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Chapter 18
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
Sunday, October 12, 1997 (Henry is 34, Clare is 26). Henry stirs from sleep and smells blood. He finds a large pool of red in the bed surrounding Clare. He tries to wake her up, explaining that she’s bleeding, but Clare is mostly unresponsive. After a moment, she holds out a bloody hand to reveal a fetus. Clare tells Henry “he died” before breaking down in tears. They mourn another lost baby together before going to the hospital.
Once more, the red of Clare’s blood as she miscarries symbolizes the struggles of life. If Clare is able to identify her fetus amidst all the blood, it suggests that she’s further along in her pregnancy than she was during her first miscarriage, making this second loss of a pregnancy perhaps even more painful than the first. Still, Henry is present for this one, giving the couple the opportunity to mourn together and offer each other support in the here and now.
Themes
Monday, February 16, 1998 (Clare is 26, Henry is 34). Henry receives a phone call as he and Clare are preparing to leave the house. Clare listens as Henry talks with Dr. Kendrick, who has successfully sequenced the genes that seem to be causing Henry’s condition. After Henry thanks the doctor and hangs up, he tells Clare that Kendrick is planning to clone his genes into mice so he can begin testing for a cure. Henry and Clare laugh together, both at the thought of time-traveling mice and with hope that they may actually find a way to treat Henry’s condition.
Dr. Kendrick’s latest research seems promising, but again, the existence of older time-traveling Henrys seems to suggest that the doctor’s efforts to find a cure are ultimately unsuccessful. And given the novel’s uncertain stance on the existence free will, it seems unlikely that Dr. Kendrick, Henry, or anyone else is capable of changing the future.
Themes
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