Tuck Everlasting

Tuck Everlasting Study questions

Directions: Write a brief answer to study question as you read the book at home or in class. Use the questions for review before group discussions and before your th novel test. These questions should be done by Oct. 17 , however I will be checking your work periodically.

Prologue and Chapters 1-3

1. At what time of year does the story begin? What is the mood? 2. What three things happened during the first week of August? Make a guess about how they might be connected. 3. What is the road to Treegap like? How does it change as it approaches the wood? 4. Who is Winnie Foster? What is her connection to the wood? 5. What is Mae Tuck like? What is her connection to the wood? Why is she planning to go there? 6. Who is “Tuck”? What does he dream about? Make a guess about why he might have that dream? 7. What object is special to Mae Tuck? DO you have a special object like that? What is it? 8. What is unusual about Tuck’s appearance? 9. Why is Winnie thinking about running away? Have you ever felt that way? Explain.

As you continue reading, watch for how a connection forms between Mae Tuck, Winnie, and the stranger. Chapters 4-6

1. How can you tell that the man in the yellow suit makes Winnie somewhat uncomfortable? 2. What does the stranger ask Winnie and her grandmother about? 3. What do Winnie, her grandmother, and the stranger hear? How does Winnie’s grandmother explain it? 4. How does the stranger react when he hears the music? 5. Why does Winnie go into the wood? Why hasn’t she been there before? 6. Whom does Winnie see in the clearing? How do these two seem to feel about meeting each other? 7. What are your impressions of Jesse? What suddenly makes him grow serious? 8. Who kidnaps Winnie? How does she feel about being kidnapped? 9. How do Winnie’s kidnappers seem to feel about kidnapping her? How is this different from usual kidnappers? 10. What effect does the music box have on Winnie?

Chapters 7-9

1. How long ago had the Tucks come to this place? What was the area like then? Around what year do you suppose that might have been? 2. In telling the story, Mae reminds the others that “the cat didn’t drink. That’s important” (p. 38) Why is that important? 3. What was the first sign that something was peculiar? What had the family done before this peculiar thing happened? 4. What other strange things happened to the Tucks after they drank from the spring? 5. Why did Mile’s wife leave him? 6. How did the Tucks finally figure out why the reason they weren’t changing had to do with the spring? 7. Why did shoot himself? What happened? 8. How does Tuck explain the spring? 9. Do you think others besides the Tucks have drunk from the spring? 10. Jesse and Miles seem to feel differently about the fact that they’re never going to die. What’s the difference? Which one feels more like the way you would feel? 11. Why have the Tucks kidnapped Winnie? How does she feel about being kidnapped? 12. Who was listening as the Tucks told their story? 13. How does Angus Tuck seem to feel about Winnie when he first meets her?

As you read the next section, about the difference between the Tuck household and Winnie’s family.

Chapters 13-15

1. Who took the Tuck’s horse? Why? 2. What kind of sleep does Winnie have? Why? 3. Who “visits” Winnie in the night? 4. How can you tell that Winnie has a crush on Jesse? 5. What is Jesse’s plan for the future? What does Winnie think of that plan? What do you think of it? 6. What does the man in the yellow suit want in exchange for Winnie? Does he get it?

As you read the next section, look for more references to life and death. Chapters 16-18

1. How does the stranger treat the constable? 2. Why does the constable mention the gallows? 3. Why does the stranger say he is going ahead? Do you think that is the real reason? 4. Why does Miles take Winnie out in the rowboat? 5. What does Winnie learn about Miles’ past as they talk, out on the pond? 6. How is Winnie’s discussion with Miles 7. What does Miles want to do with his life? How is he different from his father? 8. Why don’t Miles and Winnie catch any fish for breakfast? 9. What does Miles mean when he tells Winnie that “People got to be meat- eaters sometimes”? (p.88) Do you agree? 10. As Winnie looks around at he Tucks, who seems “dearest of them all”? (p.91) Why do think that is? 11. What happens to break the pleasant mood at the Tuck’s breakfast table?

As you read the next section, think about what Miles said about killing while he and Winnie were out fishing.

Chapters 19-21

1. How did the stranger first learn about the Tucks and the fact that they never aged? 2. To what did the stranger devote his life? Why? 3. Why did the stranger recognize the tune played by the music box when he was talking with Winnie and her grandmother at the beginning of the story? 4. Why does the stranger want the wood and spring? 5. What offer does the stranger make the Tucks? Why? 6. How do the Tucks react to the stranger’s offer? 7. Why does Mae Tuck strike the stranger? Do you think she would have done it if the stranger hadn’t mentioned getting Winnie to drink the water? 8. What does the stranger look like as he lies splayed out on the grass? (p.102) 9. Why does Winnie feel that she must keep Mae Tuck from going to the gallows? 10. How does Winnie’s family treat her when she returns home?

As you read the next section, think about all the discussions that Winnie makes and what they show about how she has changed.

Chapters 22-24

1. Why does Winnie take a bowl of water outside? 2. What is Miles’ plan for getting his mother out of jail? 3. What does Jesse give Winnie? 4. Why does Winnie feel responsible for all that has happened? Is she? 5. How does the weather change as Winnie and the Tucks help Mae escape? How does the weather aid in the rescue? 6. How does Winnie help Mae get away? Have you ever done anything you knew you would get in trouble for because you felt that it was the right thing to do?

As you read the next section, ask yourself how the ending might have been different if Mae had gone to the gallows- or if Winnie had made a different decision about drinking the spring water. Chapters 25 and Epilogue

1. What time of year is it now? Compare the first sentence in Chapter 25 with the first sentence in the book. How is the atmosphere- the overall feeling the setting creates- different now? 2. Did Winnie get into a lot of trouble with her family for her role in helping Mae escape? Why do you think they reacted this way? 3. How does Winnie rescue the toad from the dog? Why do you suppose she didn’t just put him out of harm’s way? 4. Where does the toad appear one final time in the story? What is ironic about Tuck’s comment that the “durn thing must think it’s going to live forever” (p.139? 5. How much time passes before Tuck and Mae visit Treegap again? 6. What do they learn about the wood, the tree, and the spring? 7. What was the weather like the night the tree was killed? When did you see such weather earlier in the story? 8. Do you think the spring still survives? 9. What was Winnie’s life like after the Tucks left? How do you know? 10. Why does Tuck say “Good girl” as he looks at Winnie’s headstone? Are you surprised that she never drank the spring water? Do you think that this is a good ending?