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 4, 2008 (Clare is 37). Clare enters her studio after letting it sit idle for two years. She pulls out indigo paper and white pastels but finds she’s not ready to draw yet. For a long time, she drinks her coffee and lets memories of Henry in her studio wash over her. She imagines time—the thing keeping them separate—disappearing. Then Clare draws a rough sketch of herself on the paper. She holds it up to the window and pokes holes in the paper along the lines of her drawing; the light that shines through makes the paper look like the night sky filled with stars. When she is finished, she commands the paper version of her to “vanish,” but she knows it will last as she fades away.
Without visits from Henry to sustain her, Clare turns to her art to find relief from her grief and loneliness. Creating art makes memories of Henry solidify in Clare’s mind, and he temporarily becomes as present as he might be if he were physically there with her. Clare’s observation that her self-portrait will last even after she fades away indicates that she recognizes the transcendent nature of art. It’s a positive moment that suggests she is perhaps finally ready to process her grief and attempt to move forward in Henry’s absence in a healthier way. Though his absence pains her, she can turn to art and memory when she wants to feel his presence.
Themes
