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Chapter 8
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
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, December 24, 25, 26, 1991 (Clare is 20, Henry is 28). Clare and Henry are on their way to Clare’s family home in Michigan for Christmas. Clare notices that Henry is extraordinarily uneasy today due to a mix of anxiety about meeting her family, grief from the anniversary of Annette’s death, and his ongoing aversion to riding in cars. He also didn’t run before they left. Clare knows Henry needs significant physical activity to maintain his mental health. She reflects on how different being with Henry in the present is compared to when he used to drop in on her from the future. He is more affectionate and forthcoming with details of his life than future Henry ever allowed himself to be when Clare was a child.
Clare and Henry’s relationship improves once they’re able to be together as adults in present. When Henry used to visit Clare, he constantly had to be on guard to ensure he didn’t behave inappropriately toward her or share personal details about his life that Clare would’ve been too young to understand. Now they can be more mutually forthcoming with each other. This passage also builds tension as Henry and Clare get nearer to the pivotal moment where Henry meets Clare’s family for the first time.
Themes
Henry and Clare discuss the fact that they will be forced to sleep in separate rooms at her parents’ house. Henry tells Clare that after years of avoiding both Christmas and girlfriends’ families, his willingness to come home with her is clear evidence of his love. He admits that riding in the car isn’t as bad as he feared, though he still refuses to ride in planes out of a suspicion that trying to time travel back into a jet would kill him. They discuss his working theory of his condition, which he compares to epilepsy. Things that might trigger a seizure tend to trigger his traveling. Sex, meditation, and physical exercise seem to moderate it. He also suspects his subconscious is highly involved, as he often returns to the past rather than the future to people and places that are significant to him.
Presumably Henry and Clare will have to sleep in separate rooms because Clare’s family is religious and believes that premarital sex is immoral. But given that sex apparently helps curb Henry’s time-traveling episodes, this sleeping arrangement could create some problems for the couple, possibly triggering one of Henry’s time-traveling episodes. That Henry has a working theory about what conditions trigger his episodes shows that he’s making an effort to better understand—and therefore better control—his condition. Little by little, he is starting to practice the self-care necessary for him to develop into the well-adjusted future version of himself.
Themes
They arrive at the Abshire home, and Henry is shocked by the size of their house. Clare tells him there are 24 rooms. Henry is introduced to Etta and Nell first, and the women announce that lunch will be ready soon. Clare takes Henry up to her room, which is filled with mementos from their time together during her childhood. She realizes, as he comments on a bird nest that future Henry gave her, that Henry in the present doesn’t recognize the trinkets or their significance because he hasn’t lived those memories yet.
Themes
At lunch, Henry meets Clare’s family. He is introduced to her mother, Lucille, then sits down with Clare’s sister Alicia and her brother Mark’s girlfriend, Sharon. Henry notices that Clare’s father, Philip, and Mark seem to be alarmed by him; Henry suspects they recognize him from somewhere. The men both try to conceal their reactions as the family eats. Henry talks with Alicia before she leaves to rehearse for the evening’s church service. The family continues to discuss music, and Henry talks about his parents’ careers as musicians. Lucille tells him that she remembers seeing Annette perform once and even met her and baby Henry offstage. She says he looks just like his mother.
Themes
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Clare goes skiing with Philip and Mark while Henry stays behind. He talks with Nell in the kitchen while she makes him coffee. He returns to the living room and is overwhelmed with how picturesque the Abshire home is. Sharon is in the living room as well; she and Henry discuss how disparate both their upbringings were compared to the Abshire children. Henry learns that Mark and Sharon are engaged, though she doesn’t seem happy about it; Sharon admits they are getting married because she is pregnant. Both her and Mark’s parents are livid. She tells Henry she thinks Clare is the only kind member of the family. When Clare returns, she insists that Henry come outside so she can show him the Meadow. She asks if he ever has “déjà vu,” and he responds that his whole life seems that way.
Themes
Later. The family dresses formally for dinner. When they go downstairs, Alicia warns Clare that Lucille is not doing well. Clare thinks she looks fine, but she suspects from her Philip’s wary expression that something terrible was said before they entered the room. Alicia explains that Lucille is still upset about Sharon’s pregnancy. As the family enjoys dinner, the tension begins to disperse. Over champagne, everyone takes turns making toasts. Clare toasts to Henry and the “here and now.” He responds by quoting an Andrew Marvell poem, toasting “To world enough and time.”
Themes
Henry has noticed the pendulating nature of Lucille’s moods and how the family has learned to tread lightly around her. While Lucille stabilizes throughout dinner, her composure fails during dessert. Henry watches as she begins to cry over her plate. Clare and Philip try to calm her, but she begins spouting comments about the pregnancy and family hypocrisy. Great Aunt Dulcie in turn calls Lucille a hypocrite, revealing that Lucille and Philip got married after an accidental pregnancy. This silences Lucille and improves Sharon and Mark’s outlooks on the situation tremendously.
Themes
After dessert, Clare takes Lucille to bed. When they are alone, Henry asks Clare about her mother’s health. Clare explains that Lucille is manic-depressive and has a history of attempting suicide; Clare found her on one such occasion and has long helped care for her. Henry asks why Clare didn’t share this with him, and Clare realizes that she didn’t think of it since Henry from the future had known. Henry assures Clare she knows all the secrets in his family, but Clare reminds him that she hasn’t met Richard yet.
Themes
Henry and Clare go downstairs to watch TV with Alicia. Henry falls asleep while the sisters discuss the events of the day. Alicia tells Clare that everyone approves of Henry, which thrills her. Eventually, Alicia asks Clare if Henry had ever been to their house before. Clare is confused, so Alicia explains that she once saw him in the basement when she was a girl, though he disappeared before she could get help. Clare asserts that it couldn’t possibly have been him since the man Alicia describes was much older; she jokes that it must have been time travel. Alicia laughs, not understanding Clare is telling her the truth.
Themes
Later that evening, the family attends Mass without Lucille. In the middle of the service, Henry begins to feel like he might time travel, so Clare attempts to distract him without drawing anyone’s attention. Henry gets up under the pretense of using the bathroom. He disappears as soon as he is alone, traveling to his apartment four days into the future. His future self tells him he’ll return in a few minutes, and everything will be fine. When he arrives back in the present, Henry rejoins the Abshires. Mass ends, and Henry is introduced to Clare’s friends, Helen and Ruth. Helen reminds Clare she’s met Henry before, though she actually met an older version of him.
Themes
Once the family arrives home after Mass, Alicia and Clare go to the billiards room. Henry follows, and Mark soon joins. Alicia and Henry play pool. As they play, they discuss how Alicia’s decision to go off script during her cello performance at the church infuriated Philip. Alicia asserts that her father only cares about his children making him look perfect in front of his friends. Henry responds that he and Richard haven’t gotten along well either, not since Annette’s death. He believes that his resembling his mother has made it impossible for his father to face him.
Themes
After everyone goes to bed, Henry sneaks into Clare’s bedroom where they have sex. They wake up in bed together in the morning just before Etta and Lucille barge in to wish Clare “Merry Christmas.” Clare thinks they’ve been caught, but when she looks beside her Henry is gone. Etta and Lucille, and Clare realizes Henry hadn’t time traveled—he simply hid beneath the bed. They rest of the day is uneventful compared to the day before. Henry is thankful to be celebrating Christmas with a whole family even though there is underlying tension in the house.
Themes
In the evening, Henry and Clare go to a party at her friend Laura’s house. Clare’s friends all take a special interest in Henry. Nancy, remembering what the Ouija board said at the girls’ middle school sleep over, comments on the weird coincidence of Henry’s name. Helen later confronts Clare, asking her why she is lying about meeting Henry recently when Helen knows that Clare’s known Henry for years. Clare admits she kept him a secret from everyone for a long time. Helen is hurt Clare left her out of her secret. On the way home from the party, Clare asks Henry if he’d stop time traveling if he could. He admits that he probably would, now that he’s met her. Clare responds that would mean he wouldn’t get to experience his trips to see her as a child, which would devastate her.
Themes
Henry and Clare prepare to leave the next day. Clare says goodbye to Lucille, who is distracted by the poem she is writing at her desk. In the car on the drive home, Clare begins to cry. This unnerves Henry, who has never seen Clare so upset before. She admits that she’s worried about her mother and that her family is simply too much to handle sometimes. Henry reassures her that he enjoyed meeting everyone and is especially fond of Alicia. They discuss the fact that Alicia, Mark, and Philip all seem to have seen Henry at some point during his time travels, but they agree that the truth is too strange for these sightings to cause any real problems.
Themes
