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
Wednesday, September 5-Thursday, September 6, 2001 (Henry is 38, Clare is 30). Clare is in the early stages of labor. Henry convinces her to sleep while she can. When she wakes up, she tells him it’s time to go to the hospital. They call Gomez and Charisse, who have agreed to drive them to the hospital. Henry tries to distract Clare from the pain by recounting some of his visits to her as a girl. Clare begs him not to leave her in the middle of labor, and Henry promises he won’t. Dr. Montague tells Clare the baby’s heartbeat is rapid, which means Clare must try her hardest to calm down. She asks Henry to recite Rilke for her, so he chooses a poem about an angel and recites it from memory. When he is finished, the doctor tells him that Alba is no longer in distress.
Though Clare and Henry have relished the moments they can exist together in the here and now, in this scene Henry tries to psychologically redirect Clare back toward the past to distract her from the labor pain she is experiencing in the present. That listening to Henry recite the Rilke poem lowers the baby’s heartrate offers tangible, measurable evidence of the power of art to imbue life with meaning. It’s significant that Henry chooses to recite a poem about an angel in particular, as wings are one of the book’s most important symbols, representing Henry and Clare’s desire to free themselves from the limits Henry’s time traveling imposes on their life together. The poem seems to be Henry’s way to assure Clare—and perhaps himself, too—that he will try not to travel away from her during this critical moment in their life together.
Themes
As doctors, nurses, Henry, and Charisse move around her, Clare is struck with the feeling that she and Alba are together but alone as Alba swims toward the world. She thinks about Lucille. Before long, Dr. Montague tells them it’s time to head to the delivery room. Clare becomes disoriented as she pushes. One of the nurses asks where Henry went. Clare is filled with rage when she sees that he’s disappeared. When she looks again, Henry has returned. His nudity shocks the hospital staff. Moments later, Alba is born.
In the novel, water represents Clare’s relationship to others. When Clare imagines Alba as swimming toward the world, she symbolically acknowledges the long journey she has ahead of her as she labors toward Alba’s birth. Clare’s rage at Henry’s sudden disappearance is understandable—of all the relationship milestones, the birth of their first child is among the most significant that Henry could miss.
Themes
Later. Clare lies in her hospital bed surrounded by presents. Henry takes photos while Alba nurses. Clare asks him where he traveled to while she was pushing, and he tells her that he spent hours wandering his old elementary school on a random winter night. They agree that everything worked out okay. Richard arrives shortly after to meet his granddaughter. He tells Clare and Henry that Alba looks like Annette. Henry responds that she will be a talented violinist, but she’ll need a teacher. Richard agrees, though this means he will have to quit drinking for good.
Henry’s time-traveling episode to his elementary school could represent his anxieties about Alba and the future, propelling him toward memories of his own childhood to take his mind off the present stress of Clare’s labor and the future stresses that will develop as Alba grows up. Alba’s birth, though stressful in the moment, ultimately ends happily, bringing together generations of her family to celebrate her birth.
Themes
Thursday, September 11, 2001 (Clare is 30, Henry is 38). Clare wakes up to find Henry and Alba missing from the bedroom. She is still healing from giving birth, but she goes downstairs to find them. Henry has the TV on. He tells Clare he couldn’t sleep, so he's been waiting for the news of the 9/11 terrorist attack to come on the screen. He gets up to make breakfast while Clare breastfeeds Alba. The news continues on as normal for a long time. Clare leaves to shower and take a nap. When Henry wakes her up, she sees the live footage of planes crashing into the World Trade Center towers.
Once more, the novel highlights Henry’s foreknowledge of a significant event—here, the tragic September 11 terrorist attacks—in order to emphasize the frustrating situation his condition puts him in. Though he can know about big future events in advance, he still lacks the ability to alter the course of history.
Themes
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Tuesday, June 11, 2002 (Clare is 31). Clare decides to draw Alba while she sleeps. After fetching pastels and paper from her studio, Clare sets to work. She studies the minute details of her daughter, sketching her form in pencil and then bringing the drawing alive with color from the pastels. Clare finishes, signing both their names at the bottom. She hopes her drawing will serve as proof of her love and dedication to Alba. Though they will all die one day, the drawing is a snapshot of the “here and now.”
This scene foregrounds two of the novel’s main themes: the transformative power of art, and the importance of cherishing the “here and now.” Even in a conventional, non-time-traveling family, it’s easy to let life’s stresses and struggles distract from the present moment, and time passes faster than one would like. But documenting Alba as a peacefully sleeping infant allows Clare to immortalize this precious memory of her infant daughter.
Themes
