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Copywork
About This Passage
This is Charlotte's character report on Uncle — a compact example of E. B. White's satirical portraiture. Pathfinders should notice how Charlotte's diction (claims, perhaps, certain, unattractive, familiar, dislike) is courtroom-precise: she names each flaw with evidence-weighted language, and she closes with a line of calm strategic confidence ('with me helping you, it can be done') that changes the reader's expectations for the contest ahead.
"He claims he's a spring pig," reported Charlotte, "and perhaps he is. One thing is certain, he has a most unattractive personality. He is too familiar, too noisy, and he cracks weak jokes. Also, he's...
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Narrate Chapter 17 in six to eight sentences. Trace the arc from the Arables' arrival at the Fair Grounds, through Mr. Arable's decision to release Fern and Avery with their own money, Wilbur's installation in a grassy shaded pen, Charlotte's descent on a dragline to interview Uncle, her report back to Wilbur, and the shift from rivalry to worry when Charlotte admits, 'The least thing tires me these days.'
Discussion Questions
- E. B. White opens the chapter not with the pig or the spider but with four of the five senses applied to the Fair at once — music, Ferris wheel, dust, hamburgers, balloons, sheep blatting. What does this sensory overture accomplish, and what does it say about the author's theory of how a place should be built for a reader?
- Mr. Arable says, 'Well, they've got to grow up some time. And a fair is a good place to start,' and hands Fern and Avery their own money. Examine what this scene discloses about Mr. Arable's philosophy of parenting and his trust in the Fair as an institution of education.
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
States or asserts as a fact, usually without offering proof.
Item 2
Lacking pleasing or appealing qualities; displeasing in appearance or manner.
Item 3
Behaving in an informal or forward manner that presumes closeness not yet earned.
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Critical Thinking
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