How to Stop Time

Haig uses people and places to illustrate that change is inevitable. Change happens whether humankind wants it to or not. To prove his point, Haig juxtaposes the past with the present, showing how people and places progress and evolve. Tom is the perfect vehicle for analyzing this change. Having lived through four centuries of history, he witnesses change and progress. Tom lives through centuries of human progress, and most of it is destructive. Channeling an ancient Greek philosopher, Tom observes how “everything changes and nothing changes” (104). He watches the progression of cities but still recognizes the old beneath the new.

One of the biggest examples of change is the portrayal of London through the years. In the 16th century, Tom lives with Rose and Grace in a house on Well Lane in the suburb of Hackney. A stone wall surrounds the cottage and nearby barn. Fruit orchards and a pond are seen beyond. Four hundred years later in the 21st century, Well Lane has become Well Street. Everything is “long gone [...] And then I see it, on the other side of the road—the spot where we must have lived. It is now a windowless red-brick building, with a blue and white sign outside.