Unwound Clocks In Paul Harding's 'Tinkers'

In the book Tinkers, by Paul Harding, the unwound clocks in George’s house are used to show the connection between the clocks and George.

Harding uses the clocks to show George’s limited amount of time left on this earth. The sudden realization George has when he exclaims, “ that was it”, that he finally understood what the problem was, that the clock had run down—it had stopped. It was only then that he realized that all of the clocks in the room had wound down, that time had seemed to stop. When George realizes that it was not just one clock that wound down, but every clock, that seemed to emphasize the fact that because George only has a limited amount of time left, and it only goes to further satisfy that fact that it is every clock that

He does this as if to confirm that everything has stopped, that the clocks have all wound down. As he does this, he gives the tone a sentimental feel, while also being a kind of nostalgic, that as he lists off every clock’s name, to which each one holds a potential memory that is important to George, and seems that he gives us the feeling that he is recalling each one from some time in his life. For this reason, the different wound down clocks show the his life as a representation, that these are the clocks he’s collected over his years of living, that they hold his memories. The last clock George talks about is the Stevenson grandfather clock, he give a perfect image to what it looks like, being a “7 foot walnut-case” clock, with a “moon-phase window’ and beautiful decor around the “Roman numerals, George even remembers the when and where it was made. Thus, it can be said that George considers this clock one of more importance than the others, that it has been apart of his life a lot longer than the others, that it holds more memories. To this extent, it is thought that George uses the clocks to correspond to his memories of his life; that they are connected. Furthermore, when George is done talking about the whole outer of