Tuck Everlasting Sparknotes

The book “Tuck Everlasting” written by Natalie Babbitt is a story about a girl named Winnie Foster. Winnie Foster is a very wealthy and sheltered 10 year old girl; who is tired of her home life because she has very little freedom to do what she wants. Dissatisfied with her home life, she runs away to live in the forest where she encounter a boy named Jesse Tuck. Jesse and his family have been living in a cabin in the woods for some unknown time because they are harboring a big family secret. They possess the key to immortality and have been living for decades in wood without aging. Winnie moves in with the Tuck family. As the story progresses, Jesse and Winnie develop strong feelings for each other. Eventually, the family grow attached to Winnie and let her in on their secret to immortality. In the woods at a base of a tall tree, there is special water from the springs, by drinking the water they are able to live forever without pain. When there secret is discovered by a man in a yellow suit who

wants to expose the Tucks and sells the water. The Tucks are forced to flee and ask Winnie to join them, but she declines their offer. According to Angus Tuck, everything is a wheel. “Time is like a wheel.” “Turning and turning, never stopping,” (pg. 62). The wheel represents the cycle of life. Winnie has to decide whether she wants to continue living a normal life or become immortal like the Tuck. Jesse gives Winnie a bottle of the water from the springs to drink when she is 17 so that she too could live forever, and one day when he returned to the forest they could be together again. However, Winnie doesn’t drink the bottle and when Jesse returns to find Winnie, he see her tombstone in the graveyard. The idea of living forever is the central theme in “Tuck Everlasting,” but is living forever actually worth it?
Having the ability to live forever

The story revolves around three central themes; immortality, greed, and love. One of the main themes in “Tuck Everlasting” is immortality. Winnie had the option to live forever, but turned down the opportunity, why? The main problem with being immortal is every one figuring out. Immortality causes a big disturbance in the Tuck Family. Living forever is impossible, when an individual is born they begin the cycle of life. A few consequences with living forever is constantly hiding from people, not being able to hang around certain people, and watching the ones who you love and care for die. Why would anyone want to live like that? The Tucks isolated themselves in order to keep their secret, nobody can find out about them. They told Winnie that she should not fear death, and that they would do anything to die. I imagine being immortal has to be quite boring. It has to be a burden for everyone to constantly keep moving from town to town, and always having to meet new people. If they were ever caught they would be used for experimentation. Although immortals do not age physically, they age mentally. Memory depletes as individuals age, after the age of thirty 1% of our bodies functionality. Immortals must feel loneness, because they outlive everyone. They also lack a sense of purpose, why are they here? They might be lazy or lack ambition. I would think if you live forever you must be financially stable. They have to maintain their income. If someone is always moving around going from job to job, how it this possible?
Another major theme is greed. The Tucks made it their duty to protect the water but once the man in the yellow suit overhears that the Tucks are immortal, he plans to find the spring to sell it. He wants to be rich. His character is selfish and greedy. He wants the spring all to himself. He kidnaps Winnie in attempt to make her drink from the spring to use her as a demonstration. The Tucks get nervous because the man might try to expose the family. While captive Mae Tuck hits the man in the yellow suit, and kills him. She is then taken to jail to be hung, but because she is immortal she cannot die. Winnie helps her escape from prison by distracting the guards. The family is also greedy. Immortality may be a dream, but it comes with a price. They gave up their whole and lived in fear, because they wanted to harbor their secret. They had limited social interaction with the world. Every time they thought someone knew about them they would quickly leave town.
The last major theme of the book is love.

Despite their age difference they spent all this time together. Winnie is only ten years old, and Jesse is seventeen. Before Jesse goes to flee with his family he gave Winnie a bottle of water from the spring, and told her to drink when she becomes seventeen so that they could be together. Jesse told her that he would love her for the rest of his life. He even comes back for her. He loved her so much that he returns to the forest a hundred years later to reunite with Winnie. Winnie gave up her home life to live with the Tucks depict everything that happened. Winnie contemplates whether she wants to live forever like the Tucks, or live a normal life. She learns to appreciate her life. At some point Winnie decides that she does not want to live forever, but does not want to waste the magical water so she pours the water over a toad. The toad is symbolic in this story. It represents Winnie. It has freedom, and does whatever it

pleases.
The Tucks did not know what to do with their time, they also lived a boring life. In the story Winnie is given the option to drink the bottle and life forever or to a normal life. If I was given that opportunity I would drink from the bottle. I think the concept of living forever is amazing. Never falling ill or feeling any pain seems excellent. I would like to see how the world evolves over the years, where technology goes, new inventions, and who would make history. I see the spring as a benefit and immortality as an advantage! I would have a lot of time on my hands, be able to meet new people and travel the whole world. However, the negative aspects about eternal life is outliving everyone, watching peers grow old and die. No one would believe that I was immortal if I told them. I think I would get lonely unless all humans lived forever. In that situation I believe chaos would arise, the earth become over populated.
Overall the story “Tuck Everlasting” goes through a lot of themes. The idea of living forever is surreal. Death is a hard thing to accept but it should not be avoided, let nature take its course. Winnie saw how the Tucks struggle. She was only ten years old, she had her whole life ahead of her. She didn’t want to life like them. She didn’t want live her life in fear, always hiding from the law, and social interaction. Aging is an inevitable process, we are born to die. Death is a natural part of life, and failing to live your life to the fullest is a big tragedy. Disrupting the cycle of life will result in serious consequences. Therefore enjoy life while you can.