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What are some important items in the novel "Tuck Everlasting"?
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Important items in "Tuck Everlasting" include the yellow suit, which makes the Man in the Yellow Suit mysterious; the cat, which helps the Tucks realize their immortality; the shotgun, testing their invincibility; and the music box, linking Mae and the Man in the Yellow Suit. Also significant are the mirror symbolizing unchanging life, the grave showing Winnie's mortality choice, the bottle of spring water, Treegap Jail, the woods, the spring, the toad, the trout, the pond, and the Tuck and Foster homes.
Some additional items that are important in Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit include the yellow suit, the cat, the shotgun, the music box, the mirror, and the grave.
The yellow suit: The stranger who comes to the Foster woods seeking answers about the spring and the Tucks is never given a name. He is simply the Man in the Yellow Suit, making him mysterious. Though the suit is yellow, a bright color, the man reminds Winnie of "the stiff black ribbons they had hung on the door of the cottage for her grandfather's funeral."
The cat : While not an item, the cat is a key figure. The cat contributes to the Tucks' realization that they are not aging. The Tucks (and even the horse) drink from the spring, but the cat does not. As a result, the cat ages and eventually dies. When the cat ages but the...
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horse does not, this clues the Tucks in to what is going on.
The shotgun: The shotgun also helps the Tucks realize their fate. After the family members survive accidents unscathed, Angus Tucks puts this to the ultimate test by shooting himself with the shotgun. The Tucks know for sure they cannot die when the bullet goes "right on through him. It scarcely even left a mark." Later in the story when the Man in the Yellow Suit threatens Winnie, Mae Tuck takes the "long-forgotten shotgun" and hits the man in the head. This propels the ending of the story, as Mae is arrested by the constable who witnessed the assault and later sentenced to death when the man dies. Mae's "execution" would show that the Tucks are immortal, and so the family must free Mae and flee.
The music box: The music box is Mae's special object and the source of the music in the woods. It is important to note that there is a second music box mentioned in the story: the Man in the Yellow Suit gives his grandmother a music box, which triggers her memory of the story of the Tucks. The music from the box also leads him to the Tucks.
The mirror: The mirror symbolizes the unchanging state of the Tucks. In the second chapter, the narrator uses the mirror to tell the reader that the family does not age:
Mae Tuck didn't need a mirror, though she had one propped up on the washstand. She knew very well what she would see in it; her reflection had long since ceased to interest her. For Mae Tuck, and her husband, and Miles and Jesse, too, had all looked exactly the same for eighty-seven years.
The grave: Jesse leaves Winnie with a bottle of water from the spring, giving her the chance to choose to drink it or not. The Tucks do not know what Winnie's choice is until they see her grave. Many years later, Mae and Angus return to Treegap and visit the cemetery, where they see Winnie's grave. The grave represents mortality and shows Winnie's choice to not drink the water and grow old instead.
What items are related to the book "Tuck Everlasting"?
One important item or image from the book would be the trout.
And then Miles caught a fish. There it flopped, in the bottom of the boat, its jaw working, its gills fanning rapidly. Winnie drew up her knees and stared at it. It was beautiful, and horrible too, with gleaming, rainbow-colored scales, and an eye like a marble beginning to dim even as she watched it. The hook was caught in its upper lip, and suddenly Winnie wanted to weep. "Put it back, Miles," she said, her voice dry and harsh. "Put it back right away."
The fish is symbolic of Winnie's struggle with life and death. She knows that the Tucks are immortals, because they drank from the spring. She knows that she has a chance to become like them, but she is not sure what her choice will be. By demanding that the fish be thrown back, the reader begins to think that Winnie is going to choose everlasting life over life followed by death.
A second important item to the story is the bottle of immortality water that Jesse gives Winnie. If she drinks it, she'll live forever. If she doesn't, she'll live out life like a normal human. The choice is super tough, but in the end Winnie decides to use the water to save the toad. By pouring the bottle out, the reader is meant to assume that Winnie chose to live a normal life.