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Copywork
About This Passage
Charlotte's last gift to Wilbur is not merely safety but an entire turning year, named season by season. Notice how White builds the promise out of accumulating clauses, lengthening days, melting ice, the returning sparrow, the waking frogs, so the sentence itself seems to open outward like the spring it describes, before trailing off into 'these precious days ...' as Charlotte's strength fades. Copy the passage attentively and study how a writer can let rhythm and a cumulative list carry deep feeling without ever naming the emotion.
Winter will pass, the days will lengthen, the ice will melt in the pasture pond. The song sparrow will return and sing, the frogs will awake, the warm wind will blow again. All these sights and sounds...
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell the events of this chapter in order, from the two friends alone after the ceremony to Wilbur winking good-bye from the crate. When you reach Charlotte revealing that she is dying and Wilbur's plan to save the egg sac, slow down and explain why each moment matters.
Discussion Questions
- Charlotte faces her own death calmly, telling Wilbur she feels 'peaceful,' while Wilbur, hearing the same news, throws himself down 'in an agony of pain and sorrow.' Why might White give the dying friend the calm and the surviving friend the despair? Use the details of how each one responds to explain your thinking.
- Asked why she did so much for him when he had done nothing for her, Charlotte answers that 'by helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle.' What does Charlotte's answer reveal about how she understands the worth of a life? Use her own words to explain your thinking.
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Vocabulary
Item 1
Made certain and guaranteed; how Charlotte describes Wilbur's future when she promises he is safe.
Item 2
Feelings or heartfelt views; what Charlotte thanks Wilbur for when he offers to die in her place.
Item 3
To go along with; what Charlotte says she cannot do, since she is too weak to travel home.
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Critical Thinking
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