Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt (1975)

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt is the story ten-year-old Winifred “Winnie” Foster and her life in the small town of Treegap, New Hampshire. Winnie lives with her father, mother, and grandmother in the woods outside of their little town. She spends her days contemplating running away in search of a better existence. One calm and gentle evening in August of 1881 Winnie played in her yard chasing fireflies, like she usually did on most evenings in rural Treegap. This evening was slightly different for reasons that Winnie would soon come to learn.

 

As she played in her yard surrounded by a giant fence and an immense forest, a stranger in a “Jaunty yellow” suit walked up the dirt road to her home in the middle of nowhere (Babbitt, 1975, p. 17). He asked her if this was her house and how long her family had lived there. He asked her if she knew everyone in the town and everything that goes on there. As the strange man stood there at her fence asking even stranger questions, her grandmother came out to fetch her. Her grandmother wanted to know who the stranger was and what he wanted. He didn't answer the questions, but told her grandmother “This young lady tells me you’ve lived here for a long time, so I thought you would probably know everyone who comes and goes” (p. 20). Her grandmother retorted saying she doesn’t know everyone and doesn’t want to, but then something happened. A melody, so quite you could barely here it through the summer evening floated through the forest. Her grandmother for a moment became distracted and shared with Winnie and the stranger that it had been forever since her own childhood that she heard this song. The stranger was intrigued and wanted to know more about the song, but Winnie’s grandmother hurried her back in the house. The strange man stood around for a moment and left with an eerily satisfied smile on his face.  

 

The next day a few things happened that at first were outwardly unrelated. Winnie runs away from home and heads deep into the Treegap forest. While somewhere two young boys, Jesse and Miles Tuck, head home to see their mom and dad that they only see every ten years. At the same time the strange man returns to her home and knocks on her house looking for her. Next, Jesse and Miles Tuck meet their mom, Mae Tuck, in the Treegap forest. As Winnie continued running deeper into the Treegap forest her world collided with another. She sees a “Boy, almost a man” drinking water from a small spring under a tree (Babbitt, 1975, p. 25). The boy sees her and at first he seemed alarmed, but he softened as they talked. Winnie learned that his name was Jesse Tuck and that he lived near by. She asked him how old he was and he told her 104 and Winnie not believing him asked again. This time he said 17. What happened next to Winnie, happened quickly. Mae rounds the corner with Jesse’s older bother Miles and a horse. They look mortified to see Winnie by the spring water and quickly grabbed her. They wrapped her in a blanket like a sack of potatoes. Then she was on a horse being moved by the boys and the women. They brought Winnie to their home in the woods and shared with her their story.

 

The family seemingly normal, is forever frozen in time. As the world changes and grows, they do not change. The spring water they drank from has given them immortality, the one Winnie found Jess at. They realized their immortally after several near death experiences. They tell her that their dad had gotten a snakebite, Jesse had ate poison toadstools, and Mae had cut herself. They never died from these instances and soon realized why. They tell Winnie that she can’t go home now, because she knows their secret. Winnie finds her self scared and mortified by their story. As the days go on Winnie starts to love the Tuck family and finds her self falling in love with the forever 17 year old Jesse. She also learns that the music her grandmother heard as child through the woods was from a music box that Mae often played. Winnie misses her family though and often thinks of them.

 

She spends her days now with the Tuck family getting to know them and partaking in different activities, such as hiking or fishing. One day after a wonderful day of fishing with the oldest son Miles, they returned home to the Tuck house. As the family sat around the table someone knocked at their door. It was the man in the “Jaunty yellow” suit and he claimed he had come for Winnie. Something didn’t feel right with the strange man and Jesse spoke up about not letting him to take Winnie. The strange man interrupts with a story about his family’s history. He says that he heard a story once as a boy from a friend of his grandmother about a family just like the Tucks. He knew they had a music box that was passed down from generation, the one he heard that August evening at Winnie’s home. The man goes on to say that he made a deal with the Foster family, that he would find and return Winnie for the Treegap forest. He has spent his entire life looking for the Tuck family and this spring water. Now he plans to sell the magical spring water to others who wish for immortality. The Tucks tried to persuade him from doing this, but the man refused to listen. The man grabbed Winnie and tells the Tucks that he is going to force her to drink the water as an example to all of what the spring water can do. As things erupt and the moment turned to chaos, Mae grabbed her shotgun and hit the man on the head with it. He doesn’t get up, he doesn’t move, he is no longer alive.  At the same time the constable arrived and witnessed the horrific incident.

 

He arrested Mae and takes her into town, where she is to be tried for the death of the strange man. The Tucks know that Mae will be sentenced to death for the murder, but will not die. They realized they must break her out. Winnie has returned home to her family, but agrees to help the Tucks break Mae out. Winnie takes Mae’s place in the jail cell and covers herself with a blanket. Before she does this and the Tuck’s escape, Jesse gives Winnie a bottle of the magical spring water. He asks her to drink it when she turns 17 and he promised to return for her. The Tucks escape and when the constable finds Winnie, he can’t and doesn't punish her because of her age.

 

Many years later in the twentieth century the Tucks return to Treegap forest and learn it was destroyed in a lightning fire. The town of Treegap is no longer the same and the Foster’s home is no longer there. Jesse heads to the place where the Foster’s home once was and finds Winnie headstone. She died in 1948, two years ago. She lived a full life as a wife and mother.  Jesse heartbroken over this discovery leaves to find his family and tells them what happened. He had planned to marry Winnie, but part of him knew she wouldn’t be there. Knowing that Winnie wasn’t alive and their home was gone, the Tucks decide to leave Treegap for good. As they leave the town Mae plays her music box and the melody floats softly down the road and through the woods.