Skip to main content

In Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, what is the perspective of each of the Tucks on living forever? Who do you agree with?

I will start with Jesse Tuck.  He thinks that living forever is a great bit of fun.  It's one huge adventure to him, because it allows him an unlimited amount of time to go see things that he has always wanted to see and do things that he has always wanted to do.  


"Just think of all the things we've seen in the world! All the things we're going to see! . . . We might as well enjoy it, long as we can't change it."



However, Jesse is the only Tuck that feels that way.  Miles Tuck sees his immortality as a responsibility.  He thinks that he has been given a tool, and it is his job to do something important with that tool.  



"There's a whole lot more to it than Jesse Tuck's good times, you know. . . Someday," said Miles, "I'll find a way to do something important."



Mae Tuck's opinion seems to be calm acceptance.  She doesn't feel the need to go do anything grand and important like Miles, but she also doesn't feel the need to go and make the world her playground like Jesse.  I believe that Mae's attitude can be summed up with the following common phrase: "It is what it is."  


Angus Tuck has his own unique attitude as well.  Of all the Tucks, he is the only Tuck that wishes that he was not immortal.  He wants the ability to die.  To Angus, if a person can't die, then a person really isn't living.  That person is just there . . . like a rock.  



"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."



It's entirely up to you to decide who you agree with most.  Whichever Tuck you choose though, be sure to explain why you agree with him/her the most.  

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What is the meaning of "juggling fiends" in Macbeth?

Macbeth is beginning to realize that the three witches have been deceiving him since he first encountered them. Like jugglers, they have kept changing their forecasts in order create confusion. This is particularly apparent when the Second Apparition they raise in Act IV,   Scene 1 tells him that no man of woman born can overcome him in hand-to-hand battle--and then Macbeth finds himself confronted by the one man he has been avoiding out of a... Macbeth is beginning to realize that the three witches have been deceiving him since he first encountered them. Like jugglers, they have kept changing their forecasts in order create confusion. This is particularly apparent when the Second Apparition they raise in Act IV,   Scene 1 tells him that no man of woman born can overcome him in hand-to-hand battle--and then Macbeth finds himself confronted by the one man he has been avoiding out of a sense of guilt, and that man tells him: Despair thy charm. And let the angel whom thou still hast serve...

What are some external and internal conflicts that Montag has in Fahrenheit 451?

 Montag, the protagonist of Fahrenheit 451, faces both external and internal conflicts throughout the novel. Some examples of these conflicts are: External Conflicts: Conflict with the society: Montag lives in a society that prohibits books and critical thinking. He faces opposition from the government and the people who enforce this law. Montag struggles to come to terms with the fact that his society is based on censorship and control. Conflict with his wife: Montag's wife, Mildred, is completely absorbed in the shallow and meaningless entertainment provided by the government. Montag's growing dissatisfaction with his marriage adds to his external conflict. Conflict with the fire captain: Montag's superior, Captain Beatty, is the personification of the oppressive regime that Montag is fighting against. Montag's struggle against Beatty represents his external conflict with the government. Internal Conflicts: Conflict with his own beliefs: Montag, at the beginning of th...

In A People's History of the United States, why does Howard Zinn feel that Wilson made a flimsy argument for entering World War I?

"War is the health of the state," the radical writer Randolph Bourne said, in the midst of the First World War. Indeed, as the nations of Europe went to war in 1914, the governments flourished, patriotism bloomed, class struggle was stilled, and young men died in frightful numbers on the battlefields-often for a hundred yards of land, a line of trenches. -- Chapter 14, Page 350, A People's History of the United States Howard Zinn outlines his arguments for why World War I was fought in the opening paragraph of Chapter 14 (referenced above). The nationalism that was created by the Great War benefited the elite political and financial leadership of the various countries involved. Socialism, which was gaining momentum in Europe, as was class struggle, took a backseat to mobilizing for war. Zinn believes that World War I was fought for the gain of the industrial capitalists of Europe in a competition for capital and resources. He states that humanity itself was punished by t...