John Renfrew

Character Analysis

Renfrew is the character that gets this whole temporal party started. He comes up with the experiment to send tachyon transmissions containing a message back in time. The message contains warnings to the past that those algae blooms are about to make things really uncomfortable for humanity. He's also Gordon's 1998 counterpart insofar as their experiences are similar since both have to face family problems and political roadblocks to perform their tasks.

But unlike Gordon, who only has his reputation on the line, Renfrew has the present, past, and future of his world resting rather heavily upon his shoulders. So… stay frosty?

Science to the Rescue

Renfrew's experiment represents science's potential to help mankind improve itself and its current conditions. As early as the first chapter, we're informed that science, if anything, will provide the solution to the world's current ecological disasters:

"Well, actually …" [Johnny] hesitated. "He said the scientists got us into this beastly mess in the first place and they're the only ones who can get us out of it now, if anyone can."

"He's not the first one to say that, Johnny. That's a truism." (1.16-17)

In Renfrew's mind, this is a self-evident truth. Only science can provide the solution to the problem, and his experiment provides one possibility to make that possible. As such, Renfrew represents the scientist's ability to come up with such solutions.

With that said, it's not as though Renfrew is doing all of this because he believes himself the savior of the world. When Marjorie asks him if he thinks he can succeed, Renfrew says he isn't really sure. Marjorie follows up, wondering why he does it then, and Renfrew replies:

"It's good physics. I don't know if we can alter the past. No one does. Physics is in chaos about this thing. If there weren't a virtually complete shutdown of research, chaps would be swarming over the problem. I've got a chance here to do the definitive experiments. That's the reason. Science, luv." (10.32)

Renfrew devises his experiment under the same motivation shared by Gordon and Markham: that is, curiosity and a desire to push science further into the unknown.

But let's compare him to a character that isn't so scientifically pure of heart for a moment, namely Peterson. The end result always and only profits Peterson. Renfrew may be considered selfish, but his selfish desires could potentially save the mankind from its ignorance and the calamity this causes. Unless you're a staunch believer in the categorical imperative, Renfrew is clearly the preferred choice.

Home, Sweet, Where?

Renfrew's biggest dilemma is in trying to find a balance between his home life and his scientific endeavors. Since Renfrew is a point-of-view character, we know that he loves his family; his thoughts tell us as much on the regular. With that said, he is the type of fellow who feels most at home in his lab and not his actual home (1.45).

Whether to save the world or kill curiosity, Renfrew spends more and more time in his laboratory as the novel progresses, coming home less and less. Meanwhile his wife, Marjorie, has to deal with a world that is changing, becoming a more dangerous place as the effects of the ecological disasters spread into England. At one point, Marjorie argues with Renfrew that he has lost complete touch with his family. As she tells it:

''God, John, sometimes I feel as if you'd been away for months. The chickens were stolen weeks ago. All of them. And I know I told you. As for the vegetables, am I supposed to go slopping around there in the rain looking for a leftover potato or two? It's the end of September. The garden's a swamp now anyway.'' (36.50)

We understand being caught up in your work—we really do—but to not know your chickens were stolen or even what month it is? The guy's a workaholic.

Through Renfrew's story, much like Gordon's, we see the difficulty of balancing the demands of a personal life when compared to work that might open up the fascinating, if impersonal, universe.

A New Hope

Ultimately, Renfrew does not learn whether his experiments succeed or not. Weary and sickly, he spends days in his laboratory trying to send a message back in time as the world continues to break down around him.

At one point, he receives a message that reads, "ATTEMPT CONTACT FROM 2349 IN TAC" (45.11). Renfrew has no idea what this means. Is someone trying to contact him from the year 2349? Or perhaps the 234.9 kilovolt range? Either way, Renfrew's experiment has put him in contact with someone, somewhere out there. He decides that the idea that there is someone out there, anywhere, brings him hope (45.26). In short, Renfrew's story ends on the note that science can provide hope.

The power in his lab goes out, and Renfrew cannot signal back. Deciding to leave his lab, Renfrew thinks, "Marjorie [lies] up ahead, no doubt frightened to be alone" (45.32). He finally makes the decision to be with his family, and while we don't know what ultimately happens to him, we hope it all works out for him—if only for Marjorie's sake.