dysfunctional family with this glimpse into Henry’s family life to illustrate one way in which Clare and Henry are similar: for both, a difficult childhood influences their personality in the present day. Just as Clare had to navigate her father’s unrealistic expectations and her mother’s unstable moods growing up, Henry had to grapple with the pain of his mother’s death and his father’s subsequent struggles with alcoholism.
Themes
Henry uses Kimy’s master key to let himself into his Richard’s flat, which is in horrible disarray. Richard sits at the dining table and refuses to acknowledge Henry. Eventually, he admits that his alcoholism has made his hands too unsteady to play the violin. He has been without work for months. Henry confronts his father about owing rent, and his father breaks down. His father suddenly seems very old to Henry, evoking his pity. He tells him he has to get sober and let Mrs. Kim help him clean the apartment.
Richard’s grief over his late wife and the alcohol abuse he has turned to in order to cope with that grief make it difficult for him to interact meaningfully with his son. Though Henry’s condition leaves him with more obstacles to being in the moment than the average person, so many characters in the book struggle to fully and meaningfully exist in the present, and their relationships with others suffer as a result of their distraction.
Themes
Richard refuses, so Henry announces he’s going to get married and wants Annette’s engagement and wedding rings. Richard asks who would agree to marry him, though Henry believes the question comes from curiosity rather than cruelty. Henry shows him a picture of Clare and says that Annette would want Clare to have the rings. Richard responds that Henry hardly knew Annette. Henry, enraged, reveals he’s traveled to see her hundreds of times. Richard begins to weep. He asks Henry why he never mentioned it, and Henry tells him he didn’t want to hurt him. Richard responds that it makes him happy to know that she’s out there still, somewhere in time. Henry tells Richard Annette seemed very happy. Eventually, Richard leaves the room and returns with his late wife’s rings.
Though Henry’s time traveling more often takes away from his ability to live meaningfully and productively in the here and now, this passage shows how it helps him to grieve his mother’s death. Visiting her throughout his travels allows him to keep her memory alive in a way his father hasn’t been able to do. Of course, it’s also possible to argue that Henry’s visits to his mother have interrupted his natural grieving process, inhibiting him from accepting the reality of his mother’s death. In other words, he’s leaning on her continued existence in the past and so denies that she’s absent in the present—and therefore denies the reality of his grief.
Themes
