The Loss of Innocence.. eh, Perhaps
We witness the first day of a milky white pig with the sun shining through his ears. We watch the runt grow. Spring and summer zip by but these seasons don't push Wilbur forward , they do not force him into maturity. Fall comes along with a spider, a motherly, educated (seeming...) and sophisticated friend. Along with Charlotte comes a talkitive sheep, one who tells Wilbur of his looming death. By knowing that death exists and that he's heading towards it, Wilbur begins the slow emersion from his child-like state.
By slow, I mean that well past the 100 page mark, my annotaions about Wilbur remained critical of his constant whining, selfishness and dependance on others. It was only in the last few dozen pages, when Wilbur displayed the traits of a typical hero (haha! yet another archetype!) by bringing Charlotte's egg sac back to the barn with him. But, even then, it was done for selfish reasons, Wilbur wanted friends. Even when Charlotte's 511 (I'm accounting for those who stayed behind) children flew away in the wind, Wilbur had tears flowing out of his eyes, not out of paternal love, knowing that his 'children' would never return to him, but out of the misery of losing those who provided companionship for him. In the end, Wilbur did remain a child. There are areas, though, that Wilbur did progress in, his vocabulary expanded quite rapidly (but, actually, looking back his sentences seem to have been depsertaly put together and a bit awkward...) and he grew in his size (heh, you can tell from the drawings). But the fact the Wilbur secertly remained a child is one of the things that makes the book more enjoyable, while reading the book one thinks that Wilbur did manage to grow into a full feldged uh.. pig, but when looking back and analyzing Wilbur's actions in relation to particular events, he came off as spoiled and needy.
Archetypes can actually be quite flexible, it just depends on how you look at them and who's trying to connect what to which archetype.While reading the book the journey was, without a doubt, the journey into maturity, but, looking back, the story seems to have been more like a story about a task. The task was the mission to save Wilbur's life, but that seems to be a bit more specific to Charlotte. And then, the story could also be a bit of a quest due to it's fantasy-like feel and the initial task. So, by looking at the story through several lenses the story can morph into a different form for each character or each time in the book.
Charlotte's Web has characters who sway back and forth between many acrchetypes and force the archetypes to intertwine with one another in order to come up with a label worthy of a particular character's layers in personality. For instance, Tempelton is a 'shadow', a hero and a 'shapeshifter', with little motivation and an infrequent task. Fern is, at first, a hero who later seems to be a bit of a traitor. The books has 3 journeys and many characters, making it so that the archetypes in this book are rarely definite.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Charlotte's Web (2) Annotations
page 60- 'Whenever humans are compared to animals, the humans come off as a tad bit inferior and slow'.... 'See? It makes us seem stupid. This paragraph degrades mankind, turning us into a pointless species'
page 80- 'Sigh. Now every time a human does anything, I can only think about how stupid they come off as in comparison to a spider.'
page 82- 'Ha! And now our stupidity is supreme!'
There's no need to list anymore annotations, the rest of the book has notes reading 'stupidity' which weave throughout the text. This is another reoccurring theme in Charlotte's Web, the repetitive, pathetic way that gullible humans go about their daily doings. When Mr. Zuckerman sees the word 'terrific' in the web, he can't help but look at Wilbur and think 'terrific'. Wilbur's no longer a runt, nope, he is now 'some pig', because a web tells him so. The people at the fair call Wilbur humble, a concept that was easily placed in their minds by Charlotte. Imagine! Being so easily manipulated by a spider! By a small animal that people bat away in disgust and fear! But spiders do have a quality that many humans lack, patience. And due to a spiders' patience, Charlotte's character found her way into the book.
E.B. White's choice of the animals he used in the book were very specific to the messages he tried to get through. For example, pigs are recognized (in reality, that is) as pork and bacon, as heads on the slaughter block. This is perfect for Wilbur's situation, the reputation of a pig helps carry the plot along. Spiders are quite creatures; they wait tirelessly by their webs for every meal. Charlotte carefully spins words into her web, she quietly lectures and easily chases away fears. The barn animals themselves are a convenience to the book. I've been to a barn before and even when cows are mooing and chickens are pecking away, the barn is somehow silent and perfectly calm, moving at its own pace. I live in the city. The mornings are filled with cars, the afternoons are filled with cars and the night is filled with cars. All times of day have honking and random hoards and the sounds of clicking heels or briefcases bumping into one another. The days are started by ringing alarm clocks and are ended by listening to traffic roaring by. We're a rushed species. The barn is a prime example of a place where time is slowed. I'm sure that many of the readers felt a pang of jealousy while reading about the countryside and its many pleasures. I'm sure that they looked at Charlotte and perhaps they were hurt by her mocking words or, maybe, they nodded their heads in solemn agreement. Either way, the message got through... slow down... haste makes waste.. stop pacing bridges when you should be building a web.
page 80- 'Sigh. Now every time a human does anything, I can only think about how stupid they come off as in comparison to a spider.'
page 82- 'Ha! And now our stupidity is supreme!'
There's no need to list anymore annotations, the rest of the book has notes reading 'stupidity' which weave throughout the text. This is another reoccurring theme in Charlotte's Web, the repetitive, pathetic way that gullible humans go about their daily doings. When Mr. Zuckerman sees the word 'terrific' in the web, he can't help but look at Wilbur and think 'terrific'. Wilbur's no longer a runt, nope, he is now 'some pig', because a web tells him so. The people at the fair call Wilbur humble, a concept that was easily placed in their minds by Charlotte. Imagine! Being so easily manipulated by a spider! By a small animal that people bat away in disgust and fear! But spiders do have a quality that many humans lack, patience. And due to a spiders' patience, Charlotte's character found her way into the book.
E.B. White's choice of the animals he used in the book were very specific to the messages he tried to get through. For example, pigs are recognized (in reality, that is) as pork and bacon, as heads on the slaughter block. This is perfect for Wilbur's situation, the reputation of a pig helps carry the plot along. Spiders are quite creatures; they wait tirelessly by their webs for every meal. Charlotte carefully spins words into her web, she quietly lectures and easily chases away fears. The barn animals themselves are a convenience to the book. I've been to a barn before and even when cows are mooing and chickens are pecking away, the barn is somehow silent and perfectly calm, moving at its own pace. I live in the city. The mornings are filled with cars, the afternoons are filled with cars and the night is filled with cars. All times of day have honking and random hoards and the sounds of clicking heels or briefcases bumping into one another. The days are started by ringing alarm clocks and are ended by listening to traffic roaring by. We're a rushed species. The barn is a prime example of a place where time is slowed. I'm sure that many of the readers felt a pang of jealousy while reading about the countryside and its many pleasures. I'm sure that they looked at Charlotte and perhaps they were hurt by her mocking words or, maybe, they nodded their heads in solemn agreement. Either way, the message got through... slow down... haste makes waste.. stop pacing bridges when you should be building a web.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Charlotte's Web (1
Pg. 24- "I'm really too young to go out into the world alone" (said by Wilbur) Earlier in the chapter, Wilbur escapes from the barn and is then chased and captured by those who work on the farm.
In all honesty, no, Wilbur is not 'too young to go out into the world alone'.Whether or not Wilbur is a sophisticated, emotional pig or a mere slab of meat, he is a farm animal. Farm animals are kept for the sole purpose of being useful, horses are ridden, chickens' eggs are fried, pigs are slaughtered for their meat. The only reason why the reader may agree with Wilbur is because they've been successfully won over by the charm of the book. They've been sucked into the talking animals and Fern's heroic act of saving a runt. They've abandoned logic and reason, turning to the reality that book has created for them. This is vital to the the success of the book. If the reader refuses to believe in the characters their emotions, this book becomes a dead piece of child-like fiction. I accidentally took a wrong turn a few dozen pages into the book which lead me to believe that the plot was built upon a situation that never should have come to be. I'm reminded that Fern had disrupted the natural route that Wilbur's life should have taken, the route with an axe and farmer waiting at the end. And this observation, inevitably, made me think that the entire book is rather ludicrous and out of place. But if the reader observes the book through Fern's eyes, the terms that Fern created, the characters, the plot, the concepts, all fall perfectly into place. The structure of the book is delicate enough to crumble all at once if not looked at in the right way.
From the beginning of the book, Fern treated Wilbur as a child. He was cradled when feed by bottle, he was looked at with loving eyes if he were to fall asleep in a doll carriage. For Wilbur to have been sold off and to live in a manure pile seemed unbearably cruel. For Wilbur to be killed due to his having had been born a runt seemed nearly inhuman. Of course, Wilbur came to be because Fern's father had raised Wilbur's mother to be sold or slaughtered. Wilbur likes his manure pile because he's a pig and pigs like the warmth that piles of manure provide. Actually, by selling Wilbur, Wilbur came to live in an environment better suited for him. As the book carries on, the reader finds out that Fern's uncle, Mr.Zuckerman, plans to kill Wilbur for a Christmas feast, which, like the selling and the manure pile and the near slaughtering of a runt, seems immoral. When, in actuality, it's logical, moral, and the correct thing to do.
Charlotte's Web is a magnificent example of the way all works of fiction ought to be read. What's particularly special about this book is that is for one second, if one aspect is questioned, a thread is undone and the entire book falls apart nearly instantly. If the reader allows for himself to succumb to the fantasy world of talking animals and the rush to save a pig's life the book will be transformed into a wondrous and, somehow, a somewhat plausible book. But if the reader is stubborn and refuses to hold by Fern's way, then, piece by piece, the book loses its magic and is reduced to the question, ' why did any of this happen in the first place?'. This happened to me. It began with a rather innocent thought, 'why does it seem harsh that Wilbur sleeps in manure?'. This thought lead to the answer, 'because Fern would look down upon a manure pile'. I then thought, 'this entire book is built on Fern's childish standards'. This had a domino effect and I soon found myself thinking that the entire book was somewhat ridiculous and aimed towards and overly-emotional crowd. But, it was this destructive train of thought that helped me realize that the most magnificent of books tend to play by rules of their own, defying all logic and tricking the reader to believe that the world that's been created is superior to their own.
In all honesty, no, Wilbur is not 'too young to go out into the world alone'.Whether or not Wilbur is a sophisticated, emotional pig or a mere slab of meat, he is a farm animal. Farm animals are kept for the sole purpose of being useful, horses are ridden, chickens' eggs are fried, pigs are slaughtered for their meat. The only reason why the reader may agree with Wilbur is because they've been successfully won over by the charm of the book. They've been sucked into the talking animals and Fern's heroic act of saving a runt. They've abandoned logic and reason, turning to the reality that book has created for them. This is vital to the the success of the book. If the reader refuses to believe in the characters their emotions, this book becomes a dead piece of child-like fiction. I accidentally took a wrong turn a few dozen pages into the book which lead me to believe that the plot was built upon a situation that never should have come to be. I'm reminded that Fern had disrupted the natural route that Wilbur's life should have taken, the route with an axe and farmer waiting at the end. And this observation, inevitably, made me think that the entire book is rather ludicrous and out of place. But if the reader observes the book through Fern's eyes, the terms that Fern created, the characters, the plot, the concepts, all fall perfectly into place. The structure of the book is delicate enough to crumble all at once if not looked at in the right way.
From the beginning of the book, Fern treated Wilbur as a child. He was cradled when feed by bottle, he was looked at with loving eyes if he were to fall asleep in a doll carriage. For Wilbur to have been sold off and to live in a manure pile seemed unbearably cruel. For Wilbur to be killed due to his having had been born a runt seemed nearly inhuman. Of course, Wilbur came to be because Fern's father had raised Wilbur's mother to be sold or slaughtered. Wilbur likes his manure pile because he's a pig and pigs like the warmth that piles of manure provide. Actually, by selling Wilbur, Wilbur came to live in an environment better suited for him. As the book carries on, the reader finds out that Fern's uncle, Mr.Zuckerman, plans to kill Wilbur for a Christmas feast, which, like the selling and the manure pile and the near slaughtering of a runt, seems immoral. When, in actuality, it's logical, moral, and the correct thing to do.
Charlotte's Web is a magnificent example of the way all works of fiction ought to be read. What's particularly special about this book is that is for one second, if one aspect is questioned, a thread is undone and the entire book falls apart nearly instantly. If the reader allows for himself to succumb to the fantasy world of talking animals and the rush to save a pig's life the book will be transformed into a wondrous and, somehow, a somewhat plausible book. But if the reader is stubborn and refuses to hold by Fern's way, then, piece by piece, the book loses its magic and is reduced to the question, ' why did any of this happen in the first place?'. This happened to me. It began with a rather innocent thought, 'why does it seem harsh that Wilbur sleeps in manure?'. This thought lead to the answer, 'because Fern would look down upon a manure pile'. I then thought, 'this entire book is built on Fern's childish standards'. This had a domino effect and I soon found myself thinking that the entire book was somewhat ridiculous and aimed towards and overly-emotional crowd. But, it was this destructive train of thought that helped me realize that the most magnificent of books tend to play by rules of their own, defying all logic and tricking the reader to believe that the world that's been created is superior to their own.
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