Book Summary

Tuck Everlasting tells the story of the Tuck family, a family of 4 who, years ago, discovered a spring of water which, they realized after they all drank from it, makes you immortal. Winnie Foster, a 10-year-old girl who has stumbled upon the well, makes friends with Jesse Tuck (who appears to be about 17 but is actually 104 years old), and is then kidnapped by the Tuck family in an effort to explain to her why she must never tell anyone about the spring. In Chapter 12 (here is a clip of the relevant scene from the film version), Winnie has a conversation with Tuck, the father of the family, about time, the meaning of life, death, and what it means never to grow old. Winnie is tempted to drink from the spring herself, but Tuck tries to describe to her what it would mean to be immortal and how living outside of the wheel of life presents its own challenges. Tuck reveals that he would like to grow and change. He tries to convince Winnie that dying is an essential part of life, even if the prospect of it is frightening: “[D]ying’s part of the wheel, right there next to being born. You can’t pick out the pieces you like and leave the rest. Being part of the whole thing, that’s the blessing. But it’s passing us by, us Tucks. Living’s heavy work, but off to one side, the way we are, it’s useless too. It don’t make sense.”

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