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, May 24, 1989 (Henry is 41, Clare is 18). Henry travels back in time to Clare’s 18th birthday. When he arrives in the Meadow, Clare is dressed in all white and patiently waiting for him. She presents Henry with a garment bag containing a tuxedo. As he gets dressed, he reminisces about how quickly she has grown up. Clare asks if Henry has visited her younger self recently, and he responds that he was with her six-year-old self two weeks ago.
In the novel, white symbolizes the hope of a fresh start. In context, then, Clare’s white clothing symbolizes the start of her adult life. Now that Clare is 18 years old, she is finally a legal adult—which means that she and Henry are now morally and legally permitted to be physically intimate with each other.
Themes
Once Henry is ready, Clare presents a picnic of caviar, cheese, fruit, and wine. Henry senses Clare’s excitement and feels as though she is planning something he’s supposed to know about but doesn’t. Henry finally asks Clare what is happening, and she explains that last time he was there they agreed to have sex for the first time since today is her 18th birthday and the last time they will see each other before meeting in the present. Henry hesitates but eventually agrees, promising to take it slowly.
Clare clearly has been thinking about what the arrival of her 18th birthday means for her and Henry’s relationship. Contemporary readers may find it problematic that Henry has waited for the arbitrary date of Clare’s entry into legal adulthood to initiate a sexual relationship with her—in a way, though they haven’t technically had sex before now, all their romantic interactions up to this point could be considered grooming on Henry’s part. Still, it’s important to note that the book doesn’t seem to portray this dynamic as predatory, and the narration goes out of its way to emphasize Henry’s hesitancy about initiating sex with Clare.
Themes
As Clare undresses, Henry notices that how different her body is at 18 versus that of her present 33-year-old self. Part of him misses the stretch marks and scars that have accumulated on her body from living and having babies. He can see in this teenager version of Clare an easy happiness that years of struggle and grief have worn away from her in the future. They have sex, and the newness of the experience for Clare gives Henry a new perspective on sex.
Henry’s appreciation for Clare’s more mature body further casts him in a sympathetic light—it makes clear that he does not fetishize her youth. And this passage portrays Clare and Henry’s first sexual encounter together as an emotional bonding experience first and a physical experience second. Being in the moment with Clare as she experiences sex for the first time allows Henry to gain a fresh perspective on sex and on Clare’s inner life, too.
Themes
When they are done, Clare begins to cry because she remembers she will not see Henry again for years. She asks him why she is always forced to wait on him. He reminds her that in the present, he has to wait 28 years until he meets her, while she has known him since she was six. Clare asks if they are happy in the future, and Henry tells her truthfully that they are happily in love, though they experience difficult periods. Before Henry leaves, he tells Clare to “have mercy” on him when she finally meets him in the present. They tell each other they love each other, then Henry vanishes.
Henry’s rebuttal to Clare’s complaint about always having to wait for him is somewhat flimsy—can his younger self really feel the pain of longing for Clare if he doesn’t yet know she exists? This logic also contradicts his actions in the future: recall that Henry chooses not to tell Clare about his impending death, perhaps reasoning that doing so will spare her years of mourning, as she can’t grieve a death she doesn’t yet know will happen. Henry seems to recognize the unfairness of this asymmetry, though, and so he offers Clare happy details of their future together to make her feel better in the meantime.
Themes
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