Book Review: ‘Tuck Everlasting’ by Natalie Babbitt
Imagine if you could live forever in perfect health, never aging? Would you choose to stay frozen in time? That is the question Natalie Babbitt asks in her 1975 classic Tuck Everlasting. Nothing has changed for the Tucks in a very long time. Not since the day 87 years ago when everything changed. Now everything might change again because someone is onto the Tucks and wants what they have. The only thing standing between the ageless family and ruin is 10-year-old Winnie Foster.
[Warning: My review of Tuck Everlasting contains some spoilers!]
A secret in the woods that could change the world lies in Tuck Everlasting
Thank God for cows. If it weren’t for the cows that refused to enter Treegap Woods, the world would have been in trouble. But the cows knew better than to enter the woods, so the road went around the woods, and no one noticed the giant ash tree in the middle of the woods. Or the little spring at the base of the ash tree. A spring that was very special, even if it looked quite unremarkable.
At the beginning of Tuck Everlasting, Winnie Foster, the owner (or rather, her parents were the owners) of Treegap Woods, was wandering in the woods when she came across a young man drinking from a spring that no one was aware of. When she declared her intentions of drinking from it too, he became agitated and suddenly grabbed her up and carried her off!
The young man, Jesse, takes Winnie to see the rest of his family (the Tucks) while they come up with a plan of what to do with her. Winnie was scared, but not nearly as scared as her captors. Jesse, Miles, Mae, and Tuck, the Tuck family, weren’t bad guys. They didn’t want to kidnap Winnie. But they did have a secret, and they couldn’t let the world find it out, no matter the cost. You see, the Tucks haven’t aged at all since the day they drank from the spring in Treegap Woods 87 years ago.
The reason the Tucks want to keep the spring secret isn’t selfishness. In fact, the Tucks wish they’d never drunk from the spring either. They have the benefit of experience with immortality, and they’ve seen all the problems it causes. Now they just want to save others from the same fate. Well mostly. By the time they’ve convinced Winnie that they must keep the spring secret, Jesse has fallen in love with Winnie. When they leave, he begs her to drink from the spring when she’s 17 (the age Jesse was when he drank from the spring), then come and find him so they can spend eternity together. Winnie understands the importance of hiding the spring. Does she understand the lesson about actually living life that the Tucks (minus Jesse) share?
Natalie Babbitt’s novel is an American classic
Tuck Everlasting has become an American Classic. Fifty years old, this story has been a staple of middle school English classes for decades. I read it myself back in sixth grade and loved it. The idea of living forever was fascinating. I understood the deeper lesson that Babbit was imparting about immortality not really being living forever. Life is all about change. Everything cycles, everything grows, and everything is in a constant state of flux. When you cease to change and grow, you cease to live. The Tucks are no longer able to engage in the world; it’s too dangerous for them, so what is the point of existing?
Jesse thinks he might have found a reason in young Winnie, but that is problematic in several ways. First off, if Winnie does drink the water and fall off the wheel of life, then she’ll be just as stuck as the Tucks. Having a companion his own age might make it more of an adventure for Jesse, but eventually, they’ll both feel dissatisfied and unfulfilled. Even if life is short, it’s better to be part of its flow than to be a stone on the side of the stream. Tuck understood this, which is why he’s happy to find Winnie’s grave at the end of Tuck Everlasting. Even though he cries, sad she’s gone, he’s ultimately proud that she made the choice to be a part of life instead of being seduced by the idea of immortality.
The other problem with this star-crossed love story, which didn’t bother me when I was 11 but now bothers me as a grown woman, is that Jesse fell in love with Winnie in the first place. He was 104 years old in actual years. Even if you make the argument that, in addition to his not physically aging after drinking from the spring, he also didn’t emotionally age, he was still 17 when he drank from the spring. Winnie is 10 when they meet. 10. Any 17-year-old who is feeling romantically towards a 10-year-old is gross. I understand Winnie being taken with Jesse; having a crush on someone older is pretty normal. However, it shouldn’t work in reverse, especially given the significant gap and Winnie’s age. I’m not sure what Babbit was thinking when she wrote that particular romance, but I really wish she’d make Winnie six or seven years older. Then the argument about Jesse not emotionally maturing after drinking from the spring could have worked and removed the icks from his infatuation. As is, I hate it, and I’m glad for multiple reasons that Winnie never drank from the spring.
Regardless, Tuck Everlasting is still an interesting story
Despite the problem I now see in Tuck Everlasting, I still enjoy the story and see value in having young people read it. I do think that a conversation about age and appropriate feelings should be had in any class that reads Tuck Everlasting. But the classic conversation about observing vs living life feels more relevant today than ever. When so much of life is spent watching others online, the importance of participating in life instead of just watching others is a lesson that we all need to learn. And no one teaches that lesson better than the Tucks.
Rating: 8/10
Tucker Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt is available now! Have you read this novel before? Let us know on social media @BoxSeatBabes!
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