Critical Analysis of The Novel Charlotte's Web

Introduction

The analysis of the novel Charlotte's web was published in 1952. It is a children's literature novel written by Mr. Elwyn Brooks White, an American writer and essayist who has allowed us to know and deepen this great story. Elwyn White was well known for the most stupendous books in the United States. On the other hand, Charlotte's web is considered one of the most beautiful, witty, eye-catching and enjoyable novels for both adults and children. This novel obtained the highest record in sales of all time in the year 2000. This children's novel tells the story of a friendship between a pig and a spider. The narration of this novel is super light and is totally full of passion, love and dedication to animals. 

The novel called Charlotte's web begins with the participation of an eight-year-old girl and her father farmer, Mr. Arable where a normal morning in the barn of the girl's father, the birth of a very small pig with delicate health, that by intervention of the little girl it was avoided that her father will sacrifice him, so she takes care of the helpless and tender little pig who called him Wilbur. Some time later the little pig was at risk of being sacrificed where at that time he became friends with a spider named Charlotte who saved his life by writing about him on his website.

A beautiful morning that seemed very normal and just as pleasant as every day, something unexpected happened while the Arable family had breakfast.

Fern after a long discussion with his father for opposing him to kill the pig, offers to take care of the baby pig and feed him to avoid being killed. Mr. Arable, Fern's father, agrees and gives him the little pig that with just hours of birth he will be noticed how beautiful he was with his pink ears; I must emphasize that the attitude of the mother and the father of fern was not the most appropriate for an eight-year-old girl and it is not human to take the life of a pig because of the physical condition in which it is born and for nothing in life we ​​should to teach our children the violence or cruelty of taking the life of a human being or an animal.

Time later Fern got used to the presence of the pig, included him in all her games, walked him in a car with all her doll games and fed him as if he were a real human baby. However, months later, Wilbur began to grow and Fern's dad wanted to sell it for $ 6, Fern looked very bad but sought help and made his little pig live on her uncle's farm that was near her house. When this happens, Wilbur begins to feel very lonely, a stranger has Fern because he no longer had the fence all the time and none of the animals on the farm where he was seemed friendly.

Days after the pig one night, crying after having a bad day, listening to a voice that said 'I will be your friend Wilbur'. The little pig was lying down and did not see anyone in the dark but he was very anxious waiting the next morning to see who it was that said that, then a beautiful and fine spider appeared before him, called Charlotte where to start a beautiful friendship full of adventures, challenges, skills, etc. Wilbur on his journey discovers a terrifying news and is that it will be the food of winter, Charlotte decides to save him and begins to work wonders with her web for people who create Wilbur, her new friend is a spectacular pig.

While Charlotte realizes her plan, she tells Wilbur how she feeds and through her confession Wilbur is shocked, Charlotte realizes how Wilbur's fear of her increases because it was very traumatic for him to hear that she must kill insects and drink blood to survive. The pig is very sensitive, innocent and dramatic and for him that new information was very strange and difficult to process. Wilbur got scared and failed to explain how a person as cute and delicate as Charlotte can be so cruel. He even came to believe that it was strange to be friends with someone like that, because he would never do such harm to another animal but Charlotte passively explains that it is part of her nature to have to feed on insects because if she did not eat she would starve.

Sometimes we think that people are the same as us because many times we try to judge someone's behavior or attitude without knowing what leads them to do that. For example: Wilbur thought that as he eats healthy all the animals did it and it was not so because Wilbur eats without having to move a finger but Charlotte has no one to see their needs. After Charlotte's explanations, Wilbur could understand and change his way of seeing Charlotte, breaking his prejudice about Charlotte's way of life. Days later it was noted that Charlotte's strategy worked but she needed suggestions to be able to innovate her creativity by writing words with the web and called a meeting together to receive opinions.

The spider says: “All of you must have noticed what's been going on around here the last few days. The message I wrote in my web, praising Wilbur, has been received. The Zuckermans have fallen for it, and so has everybody else. Zuckerman thinks Wilbur is an unusual pig, and therefore he won't want to kill him and eat him. I will say my trick will work and Wilbur's life can be saved. Hurray! Cried everybody. Thank you very much, said Charlotte. 'Now I called this meeting in order to get suggestions. I need new ideas for the web. People are already getting sick of reading the words 'Some Pig!' If anybody can think of another message, or remark, I'll be glad to weave it into the web.”

It is in this way that it is totally clear that the relationship between the pig named Wilbur and his friendship with the spider named Charlotte, has deepened greatly because she has not rested at any time because she does not want to happen nothing to Wilbur and she is doing everything possible to protect him. That is why the spider Charlotte begins to write messages on its cobwebs where she praises Wilbur, so Charlotte manages to convince the farmer not to kill Wilbur and keep it.

While the other creatures or animals slept, Charlotte worked in her network all night and began to build some lines near the center of what would be the network. Charlotte being a spider, her eight legs were very useful. She also used her teeth to make the job easier to do. Charlotte was quite entertained by working on her network. Because Charlotte was a spider, she produced several types of threads which allowed her net to be more resistant. Among the threads she produced were the 'dry thread' and the 'adhesive thread'. The adhesive used it for traps and thus capture insects. Charlotte decided to use the dry thread to write the message she would leave to Wilbur the pig. She proceeded to write the first letter of the message.

Page 93 talked about the following: 'The spider thought: And If I write the word 'Terrific' with adhesive thread, every error that appears will get caught in it and spoil the effect.' 

Charlotte realized that if she used the adhesive thread, her message would surely be distorted because of the stains that could remain attached to it. She started working on the first letter of her message the letter 'T'. In her first attempt Charlotte manages to make the vertical part of the first letter but not satisfied with the result it rises to be able to slide and write the letter, this time she used double line so that the message will stand out more and be easier to read. After finishing the vertical part of the letter she proceeded to build the upper part.

Charlotte was so happy to see the work she had done which was to help a friend who was in danger. She began motivating herself as if someone else were cheating on her. After her hard work, the small but strong Charlotte felt hungry so she started eating an insect she had saved, then she felt fatigued and fell asleep. The next morning Wilbur the little pig woke up and headed for the net, it was a beautiful sunny morning.

When Lurvy came to feed the little pig he saw the letters written on the net, he was so surprised that he started calling everyone who passed by to see what he called a miracle. Mr. Zuckerman was so excited that he asked that a journalist and a photographer be called to make the news that a pig had written a message in a spider net: 'Lurvy!' he called. 'There should be no more cow dung lying in that pen. I have an excellent pig. I want that pig to be clean, bright straw every day for his bed.'

When Mr. Zuckerman saw such a feat, he sent Lurvy to clean the pig's pen so that he would leave it clean since he didn't want the place where such a wonderful pig slept to be dirty. In the meantime the news spread very quickly, many people came from far away Just to see that wonderful pig. Zuckerman sent to prepare a box for wilbur and thus take it to the county fair.

Mr. Zuckerman wanted to show off his Wilbur pig before everyone at the fair, he wanted to let him know that the brightest pig belonged to him. On the other hand Templeton was a rat, friend of Wilbur and Charlotte. While he was searching through the garbage he found a magazine on the back that was written the word 'Crunchy' and he took it to Charlotte, but Charlotte said it wasn't a good idea to write it because Mr. Zuckerman could think that Wilbur was bacon crispy and would eat him. Charlotte disowned the magazine and sent Templeton to find another word. After a few hours he returns with a cotton cloth on which the word 'Pre Shrunk' was written that word wasn't appropriate since Charlotte wanted them to think that Wilbur was fat and not shrunk. The rat looks for another message again. Upon returning Templeton brought a strip of cardboard on which he had written 'Radiant'. Charlotte exclaimed: “I'm not sure Wilbur's action is exactly radiant, but it's interesting. ''Actually, 'said Wilbur,' I feel radiant.’ 'Do you? 'Charlotte said, looking at him with affection.' Well, you're a You will be a good and radiant pig.'

In the course of a few days Wilbur was taken to the fair, there he had to compete with other pigs to see which one was the best. Mr. Zuckerman felt extremely calm because he knew that he had the most Incredible pig and that he was going to win the prize. Wilbur definitely won the contest. On his way back to the farm he went to visit Charlotte to give hee the good news. But he found bad news. 

Charlotte, Wilbur and all the animals on the farm were great friends, but the friendship between these two was unmatched. After so many adventures between these two faithful friends it turns out that it came to an end. Charlotte was very bad. Charlotte felt very sad because she felt she was not going to see next winter. Under a tree Charlotte was wearing her spider eggs. She asked Wilbur to take care of them since she couldn't. Then Templeton arrives and next to the little pig Charlotte says goodbye. She takes a last breath and dies.

Immediately Wilbur arrived at the farm with the medal he won at the fair in his neck and the sack of eggs in his mouth. All the animals to see him arrive celebrated his victory. During the days Wilbur felt happy because he had accomplished what he so longed for with the help of his great friend Charlotte. Wilbur was fat and he didn't care if he died. Every day he stopped by what was Charlotte's network, the network was broken and empty, Wilbur knew that no one had had a friend as affectionate, loyal and as skilled as Charlotte was. Winter had arrived for the first time, Wilbur could see the snow. After Christmas the spiders came out of the bag, Charlotte's children were already born, Wilbur was very happy. He appeared before them: “I am an old friend of your mother, said Wilbur. Glad to see you. Are you alright? Is everything alright? The small spiders waved their front legs towards him. Wilbur could see by the way they acted that they were happy to see him”.

There were dozens of spiders, Wilbur was excited because he had new friends but they grew very fast and began to leave the farm. Wilbur didn't want spiders to leave. He cried without consolation until he fell asleep, when he woke up he looked towards the net where Charlotte used to be, there were three of Charlotte's children who decided not to leave Wilbur alone. Each one worked in a network. Wilbur felt so fortunate to be able to have new friends. Wilbur always promised to take care of spiders as Charlotte took care of him. Although he loved Charlotte's children, he knew that the love he had for his faithful friend it was irreplaceable. It was not easy to find another spider that was a true friend and good writer as Charlotte was. All the animals on the farm lived quietly taking care of each other as they really were 'incomparable friends.'

Conclusion

In this novel entitled Charlotte's web we can realize that it is a very nice and tender story about friendship and loyalty. We can see the close link of a spider and a cute little pig that transcends the limits, this story makes us reflect on the value of life and friendship because it was not difficult for a spider to maintain such an affective bond with a little pig, then this It is a demonstration so that people can reflect on what value life has and everything that can be enjoyed.

This is a work that conveys the true meaning of love, friendship and death. An unconventional story for a children's book. But the author tries to symbolize with Charlotte's death and her achievements, that everyone has a natural cycle in life. That you should not always help others to get something in return, and that someone's heart is not measured with size but with what you show with facts.

References

• White, E. (1952). Charlotte’s Web. United States: Harper.