I found myself wondering what took him so long to come back? Why didnt they ever see each other again?
My Love http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y230/Devenir83/loves.jpg
I wish I knew. :(
-New Moon and Eclipse Trivia champion :)-
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Jessie wasn't really 17, he was 104 and experienced, and knew that romantic love has two parts, an intense attraction that is fed by proximity and doesn't last, and a deeper part that doesn't fade, and can be fed simply by remembrance.
While he and Winnie would always love each other, Jessie knew that if he left her alone and free to choose a mortal life, her feelings for him would mellow, and she really could _live_ a happy life with someone else. He also knew that if he returned before their intense attraction had waned, he would almost certaintly lure her with him into immortality, and he wanted to spare her that.
From his older brother's experience, Jessie knew if Winnie didn't drink the water, and he returned after she had aged beyond where they would be a good match, it could be devastating for both of them.
So to return after a mortal Winnie would have died to see if an immortal Winnie awaited him was a wise and compassionate choice on Jessie's part. It was also a sacrifice, because he could have influenced her choice if he had returned earlier.
Winnie clearly loved Jessie all her life, or her burial choices would have been different. The choice she made to not drink the water honored the wisdom that the Tucks gained about immortality at such high cost.
I was dissatisfied at first, because I didn't get my happy ending. But as I thought about what Jessie and Winnie's choices meant, and slowly recognized the honor and sacrifice in those choices, I felt more and more satisfied.
That change of heart is a drop in the bucket compared to what Jessie and Winnie experienced (off camera) living those choices. It would be wrenching to choose to stay away or not drink the water, until enough time had passed that their hearts could finally accept that the wise choice was for the best.
So the disappointment we feel over not getting a happy ending is really appropriate, as a fraction of what Jessie and Winnie experience because of their choices. We can come to accept their choices in a few minutes of contemplation, while acceptance and integration of those choices would take Jessie and Winnie months or years.
But the whole point of the choices was to drive home that we should not fear death and loss, but only fear not living a full life. The ending elevates Babbitt's story from a pretty fairy tale, to a teaching tale, a parable.
I hope this interpretation helps.
thank you!
My Love http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y230/Devenir83/loves.jpg
Oh. Aww, Jesse was so sweet.
http://www.formspring.me/alexisaprincess
Also, time had no meaning to the Tuck's. It was 10 years since the mother saw her children in the beginning. I don't think they would be away from each other that long if it felt like 10 years to them.
I'm just a musical prostitute, my dear. -Freddie Mercury
I never thought it like that. I always thought that Jesse wanted Winnie to be immortal with him at all costs, because he shows as an idealistic teenager after all. But you're right, he could've waited all those years out of compassion. Thank you :) Anyone know if in the book it's the same?
shareIt's fun that ideas from years ago are still floating around. I'm glad you liked that interpretation! :)
shareIf I recall correctly the book had him arrange to meet up with Winnie when she came of age (she's ten in the book) But, of course, Winnie doesn't show up because she didn't drink the water (therefore didn't want an immortal life.) The end of the book sees Mae and Tuck coming back into town. They find out Winnie died two years previous and they make mention that Jesse will be upset about it, but that because she never showed when arranged, he deep down knew she had chosen mortality.
"Why do you say this to me, when you know I will kill you for it?" ~ General Zod
Very well-said!
Please don't feed the trolls.
He wanted to stay away from Winnie so she would live her life, getting married, have a family and not interfere with it.
shareI don't think that was the case. Jesse seemed to be the only one of the Tuck's that liked the immortality thing. Miles hated it, Mae and Tuck tolerated it and made the best of it. Tuck even says that what they have isn't really living.
Jesse wanted her to drink from the spring, he hoped that she had drank from it. The movie kind of explains why he waited so long--when he finally does show up, the narrator says that time doesn't exist for him (also, he said he'd come back when it was safe, meaning there'd be no one alive that could recognise him).
The sons go decades without seeing the parents--time is meaningless to them because they have an infinite amount. Him waiting so long to come back is further proof of how little time matters to them, she fit an entire lifetime into the time it took him to come back for her (i.e. a lifetime to her was literally nothing to him).
He thought/hoped she had drank from the spring and if she had, time would've been as meaningless to her as it was to the Tucks (and perhaps part of him thought maybe if she didn't drink it, then it would hurt less to stay away--when he looks at her grave, he remembers her just as she was and that's what she will always be for him, unchanged).
Jesse wanted her to drink from the spring, he hoped that she had drank from it. The movie kind of explains why he waited so long--when he finally does show up, the narrator says that time doesn't exist for him (also, he said he'd come back when it was safe, meaning there'd be no one alive that could recognise him).....
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