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
Thursday, December 28, 2000 (Henry is 33, and 37, Clare is 29). Henry has time traveled to the near future, where he watches himself and Clare sleep. He longs to hold and comfort this future version of himself, but he understands that he must give his attention to Clare instead. She stirs when past Henry kisses her and is startled to find her husband also asleep next to her in the present. Past Henry and Clare have sex, and Henry is overcome by the intensity of the love he feels for Clare.
This scene dispels the mystery of Clare’s successful pregnancy—a past (pre-vasectomy) version of Henry time traveled to comfort her and had sex with her, presumably resulting in the pregnancy. Though Henry can’t control when and where he time travels, he can choose how he behaves from moment to moment. Here, past-Henry has sex with Clare to perhaps give her a chance at having a baby that she no longer has with his present-day self (because of the vasectomy).
Themes
Monday, February 12, 2001 (Henry is 37, Clare is 29). Henry notices that Clare has been happily lost in thought for the entire week, though she merely shrugs when he asks. When he comes home one day, he thinks she will give him terrible news, but instead she tells him she is pregnant again. Henry is confused at first, but he then remembers the time years ago when he time traveled to the future and had sex with Clare. Clare admits she is more afraid during this pregnancy than the others. Henry can tell she is hopeful this will be the time it works.
One might interpret Henry’s traveling to the future and having sex with Clare as an act of self-care, with a version of Henry from another time stepping in to make up for the mistake his future self will make in lying to Clare and trying to avoid a pregnancy.
Themes
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 (Clare is 29, Henry is 27). Clare wakes up to news about a plane crash. She is soon hit with nausea and goes to the bathroom to throw up. Henry is concerned because she didn’t get morning sickness in her other pregnancies, but Clare assures him that Dr. Montague says it’s a good sign. She has been taking immuno-suppressants that appear to be working. Clare throws up again. After, she looks in the mirror and studies her swollen face. Though her appearance frustrates her, she is thankful that she is still pregnant.
The plane crash Clare sees on the news mirrors the feelings of terror and helplessness she feels about her pregnancy. Morning sickness, while unpleasant and even debilitating in extreme cases, is a common symptom of early pregnancy, so it’s a comfort to Clare to experience it now. It also seems to have a grounding effect for her. The visible, physical symptoms of a routine pregnancy (the morning sickness, her swollen face), while unpleasant, ground her in the present moment and distract from her anxieties about the future, namely the possibility that this pregnancy, too, will end in tragedy.
Themes
Thursday, April 19, 2001 (Henry is 37, Clare is 29). Henry and Clare go to Dr. Montague’s office to get an ultrasound of their baby. Clare is halfway through her pregnancy. During the ultrasound, the doctor tells them their baby is a girl. She says the scan shows she is big, healthy, and sucking her thumb in the womb. Clare and Henry are both relieved. Dr. Montague says the baby is smiling, and her parents smile in response, too.
The ultrasound’s positive findings indicate what Clare already knows to be true: that this pregnancy will yield a healthy baby. Seeing the image of their baby in Clare’s womb brings Clare and Henry closer together. It’s a rare instance of pure joy when the couple—soon to be a family of three—can be present in the moment together, and they relish the joy it brings them, even if the moment is fleeting.
Themes
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Monday, August 20, 2001 (Clare is 30, Henry is 28). Two weeks before the baby’s due date, Henry and Clare are still trying to decide on a name for her. They look through a baby name book as they lie in bed. As they both suggest options, they consider the meanings and their personal associations with different names. They decide they want her name to symbolize a clean beginning, so they look for names that mean white. When they find the name Alba listed, they agree that it sounds beautiful.
This scene clearly lays out the symbolism of then color white in the book, with Clare explicitly tying it to the promise of a fresh start. The couple is hopeful for the new possibilities their child might open up for them, but as the novel has shown numerous times before, it’s very rare to have a completely fresh start. It's plausible to predict, then, that Clare and Henry are being unrealistically optimistic about the future. A baby likely won’t halt Henry’s time travels, and it’s a distinct possibility that the baby may inherit Henry’s condition, which would only add to the family’s struggles.
Themes
