Charlotte's Web

Charlotte hangs upside down day after day, trying to formulate a plan to save Wilbur. Being “naturally patient” (66), she compares waiting for an idea to waiting for a fly to land on her web—it seems inevitable that an idea will eventually come to her. One morning in mid-July, Charlotte has an epiphany: “If I can fool a bug […] I can surely fool a man. People are not as smart as bugs” (67). With Wilbur asleep in the shade below her, Charlotte gets to work on her plan to fool the gullible humans. At that moment, Fern and Avery charge into the farm, excited and glowing with the vibrance of summer. Avery has a frog that he found, and the two go inside for some pie before stealing away to “the best swing in the country” (68), which is a hanging rope in the barn loft. It is thrilling for the children, but their parents regularly worry about one of them getting hurt. Fern and Avery play for an hour and then go pick raspberries, fully enjoying what the Zuckerman farm has to offer, Avery carrying his frog all the while.

Fern and Avery make their way to the other barn where Wilbur and the farm animals live, and Avery spots Charlotte in the corner. Marvelling at her size, he announces his plans to capture her—to Wilbur and Fern’s horror. Avery steps onto the pigpen fence to try and knock the web down but slips and lands on Templeton’s rotten egg. A horrible smell fills the air, and the children run to the house to escape it. Wilbur tells the story to every animal who asks about the smell, and when Lurvy shows up to feed them, he discovers the rat’s nest and buries it along with the rotten egg. Wilbur’s slop pail is full of all sorts of amazing tastes, and Wilbur “ate heartily” (75). He decides to leave a noodle for Templeton, to thank him for helping to save Charlotte’s life. Night falls on the farm once again, and Charlotte begins cutting lines into her web while the farm animals sleep. She makes a hole in the middle of it, then starts “weaving something to take the place of the threads” (76) she removes. Midnight comes, and Charlotte is still hard at work.

Fog rolls over the farm the next day and the grass looks “like a magic carpet” (77). On these mornings, Charlotte’s web is particularly beautiful with the beads of water that decorate each line and the light reflecting off them. On this specific morning, Charlotte’s web has a message woven into it: “SOME PIG!” (77). When Lurvy spots it, he can hardly believe his eyes. He gets Mr. Zuckerman, who trembles at the sight of the words in the web and Wilbur standing proudly underneath it. Charlotte watches, smiling. Mr. Zuckerman consults his wife, who reacts with the same fear. Mr. Zuckerman calls it a miracle and considers it a sign that their “pig is completely out of the ordinary” (80). Mrs. Zuckerman challenges him, posing that it might be the spider who is unusual, but Homer insists that the message in the web is clear. The three adults spend an hour staring at the web and at Wilbur, and Homer and Lurvy are later heard discussing how long, smooth, and solid Wilbur is. Homer Zuckerman goes to the minister, who confirms that “this community has been visited with a wondrous animal” (82). Charlotte is correct in her predictions on the gullibility of humans, and word spreads through the county about Wilbur and Charlotte’s web. Everyone sees Wilbur as miraculous and special, despite him being ordinary. Everyone on the farm begins neglecting their regular duties in favor of keeping Wilbur and the continuous flood of spectators happy. That Sunday, the minister confirms that Charlotte’s web proves “that human beings must always be on the watch for the coming of wonders” (85). The entire county is enthralled, including Fern, although she misses having the barn to herself and the animals.

A few days later, Charlotte calls a meeting with the barn animals. Everyone attends except Templeton, and Charlotte begins. She announces that the humans have clearly fallen for the trick and begins asking for suggestions for another message to sew in the web. The goose suggests “terrific, terrific, terrific” (88) and Charlotte decides to put one “terrific” in her next web. Wilbur protests that he is not terrific, and Charlotte says, “that doesn’t make a particle of difference […] people believe almost anything they see in print” (89). The animals suggest asking Templeton to find an old magazine for Charlotte to copy words from. He initially declines, but when an old sheep points out that Wilbur’s slop is Templeton’s chief food supply, Templeton reluctantly agrees to go the next day. Wilbur again protests that he is not terrific, and Charlotte argues that he is to her: “You’re my best friend, and I think you’re sensational” (91).

Charlotte repeats her process of working on her web through the night while the animals and human’s sleep. She takes great joy in weaving and is “an expert at it” (92). A drawing is shown to depict what Charlotte’s web looks like when she has weaved and then emptied out its middle—it looks much like the wheel of an old wagon. Charlotte uses different kinds of thread depending on what type of line she is creating, and intentionally chooses to avoid using sticky thread for the word “terrific” because otherwise “every bug that comes along will get stuck in it and spoil the effect” (93). Charlotte constructs each letter of “terrific” with double lines of thread, talking herself through the whole process.

The next morning, Wilbur takes his place underneath the web just as Lurvy is coming to feed him breakfast. Excitement ensues all over again, and the Arables and Zuckermans are all called to see it. Wilbur starts to feel truly terrific and stands “swelling out his chest and swinging his snout from side to side” (96). Mr. Zuckerman begins taking even greater pride in Wilbur, insisting on his manure pile being replaced with pure hay and asking Lurvy to build a crate for Wilbur to stand on at the County Fair which reads “Zuckerman’s Famous Pig” (96). Meanwhile, Templeton returns with a piece of magazine that reads “crunchy.” This is exactly the opposite of the message Charlotte wants to send the Zuckermans in trying to convince them not to eat bacon. Templeton comes back again with a soap advertisement reading “With New Radiant Action” (99), and Charlotte asks Wilbur to run and jump around to check if he is radiant. As he does so, his skin shines in the sun and his tail seems to be curled just perfectly. Wilbur admits to feeling radiant, and Charlotte, “looking at him with affection” (101), is happy to weave the word into her web.

Both she and Wilbur grow tired, but Wilbur asks for a story and Charlotte’s love for him obliges her. She tells him an anecdote about a cousin she has who caught a fish in her web and managed to capture it and eat it. She tells him another story of a cousin who used her webs to sail through the air. Finally, she sings Wilbur a sweet and loving lullaby, assuring him of his care for her. Fern is listening nearby and gets up to go home before she too falls asleep.

Mrs. Arable increasingly worries for Fern, hoping she will go play with other children instead of the barn animals. Fern tells her about the story of Charlotte’s cousin who fought the fish, and her mother scolds her for “making this up” (105). Fern’s mother believes that it is not “natural for a little girl to be so interested in animals” (107) and finally decides to go visit Dr. Dorian. Dr. Doran is shown with thick glasses, a long thick beard, and a look of pensiveness. Mrs. Arable asks him if he thinks Fern’s behavior is normal, as well as if he understands the phenomenon of the words in the spider web. Dr. Dorian admits he does not understand how the spider weaves words into her web, but he points out that web-weaving is a miracle regardless. Humans are taught to do such complex things, but spiders do it without being taught. He ponders on the possibility of animals talking, nothing that “children pay better attention than grownups” (110) and that the possibility of animals talking cannot be ruled out. He assures Mrs. Arable that Fern is just fine, and Mrs. Arable is relieved to know she need not worry for her daughter.