Moral: The value of Loyalty and Friendship
Charlotte’s Web is a widely read children’s story book written by E. B. White. It was published in 1952. This story is about the friendship between a pig named Wilbur and a barn spider named Charlotte. Before looking at the moral of the story, let’s look at a brief summary of Charlotte’s Web.
The Summary of Charlotte’s Web
The pig named Wilbur gets to know that he is going to be slaughtered for Christmas. He gets very scared and upset, but his friend Charlotte, the spider, promises to save his life. She secretly weaves words into her web praising Wilbur. People start to think that it’s a miracle and Wilbur gets a lot of publicity.
Value of Loyalty and Friendship
The farmer Zuckerman enters Wilbur to the country fair. There too, Charlotte saves the day by weaving ‘Humble’ in her web. Wilbur is admired by everyone and wins a special prize at the fair. But Charlotte, exhausted by her efforts after spinning a sac containing her offspring, remains at the fair and dies alone. Wilbur looks after the egg sac and the little spiders.
What is the Moral of Charlotte’s Web
Loyalty and friendship can be taken as the main theme or moral of this story. Charlotte and Wilbur are true friends, and Charlotte works tirelessly to save her friend’s life. Charlotte doesn’t ask for anything in return.
Likewise, Wilbur looks after Charlotte’s offspring after her death. He too does this.
Determination and perseverance are two other themes that can be observed in this story. For example, Charlotte’s determination to save Wilbur and Wilbur’s determination to bring up Charlotte’s offspring are proof of this determination.
The inevitability of death is another theme that runs throughout the story. Although Charlotte works hard to stop Wilbur’s death, ironically Charlotte’s death cannot be stopped at the end.
Image Courtesy:
“Charlotte’s Web -collage of original pen + ink sketches 1952 by Garth Williams” by Paul K. (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr
