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.
Being in the here and now brings more equality to Clare and Henry’s relationship: this Henry hasn’t experienced any of the trips that his future self will take to visit Clare in her childhood, giving Clare the rare opportunity to have knowledge of their relationship that Henry lacks—and the power to choose whether to disclose that knowledge to Henry.
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.
Philip and Mark’s reaction to Henry is odd and suggests that they may have seen him on one of future-Henry’s visits to young Clare. That they react to him with alarm rather than mere curiosity is concerning, however, and suggests that something bad may have happened when they first met him. Yet again, Henry’s condition complicates his ability to live in the here and now. He’s constantly having to deal with the ramifications of events that older versions of him have experienced.
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.
Henry’s conversation with Sharon sheds more light on Clare’s parents’ values and the environment this created for Clare growing up. From an outsider’s perspective, it might seem as though the Abshire family’s wealth has given them a happy and harmonious life, but Sharon’s admission reveals that things aren’t quite as harmonious as they seem. Henry’s remark to Clare about his whole life feeling like “déjà vu” is somewhat funny, given Henry’s condition, but it also underscores how destabilizing his time traveling is. Having to constantly doubt whether he has or hasn’t been places before weakens his grip on reality and takes him out of the here and now.
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.”
Clare’s toast to the “here and now” adds to the story’s central theme about the importance of living in the moment instead of worrying about the future or the past. It also emphasizes the importance of focusing on the elements of one’s life that one can control instead of fretting about everything in life that one cannot control. Henry might not have a say in when he time travels, but he can choose to make the most of his time in the here and now. Finally, Henry’s choice to respond to Clare’s toast with a line from a Marvell poem reinforces then book’s exploration of art and its ability to imbue life with meaning and vitality.
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.
Lucille’s hypocritical disapproval of Sharon and Mark’s accidental pregnancy further illustrates the negative consequences of not living in the here and now—in a way, Lucille’s seeming fixation on her own past mistakes is driving a wedge between her and her son and future daughter-in-law.
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.
Note that manic-depression is an outdated term—today, healthcare professionals would diagnose Lucille’s illness differently. Clare’s failure to disclose Lucille’s illness to present-day Henry further emphasizes how Henry’s condition makes it difficult for the couple to live meaningfully together in the present—it’s difficult for Clare to keep track of which Henry knows which details about her life.
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.
Henry’s condition prevents him from living an ordinary life and from developing and maintaining genuine, honest relationships with others. And by association, Clare, too, struggles to be forthcoming with others (though in this case, she is telling the truth but relying on Alicia’s assumption that she is joking). It makes it difficult to really be in the moment when Clare and Henry must constantly worry about creating cover stories to explain away Henry’s condition.
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.
Yet again, Henry’s condition prevents Henry and Clare from being fully present in the moment: they can’t even enjoy a church service with Clare’s family without the threat of Henry’s time travel throwing a wrench in things. Even though Henry returns only moments later, the anxiety that he and Clare both experience from not knowing this in advance—and from having to create cover stories to account for Henry’s absence—puts a strain on their experience of the present.
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.
Philip’s impossibly high expectations for his children distract him from having positive relationships and forming meaningful memories with them. Henry’s time traveling physically takes him out of the moment, but as Philip’s character shows, there are many ways in which a person’s attitude can take them out of the moment, too.
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.
Henry’s choice to hide under the bed is played for comedy here, but it also speaks to the frequency of Henry’s time-traveling episodes that Clare assumes he has involuntarily time traveled instead of voluntarily hiding beneath the bed to avoid getting in trouble with Clare’s parents. Henry and Clare haven’t been a couple in the here and now for all that long, yet Clare seems already to have decided that the only reliability she can expect from Henry is his unreliability. It remains to be seen whether their love for each other will be enough for Clare to look past this unreliability.
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.
Clare’s necessary lie about when she first met Henry damages her relationship with Helen. Once more, the book shows the toll that Clare’s unconventional romance has taken on her life, distancing Clare from the other people in her life. Clare and Henry’s subsequent discussion about Henry’s time traveling suggests that for as much pain as his condition causes Clare, it is perhaps vital to their having become a couple in the first place: Clare might not have fallen for Henry had he not visited her throughout her childhood. This is a moment where readers may take issue with the novel’s seeming acceptance of a more troubling aspect of Clare and Henry’s relationship. It glosses over quasi-grooming to which time-traveling Henry subjected Clare throughout her childhood. Would she really love him now—and be so accepting of all the ways her relationship with him damages her relationships with friends and family— if she hadn’t been preparing to love him since her girlhood?
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.
The details about Lucille’s poem remain a mystery at this point, but given art’s thematic significance throughout the novel, it’s reasonable to guess that the poem will resurface later on. Though Henry’s time traveling does create issues for the couple, the reality of his condition is at least so fantastical that it makes it easy to lie about. Even if Mark, Philip, and Alicia seem to recognize Henry, Henry and Clare can rely on the likelihood that everyone will doubt themselves before they seriously entertain the far-fetched truth.
Themes
