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What suggestion does Jesse make to Winnie in "Tuck Everlasting"?

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In "Tuck Everlasting," Jesse suggests that Winnie wait until she is seventeen before drinking from the magical spring that grants immortality. He hopes they can then be the same age and possibly marry, allowing them to explore the world together. Despite Jesse's proposal, Winnie ultimately chooses to live a normal, mortal life, deciding against drinking the water and experiencing the natural course of life and death.

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In chapter fourteen, Jesse Tuck suggests to Winnie that she should drink water from the special spring water.  But he also wants Winnie to wait a little bit before drinking from the spring.  Jesse wants Winnie to wait until she turns seventeen years old.  That way both Jesse and Winnie can be the same age for the rest of eternity.  

"But the thing is, you knowing about the water already, and living right next to it so's you could go there any time, well, listen, how'd it be if you was to wait till you're seventeen, same age as me—heck, that's only six years off—and then you could go and drink some, and then you could go away with me!"

Jesse's next suggestion to Winnie is that he and Winnie could get married in the future.  Jesse figures that if both of them are immortal teenagers, it only makes...

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sense that they should get married.  

"We could get married, even. That'd be pretty good, wouldn't it! We could have a grand old time, go all around the world, see everything."

As a reader, I never found Jesse and Winnie's budding romance as believable.  Regardless though, Jesse suggests that Winnie waits to drink the water until she is seventeen, because then they can be married together forever.  

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What suggestion does Jesse make to Winnie in Tuck Everlasting?

Jesse suggests that Winnie wait until she is older and then drink from the spring.

The Tucks have become immortal.  They did not do this on purpose.  They drank from a spring that caused immortality.  Winnie discovered their secret, by accident.  When Jesse Tuck realized that a young girl had seen him drink from the spring, he knew that the family had to tell her their secret so that she would not accidentally become immortal too.

The Tuck family kidnapped Winnie and told her the whole story of how they discovered they became immortal from drinking a spring in the wood outside her house.  She realized that they were not scary people, they were just trying to keep her from making the same mistake they had. 

Once you become immortal, you have to stop living a normal life.  Everyone else sort of passes you by as they pass through life’s stages.   For Miles, it was particularly sad.

"I was more'n forty by then," said Miles sadly. "I was married. I had two children. But, from the look of me, I was still twenty-two. My wife, she finally made up her mind I'd sold my soul to the Devil. She left me. She went away and she took the children with her." (Ch. 7)

As Miles’s story shows, it was impossible for Jesse and Miles to have normal lives, because their wives and children would grow old while they would not.  If their children were to drink from the spring, they would remain children.  As the Tucks explain to Winnie, she cannot drink from that spring, because it would have disastrous consequences.

"Do you understand, child? That water—it stops you right where you are. If you'd had a drink of it today, you'd stay a little girl forever. You'd never grow up, not ever." (Ch. 7)

As Winnie gets to know the family, she forms a bond with them and comes to get to know them all as people, but especially Jesse.  He is closest to her in age, and really sees the potential in having a girl know about the spring.  He makes her a proposal.

Look now—here's a bottle of water from the spring. You keep it. And then, no matter where you are, when you're seventeen, Winnie, you can drink it, and then come find us. We'll leave directions somehow. Winnie, please say you will!" (Ch. 22)

Jesse wants a chance at a normal life, with a family—or at least a mate.  He sees in Winnie a partner.  He likes her, and he knows that she likes him.  He also knows that she is not quite old enough, and so he has to wait for her.

Winnie does make a choice, but she chooses to live a normal life. She ages, and dies.  Why does she not choose immortality?  We never know exactly.  When Winnie pours the bottle on the frog, she knows she can get more.  However, the stream is later destroyed.  Winnie might have later met and married her true love.  Maybe she decided not to be a teenager forever.  Either way, Jesse understands.

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In *Tuck Everlasting*, what suggestion does Jesse make to Winnie?

Jesse offered to have Winnie drink the spring water so she could become immortal when she was seventeen.

When Jesse first meets Winnie, there seems to be a big age gap between them.  She asks how old he is, and he tells her the truth—he is one hundred and four years old.  She doesn’t believe him, of course, because he looks like a teenager. 

"Well then," he said, "if you must know, I'm seventeen."

"Seventeen?"

"That's right."

"Oh," said Winnie hopelessly. "Seventeen. That's old."

"You have no idea," he agreed with a nod. (Ch. 5) 

Despite the age difference, Winnie and Jesse seem to get along.  Jesse is very lonely for someone close to his age that he can talk to that understands him.  He can’t have friends for long because they would age and he wouldn’t, so he has to keep to himself or keep moving. 

Jesse gets close enough to Winnie that he makes her a rather extraordinary offer. 

But the thing is, you knowing about the water already, and living right next to it so's you could go there any time, well, listen, how'd it be if you was to wait till you're seventeen, same age as me—heck, that's only six years off—and then you could go and drink some, and then you could go away with me! (Ch. 14) 

Making a marriage offer to an eleven-year-old when you are seventeen may seem a little creepy, but from Jesse’s perspective it makes sense.  When is he ever going to have a chance to meet a girl who knows about his secret?  Winnie found out by accident.  Maybe he thinks it is fate.  She already knows about his family.  He thinks if she waits until she is seventeen, they could be a good match. 

Winnie chooses not to drink the water.  At first she doesn’t drink the water Jesse gave her because she tells herself she can always get more.  She still chooses not to.  Eventually, the spring is destroyed and the chance is gone, but she lives and dies a natural life and the Tucks understand.

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