Summary
Chapter Eleven
Winnie and the Tucks enjoy a hearty supper. Winnie, used to order and manners, is surprised to see that the Tucks just eat with their plates balanced on their laps or placed on chairs. Their one rule seems to be that they don't talk during a meal. Winnie follows this rule, but this unfortunately gives her time to reflect on her strange situation: she has been captured by a mysterious group of immortals. She has never slept in any bed but her own, and the idea of sleeping in this messy house scares her.
Winnie puts down her fork and says that she'd like to go home. Mae says that of course they will return her to her home, but first they need to explain a bit more about why she must keep their secret. Miles and Jesse offer to take her out on the pond in their old rowboat, but Tuck interrupts and says he should be the one to talk to her. He has the feeling that something bad is about to happen. Winnie points out that the man in the yellow suit, who had spoken to Winnie before in her yard, had seen the group of them heading away. Miles dismisses the man in the yellow suit as some random stranger, but Tuck says he has the feeling that this is all about to come apart like wet bread (p. 58). He takes Winnie out on the pond in the rowboat.
Chapter Twelve
At sunset, Angus Tuck takes Winnie out on a rowboat onto the lake near their home. It is a beautiful evening, with a vivid sunset punctuated by the cries of bullfrogs. They watch the fish feeding on the small insects on the surface of the water.
Tuck says that life is all around them. The water looks the same, but in fact it is always moving, drifting to the river and eventually out to the sea. When it reaches the sea, the sun will cause some of it to evaporate and then come down again as rain, which will fall in the pond and start the whole cycle again. Everything is a wheel, he says. Tuck adds that Winnie is a child now, but she'll one day become a woman and then eventually die so that she can make room for more children. This scares Winnie, but Tuck insists that dying is just part as much part of the wheel as being born. You can't have one without the other.
The rowboat gets stuck on some reeds, and Tuck says that he and his family are like the boat - they're stuck and not part of the cycle anymore. He can no longer grow or change. He doesn't like this, and he would happily climb back on the wheel (i.e., give up his immortality) if he knew how. If people knew about the spring, they would rush in from all over, and eventually they would never be able to change either. Winnie thinks about his words, but her thoughts are interrupted by Miles' announcement that someone has stolen the family horse.
Chapter Thirteen
The man in the yellow suit gets off the Tuck's horse when he arrives at the Foster cottage. He tells Winnie's frightened family that he knows where she has been taken.
Chapter Fourteen
It's too late to look for the missing horse now, so the Tucks and Winnie head to bed. Tuck is very nervous about the situation, but the rest of the family insists they will deal with it tomorrow.
Winnie settles down on the sofa to sleep, but she is uncomfortable - the sofa is lumpy and the pillows are thin and scratchy. She is frustrated by her situation and wants to go home. She wonders if the Tucks really are immortal, or if they are just lying to her. She also wonders if the man in the yellow suit has told her parents where she is, and if her parents have gone looking for her.
Winnie is having trouble sleeping, and eventually Mae comes to visit her. She apologizes for spiriting her away and makes sure that she is comfortable. Mae also says she wishes Winnie was her daughter. After Mae leaves, Tuck also comes to check on Winnie. He offers to sit with her until she falls asleep, but she says this isn't necessary. He gives her a goodnight kiss and leaves. Finally, Jesse arrives. He has a surprising proposal for Winnie - perhaps she should wait until she's seventeen, then drink the water from the spring like he did, and then they should get married. They could wander the world together and enjoy life. Winnie adores Jesse, but she is too shocked by this prospect to speak. Jesse tells her to think on it, and then leaves. Winnie falls asleep shortly after.
Chapter Fifteen
The man in the yellow suit is sitting in the Foster's home. He says he followed the people who took her, and he knows where they are. He also says he's been looking for a wood exactly like the one they have, and he would be happy to retrieve Winnie from her kidnappers if only they will sign the deed for the woods over to him. After they have done that, the man in the yellow suit will ride to their house with the constable and bring Winnie back. The family reluctantly agrees.
Analysis
Winnie grows to care deeply for the Tucks despite the fact that they whisked her away to their home without her consent. However, she is also plagued by doubts - are they telling the truth, could they be crazy? Indeed, they offer no indisputable proof of being immortal, such as showing that they are immune to bullets. Winnie has to take their word for it. Despite her desire to return home, Winnie begins to love the Tucks enough to trust them at their word.
In Chapter Twelve, Tuck takes Winnie out on the pond to explain to her the downsides of immortality. The pond is a symbol of the cycle of life: not only is it a part of the water cycle (which mirrors the cycle of life), but it is also home to numerous living creatures, such as fish, frogs, and turtles. In addition, it is part of the home of the Tucks, who have fallen outside the natural cycle of life. Tuck offers an argument against immortality - it takes one outside of the changing and vibrant cycle of life, and goes against the natural order of things. If people found out about the spring, they would be excited about the prospect of immortality and drink from it, but they wouldn't fully understand the downsides of being immortal until it's too late. Tuck desperately needs Winnie to keep the spring a secret.
Chapter Fourteen is incredibly short at only a few sentences. This brevity underscores the enormous weight of what is happening - the man in the yellow suit knows the Foster's story, has stolen their horse, and is now bargaining with Winnie's family. It eventually becomes clear that he wants them to give him the woods in exchange for bringing back their daughter, a trade that the frightened family quickly agrees to. Peculiarly, the writer does not mention the reactions or appearance of the family - instead, the focus is on the man in the yellow suit, who has a strange appearance and a slick way of talking.
The man in the yellow suit is a disturbing antagonist. The reader never learns his true name, which gives him a mysterious air. Moreover, he has a peculiar speaking style and a tendency to use more complicated words than other characters. In Chapter Fifteen, the man in the yellow suit makes his intention clear - he wants to own the woods and the spring that is within them, and he's willing to exploit the frightened Foster family to achieve his goals. In "Hard Religious Questions in Knee-knock Rise and Tuck Everlasting,"Joseph Milner suggests that the man in yellow is a kind of reversed Satanic figure - whereas the Tucks want to keep their eternal life a secret (unlike Jesus, who wanted to give everyone eternal life), the man in the yellow suit wants to ensure that everyone has access to the spring (like Satan, who wanted to prevent Jesus from carrying out his mission). However, the novel also makes it clear that immortality is not necessarily a good thing, so the plan of the man in the yellow suit is more evidence that he's evil.
In her article "Winnie Foster and Peter Pan: Facing the Dilemma of Growth," scholar Catherine M. Lynch identifies parallels between Winnie's conflict about drinking the water and the famous Peter Pan story. Like Wendy in the Peter Pan story, Winnie has been offered the chance to avoid growing up; instead, she can drink the spring water and live forever with Jesse and the Tucks, enjoying herself. Though the Tucks do not live in Neverland and they did not choose their strange fate, they still offer Winnie a chance to avoid growing up. Will she take it?
