Tuck vs Twilight

Last night I watched the movie Tuck Everlasting, based on the book by Natalie Babbitt. As I was falling asleep I was struck by its similarity to the Twilight books. I was thinking about some clever Facebook status post about it and then realized that it deserved more space than Facebook would give me. So...here are my thoughts:

I loved Tuck Everlasting both as a kid in elementary school and a couple years ago when I picked it up again. I was amazed by the clarity of the writing (both simple and complex at the same time) and beautiful flow of the narrative, which Natalie manages to construct in under 150 juvenile-sized pages. It's an amazing story about Winnie coming of age, learning to act for herself, falling in love, and in the meantime deals seriously with the question of immortality. Should Winnie drink the special spring water and remain with Jessie Tuck forever? Should she pass it by and die while Jessie lives on forever stuck at age 17?

Sound familiar?? I thought so.....

Should Bella make herself a vampire to live to with Edward forever? Or will Edward let her grow old and die so she can go to heaven? [Oh MY! What is it about the age 104? Both Jessie and Edward were age 17 (really 104) when they met their respective loves. Hmmm.]

What's really fascinating though is the different choices Winnie and Bella make in the end. Both love their magical boys although their relationships are markedly different. Tuck shows just how wonderful and freeing a relationship can be teaching Winnie how to live. The movie shows their sweet relationship develop and it's heart wrenching when Jessie calls out "Winnie Foster, I will love you, until the day I die." Compared that with Edward's overprotectedness, his requirement of marriage, and Bella's tendency toward suicide, depression and whining.

SPOILER ALERT!

In the end Winnie doesn't drink the water. She takes to heart Jessie's Pa's explanation of immortality: "What we Tucks have, you can't call it living. We just... are... like rocks, stuck at the side of the stream". And so we have to read about Jessie returning to town many years later and finding Winnie's grave. It's deeply moving and you also know she live a full beautiful life and died as her time came.

Edward's family also cautions Bella that immortality isn't all it's cracked up to be. Rosalie (his sister) says she wouldn't choose this life for herself and wants Bella to think it over. But she goes forward with it to, in my opinion, a not very satisfying conclusion where Bella didn't really have to make any hard decisions. And what does she learn in the end? That if you have consummate your marriage on your honeymoon you are guaranteed to have a baby?

All these thoughts are just to say that Natalie Babbitt really knew how to craft a brilliant story that has kept me thinking and rethinking through the decisions for many years - Always leaving the perfect amount of wistfulness feeling in my chest. I would really encourage you to read this short book and take a new look at following teen love into immortality. Or watch the movie for a good, teen love flick.