When Charlotte had built a web with words such as, "Some pig," "Radiant," and "terrific," Wilbur had gotten all the attention from the people, even though it doesn't make much sense. Shouldn't Charlotte be getting the attention since she was the one who made the web? It seems as if E.B White purposely did this, it seems right if you're a child but if you're an adult it seems so right that it makes it confusing. White made it like this: Charlotte makes the words in the web: Wilbur gets attention. How do the farmers, (Mr. and Mrs. Zuckerman, and Lurvy) and the people who came to see the pig, know that the words imprinted in the web were made for Wilbur only? The first words: "Some pig," made it pretty obvious that it was made for Wilbur; though it wouldn't have been so obvious if there was more than one pig. But the other words like that were mentioned, how did the people that came to visit, know that they were aimed at Wilbur, they could have been aimed at the old sheep, Templeton, and maybe even the goose.
When E.B White had written this book, it made pretty good sense, that he had purposely aimed for the narration to be done by Wilbur's perspective, maybe to make the reader think more carefully about why Charlotte wasn't the main character- maybe because Charlotte would have never been the most "important," character if Wilbur wasn't around- we think that Charlotte is amazing because she was kind and loyal. But because of Wilbur we think that, we know that Charlotte had helped Wilbur so much that she had risked her life for him. Well, if Charlotte hadn't save Wilbur's life and had never ever even met him- we wouldn't think Charlotte was so great- that's where Wilbur comes in. Because of Wilbur we think that, "oh, well, Charlotte is so nice to risk herself for Wilbur." But we would have never thought of that spider to be so nice if Wilbur hadn't actually been there to make her risk her life. This is why I think that E.B. White had purposely used such a craft to make us think so deeply and carefully about this.
When Charlotte had died, it was a matter of fact that now the happiness was long gone. But Wilbur had never ever thought about Charlotte again- he just thought about the fact that now Charlotte's children would be born, isn't it selfish to think about friends at a time when your old friend who had risked everything just died in front of you? When E.B. White had finished the book, it made me think more deeply of how he had carefully crafted his characters for you to think more about. Why Wilbur didn't care as much as we do, why Charlotte wasn't as important as Wilbur. It all clicked in toward the end, when you understood the reason E.B. White did this.
Charlotte's Web was a book with so much intellect and craft, that made you understand the importance of characters, and made you think beyond what you usually think when it comes toward books, and that is the reason that makes Charlotte's Web so special.
