Charlotte's Web - Chapter 21

Study guide for Adult / College

Preview

Discussion Questions

Narration Prompt

Trace the chapter's movement in sequence, from the two friends alone after the ceremony to Wilbur's winked good-bye and Charlotte's solitary death, marking where Wilbur secures the egg sac and why it matters.

Discussion Questions

  1. Charlotte faces her own death with composure, telling Wilbur she feels 'peaceful,' while Wilbur, hearing the same news, collapses 'in an agony of pain and sorrow.' Make a claim about why White distributes calm to the dying friend and despair to the living one, and what that inversion asks the reader to understand. Use the details of each response to defend your claim.
  2. Charlotte reduces a life to 'we're born, we live a little while, we die' and a 'mess' of 'trapping and eating flies,' yet insists that helping Wilbur let her 'lift up my life a trifle.' What ethic of meaning is Charlotte articulating, and how persuasive do you find it? Use her own words to explain your thinking.

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Critical Thinking

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