Charlotte’s Web: Imagining Peace
“The barn was very large. It was very old. It smelled of hay and it smelled of manure. It smelled of the perspiration of tired horses and the wonderful sweet breath of patient cows. It often had a peaceful smell – as though nothing bad could happen ever again in the world. …”
Charlotte’s Web was written by E.B. White and published by Harper & Row in 1952 when the world was a relatively peaceful place. Harry Truman was President of the United States, the United Nations building was being constructed at the edge of the East River in Manhattan and a treaty had been negotiated with Japan.
If you have young children, or grandchildren or if you were fortunate enough to have grown up in the 1950’s you have probably read Charlotte’s Web. Over the years, it has been voted one of the best children’s book ever written. If you haven’t ever read the book, I suggest you place it at the top of your reading list.
The story, of course, is about a young eight-year-old girl, Fern, who convinces her father not to slaughter a piglet that is the runt of the litter. She names him “Wilbur,” for no other reason than she thought it “the most beautiful name she could think of.”
As Wilbur fattens up and is moved to the barn with the other animals, Fern visits daily and listens to their conversations. Fern’s mother is alarmed and consults Dr. Dorian: “‘Fern says the animals talk to each other. Dr. Dorian, do you believe animals talk?’ ‘I never heard one say anything,’ he replied. ‘But that proves nothing. It is quite possible that an animal has spoken civilly to me and that I didn’t catch the remark because I wasn’t paying attention. Children pay better attention than grownups.’”
There is the rat named Templeton, the geese and then Charlotte, the spider. When Wilbur matures, it is certain he will be slaughtered. This was the inspiration for the book, according to a note E.B. White wrote for his editor:
“I have kept several pigs, starting them in spring as weanlings and carrying trays to them all through the summer and fall. The relationship bothered me. Day by day I became better acquainted with my pig, and he with me, and the fact that whole adventure pointed to an eventual piece of double – dealing on my part lent an eerie quality to the thing. … Anyway, the theme of Charlotte’s Web is that a pig shall be saved, and I have an idea that somewhere deep inside me there was a wish to that effect. …”
Determined to save Wilbur, Charlotte spells out words in her exquisite, intricate webs: Terrific, Radiant, Humble. This miracle is perhaps best described by Dr. Dorian: “I don’t understand it (the words). But for that matter I don’t understand how a spider learned to spin a web in the first place. When the words appeared, everyone said they were a miracle. But nobody pointed out that the webs itself is a miracle.” This extraordinary occurrence leads to Wilbur being awarded First Prize in the annual summer fair.
My re-reading of Charlotte’s Web isn’t random. My friend and colleague Leonard S. Marcus, the children’s book historian, critic and author, has curated an exhibition entitled: “Garth Williams: Illustrator of the Century” that is on view this summer at the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature in Abilene, Texas. It was Garth Williams who illustrated Charlotte’s Web. Later this week I am visiting a man who is a cartoonist for the New Yorker and lives in Cornish, New Hampshire. He has several Garth Williams original illustrations, including a few from Charlotte’s Web.
E.B. White’s ends his note about why he came to write Charlotte’s Web with: “I haven’t told you why I wrote the book, but I haven’t told you why I sneeze either. A book is a sneeze.”
The animals in a barnyard are all different and yet they must co-exist. I believe Mr. White was imagining a radiant, humble and peaceful world where empathy prevails.