In a nutshell

Okay, on friday, I was really sick, strep throat or something bad. Any way, I called Eamon for the H.W. and he told me we needed to do an entry, and it is on something like archetypes, I hope, so here goes nothing. I feel the archetypes in Charlottes Web are a strong bunch of, well, they're a strong bunch. Wilbur is up first. wilbur is our hero, our main man, the protagonist in our dark, yet so wise children's book. He is aided on his quest of sitting on manure and eating slop, by Charlotte the spider. She is Wilbur's mentor, not only because she literally teaches him new words, but because she has that mentor like feel, wise and soon to die, she is not afraid for herself, but for Wilbur. Charlotte is not only the mentor in the story, she is also the motherly figure. She is always by Wilbur's side when the mean old goat insults. She loves him, and sets limits on what he does, and how he does it. Templeton, my favorite character in the book, I feel, is the guy who shows wilbur, that there are greedy, mean, selfish people out there in the world, and shows him how to deal with them (though certainly not intentionally). Fern is that kind of character, I'm sure it as a name, who is there in the first part of the story, but sort of fades away after his/her big deed is done, such as saving the hero, or sending him/her on their quest. Guess who I think the bad guy is. Death. Death is what Charlotte is trying to save Wilbur from, death is the big hill in the quest, which Wilbur must climb, death is the bad guy. And that is what I have discovered makes Charlottes web so amazing. Death in his first lead.

we're all a family

Charlotte's web is a very peculiar yet wonderful book. They're are so many themes and amazing bits of writers craft that it is hard to pick just one, but I think I have decided on the write one for this entry. I am almost done with the book and I had this odd thought come over me. Family. At first I wondered what this thought meant so I connected some annotations, and then it came to me. Every single animal on Mr. Zuckermans farm, from pig to spider, goose to rat. It was amazing when this thought came to me, so I made a little chart, and I came up with this I guess you could say, family tree. Wilbur and Charlotte are one family,  Wilbur is the son and Charlotte, the single mother. The Goose, Gander, and seven baby geese are, let's say, Charlotte's sister and brother in law, and the baby geese are Wilbur's cousins. The Goat is the single uncle, who is harsh on everyone, because he is old and unhappy. The Lambs are the sort of almost forgotten family members, who are just there, but scarcely talk. And then the wonderfully rude and self centered rat, Templeton is the strange friend of the family, who just shows up for a holiday dinner sometimes. It may seem irrelevant to the story, but after I looked at the barn this way, it just seems so snug and friendly, and great. It makes me sad when I think Charlotte's gonna die, because I know from experience that it takes a lot out of a family, when someone in it dies. It is a little bit different because I don't know any humans who give birth to hundreds of babies after they die, but still, death. Good luck to the Zuckerman Barn family. Many happy returns.

Innocence is Children

We all know that Charolettes Web is a wonderful story, about a pig named Wilbur, and a spider named Charolette. In it, I found a chapter (11 I think) in which Fern and her brother play in uncle Homers barn all day. They swing on a rope swing for countless hours, just enjoying life. At first, I thought the chapter was just about them breaking the gooses' rotten egg, which saves Charolette, but after looking over my annotations and the chapter its self, I found it was about something more. The innocence of children. This beautiful chapter I feel does nothing to push the story along, but shows how wonderful it is to be a kid. It made me, a 13 year old, wish I was 8, and could relive those days in which homework was drawing pictures, and school had free time and nap time. I would kill, well no not really, for nap time in middle school. How beautiful farm life must be at a young age, how innocent a child flying on a swing must look to an adult. I feel this chapter splits Charolettes web into two books. Charolettes web, and the book I call, "Boy I wish my childhood was that good". Intentional or not, this chapter is the best part of the book for me.