CHARLOTTE’S WEB Based on the novel by E.B. White Adapted for the stage by Joseph Robinette A California Theatre Center Study Guide for Teachers and Students SYNOPSIS A new litter of piglets is born on Mr. Arable’s farm, but one of them, the runt, is deemed too small and useless to keep on the farm. Fern, Farmer Arable’s eightyear-old daughter, realizes how unfair it is to kill the innocent animal just for being born small, and she convinces her father to let her keep the pig, whom she names Wilbur, as a pet. Wilbur thrives on the farm for several weeks, but he must eventually be moved to the farm of Fern’s uncle, Howard Zuckerman, for Arable does not have the resources to keep the pig. Although Wilbur is sad to leave Fern, he adjusts easily to life at Zuckerman’s farm. Not only does Fern visit him every day, but he makes friends with the other creatures in the barnyard – especially a kind and intelligent spider named Charlotte. Wilbur leads a happy life, but a dark cloud looms overhead: when Wilbur is big enough, Farmer Zuckerman plans to turn the pig into ham! Charlotte makes it

her mission to save Wilbur’s life. To impress the Farmer, Charlotte weaves words into her web, describing Wilbur’s wonderful and worthy qualities, and soon the web is attracting attention from the newspaper and from people all over the county. The farm is mobbed every day with visitors! Farmer Zuckerman decides to enter Wilbur in the County Fair and promises that, if Wilbur wins the Blue Ribbon, he will never be turned into ham! Meanwhile, Charlotte is exhausted from the work of weaving her intricate webs, but, despite her fatigue, she decides to go to the fair with Wilbur. There she weaves one last word and then sets to work on her biggest project yet: making an egg sac holding over 500 eggs that will hatch into baby spiders. As she works, Wilbur waits in suspense to see if he has won the top prize. Another pig takes home the Blue Ribbon, but Wilbur receives a special prize for being such a terrific and radiant pig! Charlotte, however, does not live to see her friend’s triumph or to see her eggs hatch. She passes away quietly in the night. To express his gratitude for Charlotte’s friendship and her help in saving his life, Wilbur vows to watch over Charlotte’s children. When they hatch, most of the newborn spiders fly away on strings of silk, but three of them decide to remain in the barn, much to Wilbur’s delight. To honor Charlotte, he hangs his medal on the nail in the doorway where Charlotte’s web used to be, and he never forgets his friend. GENERAL DISCUSSION 1. When he is born, Wilbur is considered the “runt” of the litter. What does the word “runt” mean? How does he eventually overcome this status? 2. Early in the story, when Fern learns that her father plans to kill the littlest piglet, she uses the term “injustice” to describe his plan. What is “injustice”? Are there other examples of injustice in the story? 3. Discuss the following themes as they relate to the play Charlotte’s Web: heroism, friendship, fairness, overcoming adversity, determination, courage. If you have read the book, compare and contrast the ways in which the book and the play address these themes. 4. Charlotte uses adjectives to highlight Wilbur’s good qualities in her web. She writes “Some Pig,” “Terrific,” “Radiant,” and “Humble.” What are some other positive adjectives that you would use to describe Wilbur? 5. Wilbur’s two best friends are Charlotte and Fern. Both of them love Wilbur very much and both of them save his life at some point. What are some other similarities and differences between Wilbur’s friendship with Fern and his friendship with Charlotte? LITERATURE & LANGUAGE ARTS 1. Before seeing the play, read the novel Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White with the class. Discuss things that may be different about the play. Then, after seeing

the play, compare what you saw onstage to your experience of reading the book. Did the play leave anything out that you thought should be included? 2. E.B. White is also famous for the novel Stuart Little, which is about a talking mouse who is adopted by a human family. Read this book with the class as well, and compare and contrast it with Charlotte’s Web. Do you think that Stuart Little would make a good stage play? CREATIVE WRITING 1. Charlotte’s Web ends with Wilbur back on the farm, along with the other animals and three of Charlotte’s baby spiders. What do you think happens next? Do the young spiders grow up to be great artists like their mother? Does Wilbur find himself in another sticky situation that requires the help of his friends? Write a short follow-up story to Charlotte’s Web. Be creative with the plot, characters, and setting while still being true to the story that you saw onstage or read in the book. 2. Wilbur and Charlotte’s magnificent webs attract lots of media attention, and a reporter comes to Zuckerman’s farm to cover the events for the local newspaper. Imagine that you are the reporter. Write an article for the newspaper in which you interview Homer Zuckerman and describe the miraculous happenings on his farm. Remember that, as the reporter, you do not know that the animals can talk, nor do you know the real reason why everything is happening – keep these things in mind as you write! DRAMATIC ARTS 1. The play Charlotte’s Web features several actors who play animal characters. How is playing an animal different from playing a human character? What sorts of things might an actor do to represent an animal onstage? 2. In the theatre, the set pieces (or scenery) for a play are designed by a scenic designer. It is the job of the scenic designer, with help from the technical director or theatre carpenter, to design and build scenery for plays, and in so doing, to skillfully re-create large settings (such as barnyards) to fit in the much smaller space of a stage. a. Before seeing the play, imagine that you are a scenic designer and you have been assigned to design the scenery for Charlotte’s Web, which is set in a barnyard. Use your imagination to draw a picture of a barnyard set design! Be creative with the layout, colors, textures, size, and types of materials for the set. 3. There are many characters in the play Charlotte’s Web but just a few actors. Most of these actors play multiple roles in the play. Between scenes, they must often do a “quick-change,” which is a very fast costume change that must be done in a short time between two scenes or two parts of a scene. What are the challenges for an actor who must play multiple roles in a play? What are the

challenges for the audience? If you were an actor, do you think playing multiple roles in one play would be fun? SOCIAL STUDIES 1. E.B. White’s original novel Charlotte’s Web was written in 1952. What was going on in the world and in the U.S. at this time? How might these events be reflected in White’s story? 2. Fern’s brother, Avery, walks onstage carrying a wooden toy at one point in the play. Find some pictures from the Internet of old-fashioned toys. How were the toys of the 1950’s different from the toys that you play with today? How are they similar? Do you think these old-fashioned types of toys would be more fun, less fun, or just as fun to play with today? SCIENCE 1. Charlotte is a spider whose full name is Charlotte A. Cavatica. The “A. Cavatica” part of her name refers to the name of her species – Aranea Cavatica (or Araneus Cavaticus). The system that scientists use to classify organisms using names like this is called “taxonomy.” The taxonomic names come from Latin and ancient Greek. a. Look up the scientific names of the other barnyard animals, as well as humans. What would your last name be if you went by your scientific name, like Charlotte does? b. Have each student do a brief research project on one of the animals from Zuckerman’s farm, or on another type of animal that may be found on a typical farm but did not appear in the story. Students may start by finding out the scientific name for the animal, then compile information such as life span, what it eats, where it lives, habits, physical traits, etc. Rather than finding a picture from the Internet or magazine to accompany their findings, have them draw one based on the facts that they find. 2. Wilbur is happy to have Charlotte as a friend, but at first he thinks she is “brutal and bloodthirsty” because she eats by trapping bugs in her web and sucking their blood. Charlotte explains to Wilbur that she has to do it because that’s the way she’s made. Research the life cycles of a number of different species of spiders. The class could be broken into groups with each group assigned a type of spider. Have them find pictures from magazines and the Internet and present their findings to the class. 3. Charlotte’s Web is set on two neighboring farms: Arable’s farm and Zuckerman’s farm. Discuss farms and farm life with the class. What other well-known stories are set on farms?

a. What does a farmer do for a living? What is a farmer’s day-to-day routine? Would you want to live the life of a farmer? b. List and discuss different types of farms: dairy farm, poultry farm, vegetable farm, etc. What kind of farm do you think Wilbur lives on? c. Discuss the steps involved in farming crops: soil preparation, planting, irrigation, etc., as well as the weather patterns that may affect the success of a crop. The class could be divided into groups, with each group making a colorful diagram on poster board showing the process of growing a different type of crop (wheat, corn, cotton, etc.) WRITE TO CTC! After watching the play, write us a letter about it. Tell what you liked or disliked about the story, the characters, costumes, set, or anything else you observed. Support your thoughts with examples and reasons. (Teachers’ comments are also appreciated!) Mail to: CTC P.O. Box 2007 Sunnyvale, CA 94087

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READING SUGGESTIONS Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, illustrated HarperTrophy, 2004.

by

Garth

Williams.