What are the birth and death dates on Winnie's tombstone in Tuck Everlasting?
Winnie's tombstone does not give the exact dates of her birth and death. Only the years of those two events are listed.
The dates on Winnie's tombstone read 1870-1948, meaning that she was born sometime during the year 1870, and died sometime during the year 1948. She would have been...
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about 78 years old at the time of her death. In addition to these dates, the tombstone lists Winnie's full name, Winifred Foster Jackson, and indicates that she was both a wife and a mother. These bits of information testify that Winnie lived a full life, and survived to a comparatively ripe old age.
Ma and Pa Tuck return to Treegap two years after Winnie's death. Everything has changed during the time they have been away; the main road is paved, and there is a gas station and many other small businesses now in the formerly isolated and rural town. Most importantly, the magic spring is no longer there, the land having been bulldozed after a severe electrical storm destroyed a big tree and caused a tremendous fire. Because of all the changes, the Tucks' return is bittersweet, as is Pa's reaction when they discover Winnie's tombstone. The fact that Winnie is dead is significant because it means that she chose not to use the magic water which would have enabled her to live forever. Instead, she lived her life the natural way, the way it was meant to be lived, and for that brave decision, Pa Tuck salutes her (Epilogue).
When was Winnie born in Tuck Everlasting?
In Natalie Babbitt’s novel Tuck Everlasting, Winnie Foster meets the Tuck family who have an interesting secret: they cannot die. When the book begins, Winnie is just ten years old. While we do not know the exact day Winnie was born, we do know the years of her birth and death.
In the novel’s epilogue, the Tuck family returns to Treegap. They begin to notice the small differences in town: the road is now paved and the wood is gone. When they stop at the diner, they learn that, after a big fire, the area was bulldozed—including the spring.
They keep traveling until they came to the cemetery. Pa comes to a monument among the gravestones and notices the name Foster. There he sees Winnie’s gravestone and realizes that she died just two years before. The dates on the tombstone are 1870–1948, meaning that she was about 78 when she died.
The name listed on the headstone is Winnie Foster Jackson. This tells Pa that she lived a happy life; she was married and was a mother. But they also realize that she never drank from the spring. They are happy for her, but they are also sad for Jesse because they know he’ll be upset to not have been able to see her one more time.