How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"And we figured it'd be very bad if everyone knowed about that spring," said Mae. "We begun to see what it would mean." She peered at Winnie. "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." (7.25)
The Tucks seems to have a moral responsibility to protect others from the fate they were dealt. Cue million-dollar question: is it wrong to take this choice away from other people?
Quote #2
"That kind of talk'll make her want to rush back and drink a gallon of the stuff," warned Miles. "There's a whole lot more to it than Jesse Tuck's good times, you know."
"Oh, stuff," said Jesse with a shrug. "We might as well enjoy it, long as we can't change it. You don't have to be such a parson all the time." (8.5-6)
Is Jesse being immoral here? Does he have an obligation to Winnie to help her think through the possible consequences of drinking the spring water?
Quote #3
"We're plain as salt, us Tucks. We don't deserve no blessings—if it is a blessing. And, likewise, I don't see how we deserve to be cursed, if it's a curse. Still—there's no use trying to figure why things fall the way they do. Things just are, and fussing don't bring changes. Tuck, now, he's got a few other ideas, but I expect he'll tell you." (10.12)
Mae sure hates fussing—she says it loud and clear again and again (and again). But is all the fussing that Tuck is doing really wrong? Or is it just his way of dealing with his crazy situation?
Quote #4
"Here, child," said Mae hastily. "Hide your eyes. Boys? Are you decent? What'd you put on to swim in? I got Winnie up here, do you hear me?"
"For goodness' sake, Ma," said Jesse, emerging from the stairwell. "You think we're going to march around in our altogether with Winnie Foster in the house?" (10.14-15)
Aw, the Tucks are so old-fashioned. It just wouldn't be right to be indecent in front of a stranger. Oh wait, we guess that's not really all that old-fashioned.
Quote #5
"If people knowed about the spring down there in Treegap, they'd all come running like pigs to slops. They'd trample each other, trying to get some of that water. […] [C]an you imagine? All the little ones little forever, all the old ones old forever. Can you picture what that means? Forever? […] they wouldn't know till after, and then it'd be too late." (12.11)
Tuck has a moral responsibility to keep the spring a secret. After all, he can guess how terrible things would turn out if everyone knew about it, and he needs to protect the people who aren't quite yet in the loop (i.e., everyone).
Quote #6
And all at once she wondered what would happen to the Tucks when her father came. What would he do to them? She would never be able to explain how they had been with her, how they made her feel. She remembered guiltily that at supper she had decided they were criminals. Well, but they were. And yet… (14.23)
Winnie is feeling guilty that she thought kidnappers were criminals. Hmmm. That makes us wonder: do our morals change when we're thinking about our friends as opposed to total strangers? That sure would explain Winnie's sudden change of heart.
Quote #7
"But I'm not going to sell it to just anybody," he protested. "Only to certain people, people who deserve it. And it will be very, very expensive. But who wouldn't give a fortune to live forever?"
"I wouldn't," said Tuck grimly. (19.23-4)
This seems pretty obviously wrong, wouldn't you say? But why? How is controlling who gets the water any different than keeping it a secret (like the Tucks are doing)? What's the difference?
Quote #8
And then, seeing its body broken, the thin wings stilled, she had wished it were alive again. She had wept for that wasp. Was Mae weeping now for the man in the yellow suit? In spite of her wish to spare the world, did she wish he were alive again? There was no way of knowing. (21.10)
Winnie killed a wasp. Mae killed a person. Pretty big difference, right? But in Winnie's mind, wrong is wrong.
Quote #9
Winnie had her own strong sense of rightness. She knew that she could always say, afterward, "Well, you never told me not to!" But how silly that would be! (23.7)
The narrator couldn't be any clearer: Winnie's got firm ideas about morality. Ah, but there's the rub. That sense of rightness tells her not to disobey her family, but it also tells her to help the Tucks. Hey, we never said morality was easy.