Boekverslag Natalie Babbitt

Geschreven door:	Arthur [meer]
Datum ingestuurd:	23 november 2006
Niveau:	2 vwo
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Titel:	Tuck Everlasting
	Het geheim van het eeuwige leven
Auteur:	Babbitt, Natalie
Jaar van uitgave:	1985

Auteur:	Babbitt, Natalie
Geslacht:	vrouw
Nationaliteit:	Engels
Populaire titels:	1985Tuck Everlasting / Het geheim van het eeuwige leven (1)

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Main Characters:
Winnie Foster: 10 year old girl who is curious of the world around her.
Angus Tuck: Anxious about immortality
Mae Tuck: Is worried about consequences for the world if immortality is getting normal
Jesse Tuck: 17 year old son of Mae and Angus. Most optimistic about being immortal, because he’s in love with Winnie.
Miles Tuck: Was married and had two children. Leaving wife and children after getting immortal, afraid of the effects on them.
The man in the yellow suit: Wants to make money out of the “magical” spring, so misuse it.

Place and time:
Treegap woods, around 1881. Later in the book also in Tucks house.

Main Question:
Should Mae Tuck be put into jail?

Answer to main question:
If I were to judge the simple fact that a man is hit at the back of his skull with the butt of a shotgun by a woman, I’d say the verdict is simple: the woman is guilty for, at least, manslaughter.
However, if you’ve read the book, the facts are not that simple. You can even question if the woman should be punished at all!

Why?
The man in the yellow suit wanted to own the woods an the “everlasting life spring” and make money out of it. He didn’t care about the consequences.
Mae Tuck on the other hand, had the opportunity through the years to think of what would be the result of making the spring secret public. Mae was very worried about the effect of immortality to the whole world.

Imagine: what would have happened if Mae didn’t hit the man in the yellow suit;
mortality no longer exists;
how people would fill in their lives if they wouldn’t have a “deadline”?
You can think of lots of other questions…

The point is: Should Mae be put into jail for something she did out of responsible feelings towards the whole world?
Yes, because there is no other option for Mae than to be punished. That’s because she can’t be defended without mentioning the secret spring. And that is what the family doesn’t want.

In the book the reader is glad to find out that Mae is saved because Winnie understands that her replacing Mae in jail can help Mae escape en keep the secret as it is.