The Time Traveler’s Wife Themes

In The Time Traveler’s Wife, protagonist Henry’s ability to time travel centers time as a key theme of the novel. Henry and his wife Clare constantly have the passage of time on their minds from the moment they meet. Even their meeting itself is chronologically complicated. From Clare’s perspective, she first encounters Henry as a six-year-old girl and gets to know him as he time travels to visit her throughout her formative years…

Because Henry’s time traveling pulls him away suddenly to unknown locations for unknown amounts of time, longing is a core aspect of his marriage to Clare. Clare hates to be left behind and struggles with worry and loneliness, often comparing herself to a wife whose husband is away at sea. She learns to cope by making the most out of the free time her husband’s absences provide. She lets loneliness fuel her…

In The Time Traveler’s Wife, written word and fine art serve as a way for characters to connect through time and even beyond the grave. In the early years of Henry and Clare’s romance, their shared love of poetry—particularly the works of Andrew Marvell and Rainer Maria Rilke—builds the foundation of their relationship. No matter what year or at what age they are as Henry’s time travels bring them together, the poetry they…

Though the novel’s main focus is Henry and Clare’s love for each other, Henry’s care for himself suggests that self-love is even more precious and vital than one’s love for others. As Henry travels through time, he often meets himself at different stages of life. Because he is both himself in his time-traveling form and the other versions of himself he visits during his time travels, these encounters allow him to give himself direct…