How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot. (Prologue.1)
Why August? What's going on with this metaphor? For one thing, August isn't the only thing that's motionless. For the Tucks, time is motionless, too.
Quote #2
But it was the passage of time that worried them most. They had worked the farm, settled down, made friends. But after ten years, then twenty, they had to face the fact that there was something terribly wrong. None of them was getting any older. (7.15)
The Tucks don't only beat death, they beat time, too. Time is the great game-changer, right? Everything changes over time. Not so for the Tucks.
Quote #3
"When we need things, we go sometimes to one [town], sometimes the next, so people don't come to notice us much. And we sell where we can. But I guess we'll be moving on, one of these days. It's just about time." (10.10)
The Tucks seem to measure time by how long they can stay in one place. Makes that new Swatch we just got seem kind of unnecessary…
Quote #4
"Hush," Tuck interrupted. "Everyone hush. I'll take Winnie rowing on the pond. There's a good deal to be said and I think we better hurry up and say it. I got a feeling there ain't a whole lot of time."
Jesse laughed at this, and ran a hand roughly through his curls. "That's funny, Pa. Seems to me like time's the only thing we got a lot of." (11.7-8)
Ba-dum ching! Ah, good ol' immortality humor.
Quote #5
"No," said Tuck calmly. "Not now. Your time's not now. But dying's part of the wheel, right there next to being born. You can't pick out the pieces you like and leave the rest. Being part of the whole thing, that's the blessing. But it's passing us by, us Tucks." (12.10)
How many times have you heard someone say, "there aren't enough hours in the day"? Well, the Tucks have the opposite problem. While everyone else is scrambling to fit everything in to their short time, the Tucks just wish time would pass them by, too.
Quote #6
"Listen, Ma and Pa and Miles, they don't know how to enjoy it, what we got. Why, heck, Winnie, life's to enjoy yourself, isn't it? What else is it good for? That's what I say. And you and me, we could have a good time that never, never stopped. Wouldn't that be something?" (14.26)
Enough with the downers. Jesse thinks that having all the time in the world means having all the fun in the world. Do you agree?
Quote #7
She looked at Miles, and then she asked him, "What will you do, if you've got so much time?"
"Someday," said Miles, "I'll find a way to do something important."
Winnie nodded. That was what she wanted. (17.26-8)
These two may have a different amount of time left to live, but they both want the same thing: to matter. A human's a human, immortal or not.
Quote #8
[Winnie] wished, for a fleeting moment, that she could stay with them forever in that sunny, untidy little house by the pond. Grow up with them and perhaps, if it were true about the spring—then perhaps, when she was seventeen . . . […] And then her eyes went to Tuck and lingered on his sad, creased face. It occurred to her that he was the dearest of them all, though she couldn't have explained why she felt that way. (18.17)
Winnie definitely thinks about trumping time and joining the Tucks. But forever is a long time, and she quickly realizes that it might not be all it's cracked up to be.
Quote #9
"Anyhow, I come to say goodbye. We won't be able to come back here for a long, long time, Winnie, if we get away. I mean, they'll be looking for Ma. Winnie, listen—I won't see you again, not for ages. 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!" (22.20)
Even immortal Jesse still thinks of how much time will pass before he sees Winnie again. Hmmm—once he realizes that the "ages" he's thinking of now is actually just a blip on the immortal radar, do you think he'll change his tune about living forever?
Quote #10
The little bottle was empty now. It lay on the grass at Winnie's feet. But if all of it was true, there was more water in the wood. There was plenty more. Just in case. When she was seventeen. If she should decide, there was more water in the wood. Winnie smiled. Then she stooped and put her hand through the fence and set the toad free. "There!" she said. "You're safe. Forever." (25.16)
Forever. Think about it.