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Chapter Fourteen
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Tuck Everlasting, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Purpose of Living
Childhood, Independence, and Maturity
Nature and the Cycle of Life
Morality, Choices, and Friendship
Summary
Analysis
Back in Winnie's family's cottage, the man in the yellow suit explains that he followed Winnie and her kidnappers and then came right back. He doesn't allow any of the Fosters to speak as he says that he's wanted a wood just like theirs for a long time, and he'd love to have the Fosters as neighbors. With a frown, the man says that kidnapping is awful, that the "illiterates" might harm Winnie, and reminds Winnie's family that he's the only one who knows where she is. He leans forward and says that they each have something the other wants, and he suggests that if they don't accept his help, Winnie might not make it. He says that he wants to trade the wood for Winnie and explains that he'll write up a contract. He assures Winnie's father that he'll go fetch Winnie with the constable.
The way that the man in the yellow suit speaks about the Tucks shows that he holds very specific views of what it means to be a person in the world. Calling the Tucks "illiterates" suggests that he doesn't think poor and uneducated people are actually people worth thinking much about, and that they're fundamentally untrustworthy and bad. Note that because Winnie's family has no way of knowing whether or not the Tucks are kind, the man in the yellow suit is effectively threatening to kill Winnie himself and blame it on them if Winnie's father doesn't comply. This shows that this man has little regard for the lives of others, and this lack of connection to other people seems to be linked to his immoral behavior.
Themes
