Eternal Life: A Blessing or a Curse?

Living to the age of 100 has never appealed to me. However, from a historical standpoint, I am fascinated by knowing that people are still alive today who have seen the world transform and advance in ways that may have been perceived as fantasy/science fiction. When I think of the advancements in technology in the last twenty years, alone, I am am left in wonder.

What must Beverly Cleary, Cicely Tyson, or Betty White make of the world they're living in today in comparison to the one they grew up in? Is their desire to remain in this world stronger than their desire to depart from it? Which aspect of this new world fascinates them? Inspires them? Depresses them? Do they view their long life as a blessing--or a curse? Based on their experiences and given the chance to, would they--we--choose to live forever?

The question of immortality--blessing or curse--is at the center of Natalie Babbitt's classic, Tuck Everlasting (1975), a fantasy children's novel about 10-year-old Winnie Foster who stumbles upon a secret when she ventures for the first time into the nearby woods that her family owns, yearning for independence and freedom from her overprotective family. In the woods, she stumbles upon the Tucks and the magical spring that granted them eternal life. Endowed with this knowledge, Winnie struggles with the following questions: (1) Does she keep the Tucks' secret or reveal it to the world? (2) Does she join the Tucks in their everlasting journey?

Opposed to Winnie revealing their secret, the Tucks kidnap her with the intent of convincing her that it is in the best interest of all to not say anything about the spring--and in the case of forever 17-year-old-looking Jesse Tuck, persuade Winnie to drink the water from the spring when she becomes of age and marry him. The man in the yellow suit, the antagonist, has other ideas and becomes the catalyst for much of the action--though limited--in this story. And while Winnie is the protagonist, it is the Tucks who pull at our heartstrings.

For a young person struggling to understand death, Tuck Everlasting is powerful. Angus Tuck, the family patriarch, helps Winnie make sense of death, which she fears, by saying this:

Dying'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.

A theme driven story, Tuck Everlasting is linear and matter-of-fact in the vein of a fairy tale. A wonderful story, though not an easy read because of its ponderous subject matter and lagging pacing, I recommend the book to mature young readers. Boys and reluctant readers would be challenged to read this book independently.

Tuck Everlasting is worthy of being in the canon of classic literature. Reader beware: The ending is bittersweet and heart-wrenching.