Charlotte's Web Notes

Chapter 1: Before Breakfast

  • Fern questions her father's intention to kill a runt piglet.

  • Mrs. Arable explains the necessity due to the piglet's weakness.

  • Fern, age eight, confronts her father's decision as unfair.

  • Mr. Arable justifies his action based on practical pig farming.

  • Fern argues the piglet's inherent right to life, drawing a parallel to her own birth.

  • Mr. Arable relents, allowing Fern to care for the piglet.

  • Fern names the piglet Wilbur.

  • Avery, Fern's ten-year-old brother, expresses skepticism about the piglet.

  • Mr. Arable emphasizes Fern's early rising and fight for justice as the reason she gets the pig.

  • Fern feeds Wilbur milk from a baby bottle.

  • The school bus arrives, and Fern is preoccupied with Wilbur, even answering the capital of Pennsylvania is Wilbur, causing a giggle in class.

Chapter 2: Wilbur

  • Fern cares for Wilbur diligently, feeding him multiple times a day.

  • Wilbur lives in a box near the stove, then the woodshed, and finally, a yard under an apple tree.

  • Wilbur sleeps in a tunnel he digs in the straw.

  • Wilbur accompanies Fern to the bus stop.

  • Wilbur follows Fern everywhere and sometimes rides in her doll carriage.

  • Wilbur enjoys playing in the mud at the brook with Fern and Avery.

  • At five weeks old, Wilbur is to be sold.

  • Mr. Arable states Wilbur's increasing appetite makes him too expensive to keep.

  • Mrs. Arable suggests selling Wilbur to Uncle Homer Zuckerman.

  • Fern asks $6 for Wilbur, fulfilling her father's stated price for the runt.

  • Wilbur is sold to Zuckerman and moves to the manure pile in the cellar of Zuckerman's barn.

Chapter 3: Escape

  • The barn's description: smells of hay, manure, horses, cows, grain, harness dressing, axle grease, rubber boots, new rope, and fish.

  • The barn is warm in winter and cool in summer.

  • The barn contains stalls, tie-ups, a sheepfold, and a pigpen, along with various farm tools.

  • Mr. Homer L. Zuckerman owns the barn.

  • Wilbur's new home is in the barn cellar on a manure pile for warmth.

  • Fern visits Wilbur daily, sitting on a milking stool in the sheepfold.

  • Wilbur feels lonely and bored.

  • Wilbur expresses his unhappiness with his limited environment.

  • The goose tells Wilbur about a loose fence board and encourages him to escape.

  • Wilbur pushes the loose board and escapes into the long grass.

  • The goose eggs Wilbur on to "root up everything!"

  • Wilbur begins digging in the orchard.

  • Mrs. Zuckerman sees Wilbur and shouts for Homer and Lurvy.

  • The goose urges Wilbur to run to the woods.

  • The cocker spaniel joins the chase, as does Mr. Zuckerman, and Lurvy.

  • News of Wilbur's escape spreads among the barn animals.

  • Wilbur feels overwhelmed and wishes he was back in his pen.

  • The goose gives Wilbur instructions: dodge, skip, twist, and tum.

  • Other animals shout instructions: Run downhill! uphill! toward me! jump and dance!

  • Wilbur is frightened and confused.

  • Mr. Zuckerman tempts Wilbur with a pail of slops.

  • The goose warms Wilbur that it's a trick: an old pail trick, to lure Wilbur back into captivity

  • Wilbur succumbs to the appetizing smell and follows Mr. Zuckerman back to his pen.

  • Mr. Zuckerman pours the slops into the trough, and Wilbur eats hungrily.

  • Lurvy nails the board back in place.

  • Mr. Zuckerman scratches Wilbur's back.

  • Wilbur feels peaceful, happy, and sleepy.

  • Wilbur thinks he is too young to be out in the world alone, so he goes to sleep.

Chapter 4: Loneliness

  • The next day is rainy, upsetting Wilbur's plans.

  • Wilbur had planned:

    • 6:30 AM: Breakfast (skim milk, crusts, middlings, bits of doughnuts, wheat cakes with maple syrup, potato skins, leftover custard pudding with raisins, Shredded Wheat).

    • 7:00-8:00 AM: talk with Templeton.

    • 8:00-9:00 AM: Nap in the sun.

    • 9:00-11:00 AM: Dig a hole and find food.

    • 11:00-12:00 PM: Watch flies, bees, and swallows.

    • 12:00 PM: Lunch (middlings, warm water, apple parings, meat gravy, carrot scrapings, meat scraps, stale hominy, cheese wrapper).

    • 1:00-2:00 PM: Sleep.

    • 2:00-3:00 PM: Scratch itchy places.

    • 3:00-4:00 PM: Think about being alive and wait for Fern.

    • 4:00 PM: Supper (skim milk, provender, leftover sandwich, prune skins, bits of food, fried potatoes, marmalade drippings, baked apple, upsidedown cake).

  • Wilbur feels lonely and friendless.

  • Lurvy brings breakfast, but Wilbur doesn't eat.

  • Wilbur wants love and a friend to play with.

  • The goose refuses to play, as she is sitting on her eggs, expecting goslings.

  • Wilbur tries to get a lamb to play with him, but the lamb refuses because of a fence and pigs mean less than nothing to them.

  • A lengthy discussion ensues regarding the concept of "less than nothing."

  • Wilbur asks Templeton to play, but Templeton declines, preferring to eat, gnaw, spy, and hide.

  • Templeton eats Wilbur's breakfast.

  • Wilbur feels dejected and sobs in the manure.

  • Lurvy tells Mr. Zuckerman that Wilbur isn't eating.

  • Mr. Zuckerman prescribes sulphur and molasses.

  • Wilbur is forced to take the medicine.

  • Wilbur feels lonely.

  • A small voice in the darkness asks if Wilbur wants a friend.

Chapter 5: Charlotte

  • Wilbur has trouble sleeping due to an empty stomach and a full mind.

  • Wilbur hears Templeton gnawing a hole in the grain bin.

  • Wilbur hears the goose turning on her nest.

  • Wilbur asks the goose what time it is.

  • Wilbur thinks about the voice that offered friendship.

  • Wilbur wakes before dawn and listens to the quiet barn.

  • Wilbur decides to speak up to find his friend.

  • Wilbur asks the mysterious voice to reveal itself.

  • The old sheep tells Wilbur to stop disturbing his friend.

  • Wilbur apologizes and lies down.

  • Lurvy brings slops, and Wilbur eats quickly.

  • Wilbur hears the thin voice again, offering salutations.

  • Wilbur asks what salutations are and where the voice is.

  • The voice says salutations are greetings and reveals herself as Charlotte, a spider.

  • Wilbur sees Charlotte in the corner of the doorway.

  • Wilbur compliments Charlotte's beauty.

  • Charlotte mentions her nearsightedness.

  • Charlotte wraps up a fly in her web.

  • Charlotte explains that she eats flies and other insects.

  • Wilbur is horrified.

  • Charlotte says it's her nature to trap and eat insects.

  • Wilbur is gloomy because his friend is bloodthirsty.

  • Charlotte defends her actions, explaining that she must get her own food and that she prevents bugs from overpopulating the earth.

  • The goose chuckles, noting Wilbur's innocence and ignorance of his impending fate (Zuckerman's plans to kill him at Christmastime).

  • Charlotte prepares to eat the fly.

  • Wilbur closes his eyes, tired and thoughtful.

  • Wilbur contemplates the gamble of friendship: Is Charlotte fierce, brutal, scheming, bloodthirsty?

  • Wilbur worries about how to like Charlotte, even though she is pretty and clever: The answer is that she has a kind heart.

Chapter 6: Summer Days

  • Early summer days on a farm are described as the happiest and fairest.

  • Lilacs and apple blossoms bloom.

  • School ends, and children play and fish.

  • Fern visits the barn almost every day.

  • The sheep lie calmly at her feet, and the animals trust her.

  • The work horses mow in the fields, and the hay is hoisted into the loft.

  • Early summer is a jubilee time for birds.

  • White-throated sparrow says: "Oh, Peabody, Peabody, Peabody!"

  • Phoebe teeters and wags its tail and says, "Phoebe, phoe-bee!"

  • Song sparrow says: "Sweet, sweet, sweet interlude; sweet, sweet, sweet interlude."

  • Swallows swoop down from their nests and scold. "Cheeky, cheeky!"

  • Early summer has plenty of foods to eat and drink.

  • Goose eggs hatch.

  • Charlotte says it's after four weeks of effort and patience the goose now has something to show for it.

  • Goose says luck had nothing to do with it, it was good management and hard work.

  • Templeton inquires about the unhatched egg.

  • Goose gives the dud egg to Templeton.

  • Gander threatens Templeton if he harms the goslings.

  • The goose pushes the unhatched egg out of the nest for Templeton.

  • Charlotte warns that the barn will be uninhabitable if the egg breaks.

  • Templeton rolls the egg to his lair under the trough.

  • Grey goose leads her seven goslings out into the world.

  • Mr. Zuckerman is very happy there are seven baby geese.

Chapter 7: Bad News

  • Wilbur likes Charlotte more each day.

  • Wilbur admires how Charlotte puts her victims to sleep before eating them.

  • Wilbur grows and gains weight.

  • The old sheep tells Wilbur that he is being fattened up to be killed at Christmastime and turned into smoked bacon and ham.

  • It's a regular conspiracy around here to kill you at Christmastime. Everyone is in the plot Lurvy, Zuckerman, even John Arable.

  • Wilbur is horrified.

  • Charlotte tells Wilbur that the old sheep is likely correct about the plan to kill him.

  • Wilbur doesn't want to die and wants to stay in his comfortable manure pile.

  • Charlotte promises to save Wilbur.

  • Wilbur asks how, and Charlotte says it remains to be seen.

Chapter 8: A Talk At Home

  • Fern discusses the goslings and Templeton at breakfast.

  • Mrs. Arable questions Fern about Templeton and Charlotte.

  • Fern says that Charlotte has eight legs and Wilbur adores her.

  • Fern tells a speech Charlotte made at the hatching of the goslings.

  • Mrs. Arable worries about Fern and her obsession with the barn animals.

  • Mr. Arable suggests the animals may talk and says Fern just has a lively imagination.

  • Mrs. Arable plans to consult Dr. Dorian about Fern's behavior.

Chapter 9: Wilbur's Boast

  • Charlotte rebuilds her web every day.

  • Wilbur comments on Charlotte's hairy legs.

  • Charlotte says Each leg has seven sections coxa, the trochanter, the femur, the patella, the tibia, the metatarsus, and the tarsus.

  • Wilbur boasts he could spin a web if he tried.

  • Charlotte coaches Wilbur to try spinning a web.

  • Wilbur climbs up on the manure pile and jumps off and hurts himself.

  • Wilbur asks Templeton for string.

  • Templeton provides string, ties it to Wilbur's tail.

  • Wilbur tries again, but crashes and gets hurt.

  • Charlotte tells Wilbur he can't spin a web because he lacks spinnerets and know-how.

  • Charlotte brings up the Queensborough Bridge and that it's taken eight year to build.

  • Charlotte is glad she's a sedentary spider.

  • Charlotte defines sedentary.

  • Wilbur says he's sedentary too.

  • Wishes he could be in a forest looking for beechnuts and truffles and delectable roots.

  • Lamb says Wilbur is the smellest creature in the pIace.

  • Charlotte defends Wilbur.

  • Wilbur feels sad at a thought of what sheep said.

  • Wilbur remembers the old sheep's warning about being killed.

  • Wilbur trembles with fear.

  • Charlotte promises again to keep them from killing him.

  • Charlotte is not going to let him die, Wilbur asks how

Chapter 10: An Explosion

  • A rotten smell develops in the barn.

  • The smell comes from Templeton's unhatched goose egg.

  • The egg explodes with a loud noise.

  • The goslings experiment with swimming.

  • The goose warns the goslings about snapping turtles.

  • Charlotte tells Wilbur she has a plan to save him but needs time to think it out.

  • Charlotte thinks that if she can fool people, she can save Wilbur.

Chapter 11: The Miracle

  • Mr. Zuckerman examines Wilbur and says he is a wonderful pig.

  • Zuckerman thinks Wilbur should be entered