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
Spring, 1996 (Clare is 24, Henry is 36). Two years into their marriage, Henry and Clare begin trying for a baby. Clare is worried that Henry knows from his time travels that they are unsuccessful, but she doesn’t want to know if that is the case. Clare spends both her days and nights dreaming of babies that look like a combination of her and Henry. She loves the idea of having someone who will stay by her side always. If the baby looks like Henry, she hopes it might feel like part of him is staying with her when he’s away time traveling.
Sunday, October 2, 1966 (Henry is 33). Henry sits in a tree in Wisconsin, eating lunch in clothes he’s stolen from a laundry line. He knows that at this point in time he is three years old and living in Chicago, which makes him consider his and Clare’s attempts to have a baby. He believes giving her a baby might make up for all the time he is forced to spend away from her. However, Henry is nearly certain that any children he creates will be plagued with the same condition as him, causing Clare even more pain. Though he can’t bring himself to admit it to Clare, Henry hopes that they are unable to conceive.
Henry’s thoughts in this passage reaffirm that he is on the same page with Clare about a baby helping to quell some of the loneliness she feels during his frequent absences. At the same time, Henry seems warier than Clare about the possibility of a child inheriting his condition. It could very well be the case that having a baby only doubles Clare’s feelings of pain and loneliness, forcing her to cope with missing two loved ones instead of one.
Themes
