What Time Is It There?

J.H. Miller once said that literature was all about time. He happened to be the fifth mayor of the village of Elkhorn. Reading might have made him unaware of the midnight sun. Canadians living outside of Manitoba may be skeptical, but they would agree on Miller's observation. They can count on Lewis Carroll too.

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" features a worried rabbit, always looking at his watch. What will happen if he's late for his appointment? Readers know the Queen of Hearts and her legendary temper. And how time remain still. Alice is on the cusp of puberty. She's conscious about it. Boredom has nothing to do with it. However, time has different representations.

Let's have a look:

The Clocks (1963) by Agatha Christie. A corpse was surrounded by four clocks, all timed at 4:13 PM. But the cuckoo announced three in the afternoon. Only Hercule Poirot knew the device was a red herring. Shadow can be seen during this time of the day, suggesting there was more to the crime than the usual motives. Readers would be startled at the complexity of the happenings. It might not be known if not for those gray cells.

Great Expectations (1861) by Charles Dickens. Miss Havisham's clock was set at twenty minutes to nine. It marked the time when her fiancé left her, when they were about to be married. It wasn't difficult to discern this piece of information. And if readers would follow Miller's argument, then the time would affect Pip and Estella.

Julius Caesar (1599) by William Shakespeare. This particular time was a turning point in the history of the Roman Empire. The players have no idea of what was about to happen, as they wanted blood.

The 13 Clocks (1950) by James Thurber. As the title suggests, the number is a bad omen. Prince Zorn wants to rescue Princess Saralinda. The Duke of Coffin, her uncle, had her. All thirteen clocks stopped at ten to five, implying the nobleman vanquishing time. It turns out that thirteen can be a lucky number to some people. There's more to Thurber's fairy tale, where readers wonder if Cronos is looming somewhere. He's the personification of time, which is an ominous sign.

Tom's Midnight Garden (1958) by Philippa Pearce. There's no such thing as thirteen o'clock, but Tom witnessed it during his stay at his Uncle Alan's flat. A Victorian garden would be in full view during this hour, and the sickly lad would meet (and befriend) Hatty. It seemed incredulous, but Pearce had her reasons. The grandfather clock was a reminder of a huge abode. Tom moved to and fro. It may be a case of sleepwalking. Readers won't agree on a single opinion, but they were touched by Tom's first encounter with the much older Hatty.