Journal Entry #3

The Tuck family's perspective on eternal life

In the novel Tuck Everlasting we observe various different perspectives on eternal life.

Throughout the book, we see the Tuck family’s point of view on the subject. The Tucks are immortal, and we can see how members of the family have different opinions on it.

First and foremost, Jesse Tuck, the youngest member of the Tuck family, believes that immortality is such a great thing. He believes life must be enjoyed to the fullest by traveling the world and learning new things through exploring. We can see this when he says: “Winnie- isn’t it peculiar? And kind of wonderful? Just think of all the things we’ve seen in the world! All the things we’re going to see!” (Babbitt, 2007, p. 43).We can see through this statement that Jesse is clearly focused on enjoying life to the fullest. Furthermore, in chapter 14, Jesse tells Winnie: “Why, heck, Winnie, life’s to enjoy yourself, isn’t it? What else is it good for?” (Babbitt, 2007, p. 43). We can observe his perspective clearly through this dialogue. Jesse’s perspective is close to what mine would be because I would most likely travel the world and learn new things. However, it differs from my own because I would also try to accomplish something in my endless time. A new invention, the cure to cancer perhaps, but I would certainly try to change the world.

Another Tuck family member is Mae, Jesse’s mom. She views immortality in a completely different way. Mae believes that life should be lived, normal as ever. She does not

feel different or special, she just wants to live life however it comes. In page 54, she says: “Life’s got to be lived, no matter how long or how short.” (Babbitt, 2007, p. 54). Through this statement, we can see that Mae believes life, even without end, must be lived. In this same chapter, we also see that she feels less lonely because she is in Tuck’s company. She knows that they will always be together. In the third paragraph of page 54, Mae says: “Tuck and me, we got each other, and that’s a lot.” (p. 54, Babbitt, 2007). We can observe that Mae clearly values her bond with Tuck very deeply. In my opinion, it would be very hard for me to spend all eternity with solely one person. However, if Mae and Tuck truly love each other, I can see why Mae feels so at peace with their relationship.

Last but certainly not least is Tuck, Jesse’s dad and Mae’s husband. Tuck has the most down to earth interpretation. Tuck believes that life is pointless without dying. He tells Winnie that life is a never-ending cycle, but the Tucks were now left out of the cycle. He expresses how he would do anything to be back on the cycle, back to being a regular human being, even if it means having to die. According to Tuck: “You can’t have living without dying. So you can’t call it living, what we got. We just are, we just be, like rocks beside the road.” (Babbitt, 2007, p. 64). By saying this, we now know that Tuck does not consider that he is living, he feels like a rock that is thrown out on the side of the road. As I mentioned previously, Tuck’s standpoint on being everlasting is the most down to earth, the most realistic. Aside from this, I must disagree with Tuck’s idea the most, because even though it is completely true that living forever means being thrown out of life’s natural cycle, I would not give up at the sight of it. I would try to do something important, something for the better.

To compare and contrast the three family members points of view, we must keep something in mind. Jesse is the youngest of the bunch. He has the most vivid and optimistic view on the situation, and I strongly believe that the fact that he is 17 has a direct correlation with his approach at life. My own attitude towards the matter would probably be most like Jesse’s, given that I wish to fulfill life to the most of my ability. Mae and Tucks’ outlook at the circumstance is most alike in the sense that they both have a realistic and down to earth perspective. However, Mae relies on her relationship with Tuck as a coping mechanism, while Tuck just hopes to see the day were something in his life changes. To conclude, within the Tuck family, there are many different standpoints on the same situation.