Theme

The author, Audrey Niffenegger, uses different themes through out the novel to portray the feeling and connection between characters. She is intending to communicate the bond between two people who are so different and how they are meant to be together because of their differences. By using the themes of love and family and marriage the author is guiding us through their life together. Imagery and setting are two main literary devices that are coming up a lot in the novel. By using imagery, the author really puts a picture in the readers mind about what is happening and what she is trying to express through the characters. By using descriptive words, it really helps picture what is being read. Setting is a main literary device because the setting changes so frequently in the novel. The setting can set a certain mood in that particular chapter and move the story in a direction that the author wants in to go.    

Love: The theme of love is expressed between the two characters Henry and Clare in many different ways. The sacrifices they both have to make for each other shows the connection that they share. There is also the physical love that they share throughout the novel and is mentioned more during the present time. The author shows that with a love this strong, the characters can overcome anything and be together forever, despite the time travel. [Henry:] “This is why I love to be drawn by Clare: when she looks at me with that kind of attention, I feel that I am everything to her.” They have grown up together and watched each other grow into who they become in the present.

Time: The theme of time is one of the most important one in the novel. For Henry, past, present, and future happen in the same time, while Clare only experiences time in the present. When she waits for Henry, time seems to move more slowly. When he's with her, it seems to proceed much faster. They have known one another their whole lives and had to wait for each other. Henry was in the future and had to wait for Clare to grow up while Clare was a young girl and had to wait for Henry to come back to visit her. “I keep myself busy. Time goes faster that way.”

 

Active Reading

What do I love about this Book: This novel is different from anything I have read in the past. The whole story line is different and really makes you think about what time period the characters are in at the time. It goes back and forth from past to present instead of just one chronological storyline. Because of the unique was the book was written, it draws you into what is happening and the plot of the story. I am someone that takes so long to find a book that really interests me, but this book can be hard to put down. It brings you in with the connection that the characters have and the different way of life they lead. Some people in the novel think that Clare is crazy for staying with Henry while he time travels to different time periods of his past, but it really shows the strong connection the to characters have and how far they have come with he impact they have on each others lives.

What do I hate about this book:

What does time have to do with love?

Conflict

In this story, The Time Traveler’s Wife, the main conflict in the novel would be that Henry time travels and can leave the present and come back at any given time. Henry has been living with the struggle of trying to stay in the present his whole life and it is still not solved at this point in the novel. Time Travel affects the plot greatly because it is setting the main character, Henry, in a different time period throughout each chapter of the book creating a very dynamic, unique story line. With Henry as a time traveler, it impacts Clare’s life very much as well. She has grown up knowing this and had to live with this secret ever since she was a young girl.  If this conflict was not a main part of the book, this novel would no be what it is and the story line would be completely different.

Characters

Henry: Henry is a time traveler and has been ever since he was a young boy. With this time travel occurring throughout the book, as readers we can see him in different stages in his life and how he has grown and changed as a person. "When I am out there, in time, I am inverted, changed into a desperate version of myself. I become a thief, a vagrant, an animal who runs and hides." Henry can relive a time in his past at any given time in the present. This is what makes Henry a unique character. The big turning point in Henry would be when he meets Clare in the present and he slowly becomes a mature man that knows a lot about the world around him. 

Clare: Throughout the book, readers are privileged to read how Clare grows up from a young child to an artsy woman. Clare is a very strong willed person and knows what she wants in her life. Henry is her life, and has been since she was a young girl. The meeting of Henry makes who Clare is and formed her personality and life style. She knew before they met in the present time that her and Henry were going to get married. Knowing this changed her whole outlook on life while growing up. "Do you ever miss him? she asks me. [Clare:] Every day, every minute." Clare has been in love with Henry ever since she met him in the meadow she played in by her childhood home. Her lover for him is her main drive for things in life and having him makes her who she is. Even though she always has Henry, she is a very independent person because she is constantly alone while he is time traveling. 

 Father: Henry’s father is mentioned multiple times by Henry relating back to when he lived with him, and we finally meet his father in the later chapters. Readers are able to hear and descriptions of how he was like when Henry’s mother was still alive. "If you traveled back to then, why couldn't you have stopped her from getting into that goddamn car?" In the present time, Henry and Clare visit his father and there is a noticeable change from when Henry was a child and growing up to now, when his father is alone and not working. He is a very sad and unhappy man, who wastes his days drinking and sleeping and no longer doing what he loves to do, perform music. After his wife past away he slowly lost everything. This character shows the hardship in love and what it is like to lose a loved one.        

Henry's Mother: Although Henry’s mother is no longer alive; Henry visits her at different times in her life on his time travels. She is still a major part in Henry’s life even though she has been gone for so long. His mother and father are it’s own love story within a love story. As Henry watches them from a far grow up with each other he sees the impact that she had on his life and his fathers. She is very inspiring to Henry and his life as a child and she continues to inspire him while he revisits her over and over again.  

Gomez: Gomez becomes a good friend to Henry as the book progresses. He starts out being a protective friend of Clare’s and warns Clare that Henry is bad news. As he learns more about Henry he becomes more trusting of him. Gomez learns of Henry’s time travel and is one of the only people that know about Henry in that way which makes hi a close friend to Henry. Henry feels a trust between them and the friendship grows. Gomez is the type of person that needs to know and be involved in everything. He is a very strong-minded person and this is how he comes across Henry and his time traveling.

Setting

There are two main time frames in The Time Traveler’s Wife. Because Henry, one of the main characters, is a time traveler there is a past and present setting.

Present: In the present time of the novel, Clare and Henry meet in the city of Chicago where both are living at that time. They create a life together in this city. This setting is significant because the author, Audrey Niffenegger was originally from Chicago and grew up here. She added a personal piece of information to the novel connecting her to the characters.

 Past: The past is where Henry travels to while he is mid time travel. He tends to go to places that he is most comfortable. He travels to a main setting in the book, the meadow. This meadow is a significant place because it is where Clare spent most of her childhood and where Henry and Clare meet and grow together. It connects these two characters through a simple environment. Henry also travels to the place of his mother’s death over and over again. He was five when this event occurred this setting brings henry back to his childhood and the memories of his mother. A simple setting brings back an overwhelming flow of memories that can slowly him all over again.

The setting changes plenty of times throughout each chapter because it is skipping from the preset to the past back to another place in the past and to the present again. This book is unique setting wise because it doesn’t have a specific main setting, rather many settings, each with a different story. 

Chapter 14

The main theme in chapter of the book is love and marriage. This is the chapter where Henry and Clare are getting married and get to spend whatever time they have in the present as a married couple finally. Although Henry has already experienced being married to Clare because of his time travel, it is a new event for Clare. Audrey, when writing the book, was really focused on the marriage of these two characters and in this chapter she gets to elaborate and explain their wedding through her eyes and her perspective of the marriage. From here on in the novel she has the opportunity to describe the marriage and love between these two characters as one.

"We walk down the aisle, arm is arm, together." Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife

Favourite Quotation

"It's come to this, I think. Henry takes my hands and looks at me gravely. I've waited for this so long and here it is and I'm frightened."(The Time Traveler's Wife, 226)

This is my favourite quotation because it really gives you a sense of how Clare really feels about Henry and its an actual thought she has in a situation. It is a great example of how she has been anticipating so many events for her whole life because she grew up knowing Henry was out there waiting to marry her. It is a classic example for a love story. Clare, her whole childhood and growing up to the present, has known she was going to marry Henry and now having it actually happen she has all these emotions of excitement. I'm sure many people can relate to this feeling, when knowing an event will occur and the excitement it brings and finally having it happen and feeling almost a sense of fear because of the overwhelming joy.