Category: Charlotte’s Web

Conflicts occur in each day activities. Individual differences can be held responsible for the misunderstanding which occur among people. Conflicts may occur between individuals, countries, and friends and also between cultures. Conflicts are bad and should be highly discouraged to occur by all means. In any case such kind of occurrence occur, peacekeeping agencies should always intervene on time before adverse effects take place. Some of the effects from conflict if a consensus has not been arrived at, within the shortest time possible include, and break up of marriages, the death of family members, and drawback of the economy. For example in the short stories; The Han’s suitcase and the Charlotte web brings to light what it means to be involved in conflicts, what the parties involved undergoes, and the mistreatments which occur in such scenarios. With, therefore, this paper is going to give more illustration on how Hana, from the short story, Hana’s suitcase, and Wilbur from the story, Charlotte’s web finds themselves in a conflict and how they struggle to come out of their conflicts, it will also compare and contrast the conflicts which the two characters finds themselves in.

To begin with, Hana’s life revolves around during times of war between Jewish and non-Jewish groups. The disputes between these groups were severe as the rules and regulations governing the Jewish seemed a nuisance to the non-Jewish especially when Hitler was elected to power. The non-Jewish underwent a lot of mistreatment during the conflicts. For example, Hana’s mother and father are taken away from their siblings. (Character vs society) The most painful abuse which Hana undergoes is when she is taken to Auschwitz where her life is terminated using a poisonous gas Zyklon B

On the other hand, in the short story of Charlotte, the primary fight in this short story is that Wilber will be butchered during Christmas time. Due to this, he becomes hysterical in such a way that the other animals cannot silent him down. In his struggles to find a solution, he returns to his life of carefree. Wilbur is disturbed; however his friend Charlotte gives him hope that he will not be butchered during charismas time, in turn, he will live to see many and any charismas days.

Both the short stories provide a different situation which is closely related. For example in the first story, Hana’s suitcase, Hana’s is struggling through thick and thin to survive. She undergoes through many mistreatments. She is denied the right to play with other children, she is given a star which she wears all round when she goes outside the house to identify her as a Jewish, she is neglected by the non-Jewish, and this makes her feel atrocious and inferior (Levine,5). Similarly, in the short story of the charlotte’s web, we see Wilbur being born and being threatened to be killed. He is already neglected in his community. If it were not for the small girl Fern who pleaded with her father, Mr. Arable, Wilbur would have killed. Also, Wilber is just dawned that there are plans for him to be butchered in Christmas. He starts to struggle in coming up with a solution which can prevent him from being killed. Just like Hana deed, Wilbur did not give up. He could have come up with thoughts of terminating his life before Christmas or even escape what befall on him but just like Hana Wilbur did not have such thoughts. He struggled till his friend Charlotte come up with a plan which saved him.

Also, in the two conflicts presented in the short stories, the two characters are friendly. They can make friends who help them survive. For example, in each place Hana could be taken, she could make friends with whom she could play with. She would not only play with the friends but also she would enjoy the company. However, this seemed to start coming to an end when she could be given a star to wear. Similarly, Wilbur, on the other hand, meets with Charlotte and they both become friends. It is through this friendship Wilbur, and Charlotte struggles and comes up with a working plan and at long last Wilbur is rescued from being butchered on Christmas.

However not only the conflicts are similar, but also they have some differences, for instance in the story of Hana, the conflict she is being involved results to her being killed. After a lot of mistreatment and struggles, Hana is killed using a poisonous gas. On the other hand, Wilbur after knowing that he will be butchered he struggles in coming out with a trick, and at long last, he is not killed

Also, in the conflict Hana is being associated with, it involves two culture and groups of people who are fighting to do away with the other group. People are mistreating others and do not have any mercy of leaving the other group to live, in response the non-Jewish are trying their best to eliminate the Jewish. On the other hand, the story involves people and also some animals. In the conflict which Wilbur is being involved, the characters have some mercy. For example, through please of Fern, Wilbur was not killed by Fern’s father (White, and Garth,12). Though Wilbur is to be butchered, he does not go through a lot of mistreatments like Hana underwent in her conflict.

In conclusion, conflicts are not good, they should not be allowed to occur, and in any case, they happen, peacekeeping parties or third parties responsible for resolving conflicts should always be there to solve them before adverse effects take place. The two characters Hana and Wilber suffer struggle a lot through the conflicts they are associated with. Through them, we learn effects of conflicts. We should see each one as necessary, and culture or race should never be used as a basis to divide people and hence result to war.

In both stories, the conflicts are defined at the very beginning of the plot. Fern Arable, the daughter of the farmer in the Charlotte’s Web rebels against the parents who want to kill a piglet that was born “abnormal”. She protects the pig referring to parents’ consciousness, “the pig couldn’t help being born small, could it? If I had been very small at birth, would you have killed me?” (White and Williams 3).

These words also identify the second conflict, man vs society. Thus, we can predict that a pig (that stands for a man) will “struggle” with the farmer Homer Zuckerman (who stands for society).

The conflict man vs society has two levels in both stories. Wilbur is a pig and according to social norms it should be slaughtered, “Wilbur didn’t know what to do or which way to run. It seemed as though everybody was after him” (White and Williams 19). Thus, Wilburn goes against society two times: the first one was when he was born a runt, and the second times, when he escaped his fate.

‘Charlotte’s Web’ is a book of children’s literature by American author E.B.White; it was published on October 15, 1952, by Harper & Brothers.

In ‘Сharlotte’s web’ main characters are the people and animals: Charlotte (a beautiful large gray spider that makes her efforts to save her friend’s life), Wilbur (a lovable pig who lives in the barn), Fern (a little girl who saves Wilbur from being slaughtered), Templeton (a rat that likes to collect things), Goose and Old sheep (animals that live in the barn), Lurvy and Mr. Zuckerman (people who feed Wilbur).

The story kicks off with Fern Arable rescuing a pig named Wilbur from being slaughtered. She cares for the pig who beats death. Mr. Arable, Fern’s father, does not like how his daughter is attached to the pig, which in real sense was getting bred to be later slaughtered. He sends Wilbur to Mr. Zuckerman’s farm, Fern’s uncle.

Wilbur is lonely and misses her, but he meets Charlotte, a spider and other farm animals such as Templeton, a rat. Wilbur learns what he was being bred for and the Charlottes decides to help him escape the fate. She spins a web that says Some Pig above Wilbur’s pen. Mr. Zucker spots it who sees it as a miracle. Templeton becomes the messenger to finding new words for Charlotte to spin like Terrific. Wilbur gets some fame because of it, and he is taken to the fair. Charlotte and Templeton resume their work of finding great labels for Wilbur. The Zuckerman’s could never kill their pig, which they indeed saw as special.

However, some time to the fair, Charlotte is dying. It seems sudden, but then spiders do not have a very longlife span. There was more. She had created a sac that contained 514 eggs, and she would not be alive to see them hatch. They were stranded at the fair, and this puts them in a tough situation. Charlotte entrusts her eggs to Wilbur and later dies. Wilbur steps up and carries the sac of eggs back to their farm. The eggs hatch. Three of the little children of Charlotte decide to stay at the barn with Wilbur, and they live happily.

‘Charlotte’s Web’ is a great book and it conveys a great message and the book is all about Friendship, Life, Death and Love and it is for all the ages from 10 and it is full of drama and adventure.

Watching live action flicks and cartoons featuring animals can be engrossing for children. Besides the eye-riveting visuals, some of them impart some powerful messages.

Better suited for older kids and adults in terms of the takeaway messages, films like the 2017 Netflix offering “Okja” and now the live action flick “Dumbo” give focus to humanity and social issues. Even adults may just gloss over the heavier message that animals should not be held in captivity or used for human enjoyment. The well-loved tale about the elephant named “Dumbo” was remade to appeal to big screen target audiences. The film remake casts attention on the way elephants were treated at the circus during the era of the real Jumbo the elephant, Refinery 29 reported. The story material, however, had graphic elements and certain portions were deemed too cruel to be shown in a children’s movie.

Smart kids who are ready and able to `digest’ the partially hidden serious themes of movies may revisit the flicks when they are older (or read the book counterparts) and show greater appreciation for them. In some cases, adults who watch again a film or reread a favorite children’s book realize the magical freshness they can still impart after many years. For kids right now, though, simpler storylines and engaging visuals that go with lots of action — along the lines of “Toy Story,” “Minions,” and “Frozen,” are more guaranteed to be met with excitement. The least that many kids want is a book made into a movie that would feel like an English class lecture. Young movie watchers, as well as their older companions at home, want fun and adventure.

They need to be able to relate to the main characters, too. If they are unable to relate, they will not be able to translate, much less impart to others, the social lessons from these stories into their day-to-day living.

Recurring themes There are other messages and values conveyed, like friendship between man and animals, and how humans’ selfishness/greed for profits may have repercussions. Mistreatment of animals resonate well with animal right advocates, but may not catch on with some young movie watchers. In fact, young audiences may have missed out on the central messages of a handful of films with subtle adult themes, such as “Ferdinand” and “The Boss Baby.” Few people know that the 2017 American comedy-drama adventure film revolving around the pacifist bull named “Ferdinand” was based on a children’s book “The story of Ferdinant” written by American author Munro Leaf (with illustration by Robert Lawson). “Ferdinand” is a movie with heart, lots of action, and other ingredients that appeal to the young and young-at-heart. Who would have thought that the story about a gentle bull so attracted to the sight and smell of flowers and who becomes the friend of a little girl will strike a resonant chord with viewers worldwide. Friendship, teamwork and good prevailing over bad were the intangible things focused on by the movie.

An example of a movie that likewise featured animals, but in supporting roles, was the 2017 fantasy-adventure flick, “Coco.” Like “Ferdinand,” cultural considerations were not disregarded by the filmmakers as they presented small nods to daily life in certain countries — in the case of “Ferdinand” it was Spain and for “Coco” it was Mexico.

Themes and plots related to friendship between humans and animal creatures — a recurring theme in children’s fairy tales and even films geared towards children — do generate attention. A case in point is the 1999 American comedy-adventure film Stuart Little loosely based on the novel of the same title penned by E.B.White. Animal-human friendship is also depicted in other movies, including “Christopher Robin,” “Ratatouille,” plus many others.

A study to assess whether storybooks with anthropomorphic (which means attributing human form or personality to non-human things or animals) animal-characters promote prosocial behavior in children was conducted by researchers from the University of Toronto. The study was published in the journal Developmental Science. The researchers, who read to preschoolers between the ages of four and six years a story about sharing with human characters, and then the story with anthropomorphized animal characters, uncovered that material with humans in them significantly increased preschoolers’ altruism.

On the other hand, reading them the anthropomorphic story or a control story reduced it. Kids generally find it easier to apply knowledge from stories with realistic, content and characters, Science Daily reported. This was confirmed by one of the authors of the study, Dr. Patricia Ganea, associate professor of early cognitive development at University of Toronto. She and her colleagues deduced that human characters tend to have more sway for young viewers as far as acting on the moral of the story is concerned.

Talking and emotion-displaying animals may prove the downfall of many a children’s book, but there are exceptions, as American author-critic Stephen Amidon shared in an article for The Guardian. Amidon noted that books along the league of the E.B.White novel, “Charlotte’s Web” drew him into the barnyard world. The honesty, simplicity and forthrightness of the book fascinated him so much he introduced the reading option to his own children.

Despite what studies point out, animal fiction is here to stay. Many younger children aged three to seven or beyond may even have favorite books with empathic animals in them. The fact is that there are kids who are delighted or even thrilled at seeing animals — in books, television, or videos accessible through computers or smartphones. Given the values they impart, and the cultural realities they may depict, a few well-made books-turned-into-movie offerings merit attention.