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Copywork
About This Passage
Watch how White lets dread rise and then settles it. A long explaining sentence gives Wilbur's doubt, then two short, plain sentences plant the nightmare like a drumbeat, and a four-word sentence pulls the reader back: 'But that was only a dream.' Copying it shows how sentence length controls fear, and how a calm last line can both comfort and remind us the danger is real.
He still worried some about the future, as he could hardly believe that a mere spider would be able to save his life. Sometimes at night he would have a bad dream. He would dream that men were coming ...
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
In your own words, reconstruct the chapter from the crickets' song through Charlotte's answer about the Fair. Which moment do you think White makes the emotional center of the chapter, and how do you know?
Discussion Questions
- The crickets sing one song, yet Fern, the young geese, Mrs. Zuckerman, and Charlotte each take a different meaning from it. Why does the author let a single song carry so many private meanings? Use the details of what the song stirs in each listener to explain how you know.
- White does not keep the sadness of summer's end inside the people; he gives a mournful song to the crickets and even makes a maple tree turn red 'with anxiety.' What does White achieve by spreading the feeling of change across the whole landscape, and why might he choose to do so? Use the details of the cricket song and the tree to explain what you think.
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Vocabulary
Item 1
Tediously unvarying; the same note or tone repeated.
Item 2
The general opinion others hold of one's character.
Item 3
Causing trouble or difficulty; awkwardly timed.
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Critical Thinking
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