The Plot Development of Tuck Everlasting

Plot Summary

This is the story of a family called the Tucks. They came to a place called Treegap woods to settle down. One day they drank from a strange spring at the centre of the woods they wanted to stop and take a break. They found a spring to drink from. After taking that break they headed somewhere else. Slowly over the years, they realized that they were not ageing. Miles, the eldest son, had a family but the wife left him because she realized that Miles was not ageing. And there were several fatal accidents that the Tucks survived and they soon realized that they were immortal.

Mae Tuck, the mother, sets out once every 10 years to meet her sons at the edge of the village of Treegap. Winnie Foster is the daughter of the Foster family who owned the woods. Winnie Foster was tired of all the rules in the house so she ran away. She kept on going until she reached the centre of the wood. There she finds Jesse, the youngest son of the Tucks family. She watches Jesse drink from the same spring from where the Tucks once drank from. Jesse notices Winnie and tells her to come out of hiding. She comes out and has a conversation with Jesse but things get out of hand. The Tucks family cannot let anyone else drink from the spring but Winnie wishes to drink from it. With impeccable timing, Mae Tuck (along with Miles) shows up to take care of the situation.

Mae Tuck “kidnaps” Winnie, takes her near the Tucks place and explains everything. With that said she tells Winnie why she can’t tell anybody else. They take her to the pond near the Tucks house and have some fun. This is also where they meet Tuck, the father. They give Winnie a tour of the house and have dinner. Later they have some sleep. The next morning Tuck takes Winnie for fish in the pond and tells her about being immortal. They come back with no fish for lunch, so the have flapjacks (pancakes on steroids). Meanwhile, a creepy guy in a yellow suit sees everything and decides to blackmail the Fosters into giving up the woods for Winnie’s location. The man in the yellow suit goes with the constable to “rescue” Winnie. The man tells the constable to go a different, more time-consuming path whereas the man in the yellow suit takes a shortcut.

The man in the yellow suit gets to the Tucks house and politely knocks. Tuck opens the door to find an odd-looking man standing outside. Yellow suit guy decides to step inside and threaten the Tucks to give up their secret. Mae Tuck takes out the shotgun and injures yellow suit guy. Mae Tuck gets taken to prison. Winnie comes up with a plan to bust Mae out. The plan succeeds and things go back to the way they were. Except for the fact that pours the immortal spring water that Jesse gave her onto a Toad.

Character List

Mae Tuck: Mother to Miles and Jesse Tuck. Wife to Angus Tuck. She goes to visit her boys in the village of Treegap every 10 years. During the story, she meets Winnie when she is having a conversation with Jesse. She later “kidnaps” Winnie and tells her the secret of the immortal spring. At another point in time in the story, she injures Yellow Suit guy with a shotgun and gets arrested for it. But she, later on, gets busted out of jail. She seems like a person who completely relies on instincts to guide her. Some actions are not very thought through too. But seems like a wonderful, and sweet lady.

Angus Tuck: Father to Miles and Jesse Tuck. Husband to Mae Tuck. He seems like a miserable man who wants no of this immortal business to have ever happened to him. He relies on knowledge to keep him on track. He regrets all his choices but has seemed to learn from his mistakes. He overall seems like a wise man

Jesse Tuck: Son of Angus and Mae Tuck. Brother of Miles Tuck. He seems like a typical teenager. He relies on his emotions to guide him. He loves the people close to him. Eventually, through the story, he falls in love with Winnie gives her a bottle of Immortal spring water. He would be like one of the “screw-ups”. He wishes to marry Winnie once she gets of age. He doesn’t seem like the smartest character but he is not the worst.

Miles Tuck: Son of Angus and Mae Tuck. Brother to Jesse Tuck. He is a married man who has been accused of selling his soul to the devil and got kicked out of his own family. He does not like the fact that he does not age and brought him great sorrow. He solely relies on experience and most of his actions are similar to that of his past actions.

Winnie Foster: She is the daughter of the Foster family who owns the Treegap wood. She is a very curious little ten years old. She also seems like a person who relies on instinct. She doesn’t think things through too often and it gets her in trouble. She is very impatient but that might be because she is a ten-year-old. She has a crush on Jesse Tuck and later on, she is “proposed” by Jesse and is given an immortal spring water bottle which she later pours on a toad.

The man in the Yellow suit: His name is unknown but he is the bad guy in this story. He takes the Woods from the Foster family by threatening them. He threatens the Tucks to give up their secret. He stalks people while hiding in a bush. He is the antagonist.

Plot Events

Exposition

The exposition of this novella starts from the prologue al the way to chapter 5. This is where we are introduced to the characters of the story: Mae, Angus, Jesse, Miles, Winnie and the man in the Yellow suit respectively. During this short part of the story, we are also introduced to the location the story is set in (Which is Treegap), along with a hint of what period the story is set in as well (Sometime in the 18th-19th century). At the end of the exposition (End of chapter 5) the author tells us how some of the characters meet (How Winnie meets Jesse, and later on, how Mae and Miles meet Winnie).

Rising Action

This is where the tension begins to rise in the story. The rising action essentially takes place in chapter 6 through chapter 11. At the start of chapter 6, the Tucks pretty much “Kidnap” Winnie. But to Winnie’s surprise, the kidnappers looked more afraid or shocked than she was.

Themes

Love: The love between the families and even Jesse and Winnie.

Envy: The envy the Yellow suit guy had for the Foster family and the Tucks

Death: The fact that being immortal means to avoid death

Cycles: The importance of the cycles that Winnie realizes at the pond