Charlotte's Web Study Guide

Charlotte's Web

Charlotte's Web by E. B. White

Charlotte's Web is a novel about a pig named Wilbur whom a spider named Charlotte who lives in the barn as well. Charlotte attempts to save Wilbur from slaughter by spinning complimentary messages about Wilbur into her web ("SOME PIG") with the help of a rat named Templeton. Wilbur is saved but Charlotte soon dies, leaving her egg sac. The young spiders live on and Wilbur is pleased to have new spider friends.

Charlotte's Web Characters

Table of Contents
  • Wilbur is a rambunctious pig, the runt of his litter. He is often strongly emotional.
  • Charlotte A. Cavatica , or simply Charlotte, is a spider who befriends Wilbur. In some passages she is the heroine of the story.
  • John Arable : Wilbur's first owner.
  • Fern Arable , John's daughter, who adopts Wilbur in his infancy, and later visits him. She is the only human in the story capable of understanding nonhuman conversation.
  • Templeton is a rat who helps Charlotte and Wilbur only when offered food. He serves as a somewhat caustic, self-serving comic relief to the plot.
  • Avery Arable is the elder brother of Fern. Like Templeton, he is a source of comic relief.
  • Homer Zuckerman is Fern’s uncle who keeps Wilbur in his barn. He has a wife, Edith, and an assistant named Lurvy.
  • Other animals in Zuckerman’s barn, with whom Wilbur converses, are a disdainful lamb, a talkative goose, and an intelligent "old sheep".
  • Henry Fussy is a boy of Fern’s age, of whom Fern becomes fond of.
  • Dr. Dorian is the family physician/psychologist consulted by Fern's mother, and something of a wise old man character.
  • Uncle is a large pig whom Charlotte disdains for coarse manners and Wilbur’s rival at the fair.

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