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
Monday, January 7, 2006 (Henry is 43). Henry wakes in an expanse of white snow in winter. His feet are so cold he can’t feel them. Despite his numb extremities, Henry ambles to a parking garage. At first, he walks, then he is forced to crawl. He finds a pay phone and manages to call himself; present Henry assures him he is on his way. Future Henry can see everything he needs to survive in the nearby security office, but he can’t get in through the reinforced windows. Before Henry and Clare can arrive to help him, he vanishes.
This is an event that happened earlier in the book (when the present-day Henry of that scene woke to a late-night phone from his future self but was unable to locate or help him), but now readers are experiencing the event from future Henry’s perspective—and realizing the grave seriousness of future-Henry’s predicament: the numbness of his feet raise the possibility of frostbite, and present Henry isn’t able to arrive in time to help him. As Henry’s condition worsens, he is increasingly limited in his means to help past and future versions of himself.
Themes
