; The Time Traveler’s Wife Citation: Niffenegger, Audrey. The Time Traveler’s Wife. United States of America: First Harvest edition, Print. By: Ashley May

Audrey Niffenegger FACTS: Professor in the M.F.A. program at the Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts Lives in Chicago This is her first novel Has been made into a major motion picture

Characters: Protagonist Henry DeTamble ◦ Main Character who time travels (involuntary) ◦ Clare Abshire’s boyfriend/husband ◦ Is a librarian ◦ Dies an early death indirectly caused by time traveling

Characters cont.: Fav Clare Abshire ◦ Meets Henry at age 6 ◦ Henry’s girlfriend/wife ◦ Artist ◦ Waits for Henry her whole life (literally) ◦ Is widowed later

Characters: Antagonist Gomez ◦ Clare’s best friend’s boyfriend/husband ◦ Is secretly in love with Clare ◦ Constantly tries to persuade Clare to leave Henry ◦ Smokes a lot ◦ Least favorite!

Rising Action The beginning of this book mainly focuses on introducing us to the main characters Henry and Clare. Some important things we learn are: ◦ Clare meets Henry for the first time when she is 6 ◦ Henry’s mom dies in a car crash that he time traveled out of ◦ Henry cant take anything with him when he time travels ◦ Henry and Clare form a strong relationship and get married

Exposition As we follow Henry through his struggles to stay in the present and his journeys to past and future we begin to see a problem. ◦ Henry cant control his time traveling and wants to stay in the present. ◦ People are starting to notice piles of clothing that Henry leaves behind when he disappears; questions are starting to be asked. ◦ Clare and Henry cant start a family because the baby time travels out of the womb Eventually Clare and Henry are able to have a child, Alba, she has inherited Henry’s ability to time travel but can sometimes choose when and where she goes.

Climax One night, about 5 years after their child is born, Henry appears in the middle of his house crying out in agony and covered in blood. Wednesday, June 28, At the age of 43,Henry passes away, Clare and Alba in his arms. Henry was time traveling into the pasture behind Clare’s house at the exact same time her father takes a shot at a deer. Henry is shot in the abdomen.

Falling Action After Henry’s death Clare and Alba try to go on with their day to day lives. Clare really struggles to move on after her husbands death. Alba continues to learn about her time traveling abilities and manages to run into her father a few times.

Resolution At the very end of the book Clare gets one last goodbye when Henry appears in the pasture and Alba finds him. Being able to say goodbye to a happy and healthy Henry helps Clare to have some closure.

Setting Time period: ◦ Since this book covers all of Henry’s life and his time travels it has a pretty broad time period… ◦ June 16, July 14, 2053 Place: ◦ The Time Traveler’s Wife takes place in Chicago ◦ This is important because Henry is very familiar with the town and has lived there his whole life, so when he time travels he can usually find his way around

Themes The strength of love ◦ Clare’s love for Henry is constantly being tested. She spends all but six years of her life loving him and sometimes he is gone for weeks on end. She is always cleaning up after him and he will disappear without warning but she never questions her love for him. The battle against time ◦ Henry lives in the past, present, and future throughout his entire life. He is constantly trying to stay in the present but doesn’t know how to. Sometimes it puts his life and relationships in danger. Commitments ◦ A commitment is a pledge or a promise. Henry and Clare sacrifice so much to be with each other because they truly love each other. They commit themselves to making the other happy and they stick together no matter what.

Ratings I would rate this book at an eight. My Reasons: ProsCons Very well written Adventurous Full of romance A little long Hard to follow

Single Parenting I chose this social issue because a lot of my friends are affected by it and when I look around its something that I see a lot of. Single parenting ties into my book in a couple different ways. ◦ Henry is always disappearing and leaving Clare to clean/cook/live/work alone. ◦ Henry dies when Alba is only five years old, permanently leaving Clare to raise Alba on her own.

Causes: Divorce Never been married Widowed Spouse fighting in war As of Nov. 30, 2009: 115,000 total troops sent to Iraq 34,000 total troops sent to Afghanistan

Divorce The dictionary definition of divorce is: ◦ A judicial declaration dissolving a marriage in whole or in part, esp. one that releases the husband and wife from all matrimonial obligations.

Poem! Painful Tears Heather A. Richardson Waiting alone in a quiet room Bad things are what I start to assume I wait longer and longer for the word to come As my body starts to feel nervous and numb The door opens and my mom comes in I can already feel her pain from within As she tells me he will not be here My eyes fill up with painful tears People always tell me that I will be fine But divorce is hard when it's your third time Now I don't want to see him ever again I guess I was wrong when I thought he was a friend He lied to me hurt me just like he did to my mother I feel like by him I am constantly being smothered And I hope one day he feels guilty for what he did To a 12-year-old girl which he called his kid. Source: Painful Tears, Divorce PoemsPainful Tears, Divorce Poems

Divorce Statistics: As of November 2009: ◦ 13.7 million single parents in U.S. ◦ 21.8 million children being raised by one parent ◦ 84% of custodial single parents are mothers Of the _________ who are custodial parents MothersFathers Divorced/separated45%57.8 Never been married34.2%20.9% Are married19%20% Widowed1.7%Fewer than 1% (Wolf, Jennifer)

Negative effects on children: 5 of the most common negative effects that single parenting has on children are: ◦ Economic hardship ◦ Loss of parental support and supervision ◦ Lack of community resources ◦ Parental conflict ◦ Life stress and instability (Temke, Mary.)

Negative effects cont. The effects of divorce on children depends on a few things, such as: ◦ Age when the divorce happens ◦ Child’s personality ◦ Gender ◦ Parental conflict ◦ Support from friends and family (Tempke, Mary)

Effects on different ages: Infants: ◦ May react to changes in engery level and mood ◦ Loose appetite, have upset stomach, spit up more Preschool children (3-5 years): ◦ Blame themselves ◦ Feel abandonment ◦ Baby-like behavior ◦ May become depressed or angry School-aged children: ◦ Most difficult to adapt ◦ Old enough to understand but too young to handle it ◦ May experience grief, embarrassment, resentment, and anger. Adolescents: ◦ experience anger, fear, loneliness, depression and guilt. ◦ Some feel pushed to grow up faster ◦ (Debord, K.)

Movie… Single parents song ScjHs4 (funny song) ScjHs4 x3ig1w (serious video) x3ig1w

Works Cited Niffenegger, Audrey. The Time Traveler’s Wife. United States of America: First Harvest edition, Print. DeBord, K. (1997). Focus on kids: The effects of divorce on children. North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. Divorce Lawyer Source. “Causes of Divorce.” Divorce Lawyer Source. eJustice. 1/10. 3/10. Hughes, R., & Scherer, J. Parenting on you own. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Cooperative Extension. Legal zoom. “Legal Requirements for Divorce.” Legalzoom.com divorce education center. 5/09. 2/10. “Marriage Laws.” US Marrige Laws. Marriage License Requirements. 4/08. 3/10 Rose M. Kreider and Jason M. Fields, "Number, Timing, and Duration of Marriages and Divorces: 1996", U.S. Census Bureau Current Population Reports, February 2002, p. 18.Rose M. Kreider and Jason M. Fields, "Number, Timing, and Duration of Marriages and Divorces: 1996", U.S. Census Bureau Current Population Reports, February 2002, Temke, Mary. “The Effects of Divorce on Children.” Extension Human Development Specialist 5/06 Emily Douglas. 3/10 Wisconson Family Impact Seminars. “Why Single Parenthood Affects Children.” 9/09. 3/10. Wolf, Jennifer. “Single Parent Statistics.” About.com. 9/09. 3/10.