If your child or your students are reading Charlotte's Web, then you will be discussing several themes that E.B. White included in this book. Here are some of the themes and examples to go with them.
Friendship
One of the main Charlotte's Web themes is friendship. You can find several places in the book with examples of what a real friend, or true friend, is. Here are some of the examples of this theme in the novel:
- Charlotte works very hard to save Wilbur's life. She comes up with new words for her web to describe Wilbur. She talks to Wilbur when he is sad at the beginning of the book. She is not asking for anything in return. She helps Wilbur because she is his friend.
- Wilbur takes care of Charlotte's babies after she dies. He wants to help Charlotte even though she is no longer here to help him. This is another example of true friendship.
- Sometimes, children have trouble understanding what a good friend is.
- This Charlotte's Web theme can help children in their own lives. Make sure to point out personal connections (like examples of their friendships) when discussing Charlotte and Wilbur.
- Another Charlotte's Web activity with this theme would be to have students write in their reading response journals a paragraph about why they think Charlotte and Wilbur are good friends to each other.
Loyalty
This Charlotte's Web theme goes hand-in-hand with the theme of frienship in the novel. Students may understand the term friendship better than they understand the term loyalty, so you many want to start with examples of the friendship theme and then introduce loyalty. It may be helpful to define loyalty for children first and then look for examples throughout E. B. White's novel.
- Fern and Charlotte are both very loyal to Wilbur. They work hard to save him from slaughter because they love him, especially Charolotte. Even when she is tired or near the end of her life, she is still thinking of how to help Wilbur.
- You can make a joke with children and ask them what Templeton is loyal to. Although this is a little different definition of the word, Templeton is loyal to one thing--getting food. If he can get food, he is going to follow through with a task.
- In the real world, people are often loyal to other people (like family members) or to objects (like food.) Discuss with children the two types of loyalty and see if they have any opinion on which one seems better.