Insights from Charlotte's Web (by Naomi)

I just finished listening to the unabridged version of “Charlotte’s Web� on cassette tape, read by the author, E.B. White. This story is one of my favorites from childhood, but it has been many years since I have read it. I am now realizing how many noble themes are traced in its pages, not only of life, but of ideal womanhood.

In this story, Charlotte is an example of true femininity. She enters the story in order to cheer up a discouraged pig who is fated to die at the hands of bacon-eating humans. Her happy cry of “salutations� and subsequent conversations, vocabulary-enhancement lessons, and all-around joyfulness infuse this runt of a pig with a new zest for life. Not only does she give Wilbur the desire to live, but it is her ingenuity that eventually saves his life. She diligently spins webs with words intertwined in the threads proclaiming Wilbur’s virtues – humility, radiance, terrific-ness, and the slogan “some pig.� This task keeps Charlotte up through many a long night, keeping her mind busy with noble thoughts as her body works for her beloved pig. Diligence pays off and Wilbur’s life is saved. While he is winning a special prize at the county fair, the spider is content in the pig stall, smiling to herself, for “Wilbur’s victory was in a sense her victory as well.� The spotlight and loudspeakers and applause and ribbons are for him; she is pleased to know that she played a part in his fame. Immediately after this scene, we find Charlotte nurturing once again, only this time it is in the area of egg-laying. 514 eggs are placed in the sac, an act which wore the loving mother out completely. Wilbur returns to the barn with the sac in his mouth, protecting the babes of his beloved. Charlotte offers a last wave and then dies.

Every godly woman has a Wilbur in their lives – someone she is called to encourage, to appreciate, to thank, to build up, to work for, to stay up late for, to use energy and cheerfulness and exuberance in order to support. We as women are not to care for our own promotion or fame. We are to be content to listen to the loudspeaker proclaiming the virtues of our husband or father or brother, happy just to know that we played a small part in bringing about their success. To all the Charlottes like me in this world, may we be strengthened in the realization that our efforts are not futile. May we take comfort knowing that there are eyes bigger than ours in this world that see the secret things that are one day to be revealed. May we, like E.B. White’s Charlotte , die giving life, as One did so very long ago in order to redeem us.