Charlotte's Web

Friendship ties the characters of Charlotte’s Web together in their spring and summer together and in the years to come. Wilbur is born into the world a runt, and he is immediately put up for slaughter. Fern protests and saves his life, and Wilbur is thrust into the world with a friend from day one. Fern takes special care of Wilbur, making him feel loved and special, and sets him up for the friendships that he builds later with the animals on the farm.

When Wilbur becomes too large to stay with the Arables, he is sent to live at the Zuckerman farm down the road. Fern continues to visit him and remains a good friend throughout the spring and summer, but Wilbur makes the best friend he ever has in a spider named Charlotte. After being pampered by Fern, he feels neglected and lonely on the farm. Wilbur begins asking animals to be his friend but is rebuffed either due to their busy schedules laying eggs or due to their simple lack of interest in him, with a lamb stating, “A pig is less than nothing to me” (28). Wilbur manages to befriend a reclusive and rude barn rat named