43 pages • 1 hour read
Audrey NiffeneggerThe Time Traveler's Wife
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Library
Henry’s employment as a librarian could be seen as ironic, or when something is the opposite of what’s expected. A library, in addition to being a storehouse of books, is humankind’s attempt at organizing time in ways that make it accessible across generations. Henry’s work at the library also could represent his need to find stability in his life where there is otherwise chaos, especially as it relates to time. Being a librarian affords Henry the opportunity to construct order, on a literal level and figurative level.
Angels
Henry is like an angel. Clare adores him, but he always remains somewhat elusive due to his inability to stay glued in time. Henry’s quoting of Rilke—“Every angel is terrifying—” foreshadows when Henry loses his feet, and Clare sculpts an angel that represents him (77). While generally angels are often beneficent, they don’t exist in the human realm and represent something we do not entirely understand. There is always something mysterious about them, thus their potential to terrify. Henry’s presence in Clare’s life has a similar dynamic. He is a gift to her as well as a force of upheaval.
Christmas
Christmas in the novel is not joyful. Instead of offering hope and promise, it represents tragedy and trauma. For example, Henry’s mother is killed on Christmas, and later Henry is forced to repeatedly time travel to the scene of her death. For him and Richard, Christmas represents loss.
Christmas is also a time of high anxiety for Clare’s family. At the Christmas Eve dinner in which Henry is introduced to the family, Lucille has a breakdown. She does not attend the church services that take place at midnight; instead, she retreats to her room, shaken to her core.
For the main characters, Christmas is not a time for celebration; instead, it is a time where remorse and tension dominate. This is another way of illustrating how Clare and Henry are set apart from other people. They do not experience things as others do, and this isolates them.
