The Time Traveler's Wife: Analysis of Major Characters

Author: Audrey Niffenegger

First published: 2003

Genre: Novel

Locale: Chicago, Illinois; South Haven, Michigan

Plot: Time travel fiction

Time: The 1960s to the early twenty-first century

Henry DeTamble, a man who involuntarily time travels throughout his own life. A librarian in Chicago, Henry attempts to live normally even though he may unwillingly disappear at any moment only to be thrust into another time and place without his clothes. Most often, Henry time travels to pivotal moments in his own life, such as the day during his childhood when his mother was killed in a gruesome car accident. He also frequently appears at his future wife's childhood home, thus getting to watch Clare grow from a child into the woman he already knows he will marry. Because Henry has learned through experience that he cannot change events he has already witnessed, he must constantly weigh how much to tell Clare about their future together. In addition, he frequently visits his younger and older selves and realizes he must teach his child self how to find or steal food and clothing when he jumps through time.

Clare Abshire DeTamble, Henry's wife. An artistic and sensitive child, Clare matter-of-factly accepts the periodic sudden appearance of a strange unclothed man in the meadow behind her parents' house throughout her childhood. Even though she cannot tell anyone about him and he refuses to give her specific information about the future, he becomes her best friend. Clare is ecstatic when at age twenty she meets Henry, at age twenty-eight, for the first time in his actual present; he does not yet know her because all of his trips to her past are still in his future. For the most part, Clare handles Henry's frequent disappearances with grace and patience, never wavering in her certainty that they are meant to be together, but at times, she finds the waiting and loneliness to be almost unbearable.

Alba DeTamble, Henry and Clare's daughter. Alba has inherited Henry's genetic disposition for spontaneous time travel, but because she is aware of the condition from the earliest possible age, she considers it both normal and interesting, and matter-of-factly refers to herself as a chrono-displaced person, or CDP. Henry gets to meet a ten-year-old Alba in the future and is astounded by her confidence and poise. Alba tells Henry that he is already dead at this point in her life, but he will still have the opportunity to see her occasionally. Alba seems to have some control over when and where she appears, although she cannot prevent herself from time traveling altogether.

Annette Lyn Robinson, Henry's mother and a highly regarded opera singer. Annette's career is cut tragically short when she is killed in a car accident, and Henry never stops missing her. For this reason, his time travel often takes him to points in Annette's life, allowing him to briefly encounter her on the subway or the street or to witness his parents' incandescent happiness in the early years of their marriage. She never learns of his time traveling, however, since she dies before Henry understands what is happening to him.

Richard DeTamble, Henry's father. A gifted violinist, Richard has never recovered from his wife's death and seemingly blames Henry, who survived only because his five-year-old self time traveled away from the accident at the critical moment. Richard turns to alcohol for comfort and maintains an uneasy relationship with Henry, but the arrival of Alba, who shares Richard and Annette's musical abilities, eventually helps the two men reconnect.

Mrs. Kim “Kimy,” Richard's landlady and Henry's babysitter. Kimy, as Henry and Richard call her, has always accepted Henry's time traveling and acts as a surrogate mother to him after Annette's death, providing practical, uns entimental advice when Henry needs it most. She also takes care of Richard in his later years, when his alcoholism finally destroys his ability to play the violin professionally. It is only in his adulthood that Henry learns that Kimy lost her own daughter to leukemia before Henry was born and that he actually met the little girl once while time traveling.

Jan “Gomez” Gomolinski, Henry's best friend. An attorney who advocates for underprivileged and abused children, Gomez initially warns Clare away from Henry. Gomez has seen Henry around Chicago and has become aware of his somewhat violent reputation, but as he gets to know Henry for himself, Gomez realizes that Henry generally fights only out of self-defense. In spite of his own marriage to Charisse and his friendship with Henry, Gomez never quite gets over his own love for Clare and cannot understand why Clare is willing to spend her life waiting for Henry.

David Kendrick, Henry's doctor. A geneticist, Kendrick initially disbelieves Henry's claims of time travel until he sees Henry disappear before his own eyes. Once he has proof, Kendrick agrees to try and isolate the cause of Henry's time traveling and stop it from happening if he can, as Henry believes that his lack of control over when and where he appears will eventually kill him. It is Kendrick's research that eventually allows Clare to carry a pregnancy to term, after she and Henry had essentially given up on ever having a baby.

Ingrid Carmichel, Henry's former girlfriend. When Henry realizes that their tumultuous relationship will never make them happy, he decides to break up with Ingrid, just as Clare appears in his present life for the first time. Ingrid therefore believes that Clare is the cause of Henry's desertion. After several failed suicide attempts, Ingrid ultimately succeeds in killing herself while a time-traveling Henry is forced to watch, trying but knowing he cannot stop what has already happened.

Charisse Bonavant, Clare's best friend and Gomez's wife, an antiestablishment artist. Charisse's work draws on her sadness in knowing that Gomez loves Clare and would be willing to leave Charisse if Clare would have him.