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47. Charlotte’s Web.
“What are you doing up there, Charlotte?”
“Oh, making something,” she said. “Making something, as usual.”
“Is it something for me?” asked Wilbur.
“No,” said Charlotte. “It’s something for me, for a change.”
“Please tell me what it is,” begged Wilbur.
“I’ll tell you in the morning,” she said. “When the first light comes into
the sky and the sparrows stir and the cows rattle their chains, when the
rooster crows and the stars fade, when early cars whisper along the highway,
you look up here and I’ll show you something. I will show you my
masterpiece.”
Charlotte’s Web is E.B. White’s beloved children’s book about a young and
humble pig named Wilbur, whose life is changed through the efforts of some
unlikely friends/mother figures—including Fern (a young girl), Templeton (a
selfish rat), and Charlotte (a wise and generous spider). Suzanne and Chris
read this book and think about the distinctions we make between people and
animals, and wonder whether there’s something about animal stories that make
them ideal for telling such poignant stories about death and time.
Content warning: Unsurprisingly, there is some discussion of animals dying in this
episode.
Show Notes.
E.B. White: Charlotte’s Web.
[Bookshop.]
Other books by E.B. White: Is Sex Necessary?: Or Why You Feel the Way You
Do (with James Thurber). Stuart
Little. The Trumpet of the
Swan. Elements of Style
(with William Strunk). Essays.
Letters.
Some essays by E.B. White.
Richard Adams: Watership Down.
Helen Macdonald: H is for Hawk.
T.H. White: The Once and Future King.
Graeme Base: The Eleventh Hour.
André Alexis: Fifteen Dogs.
Michael Field: Whym Chow: Flame of
Love.
Next: Virginia Woolf: Orlando.
[Bookshop.]
The Spouter-Inn is made possible by listeners like
you.
View all episodes
By Suzanne Conklin Akbari and Chris Piuma
4.8
3030 ratings
“What are you doing up there, Charlotte?”
“Oh, making something,” she said. “Making something, as usual.”
“Is it something for me?” asked Wilbur.
“No,” said Charlotte. “It’s something for me, for a change.”
“Please tell me what it is,” begged Wilbur.
“I’ll tell you in the morning,” she said. “When the first light comes into
the sky and the sparrows stir and the cows rattle their chains, when the
rooster crows and the stars fade, when early cars whisper along the highway,
you look up here and I’ll show you something. I will show you my
masterpiece.”
Charlotte’s Web is E.B. White’s beloved children’s book about a young and
humble pig named Wilbur, whose life is changed through the efforts of some
unlikely friends/mother figures—including Fern (a young girl), Templeton (a
selfish rat), and Charlotte (a wise and generous spider). Suzanne and Chris
read this book and think about the distinctions we make between people and
animals, and wonder whether there’s something about animal stories that make
them ideal for telling such poignant stories about death and time.
Content warning: Unsurprisingly, there is some discussion of animals dying in this
episode.
Show Notes.
E.B. White: Charlotte’s Web.
[Bookshop.]
Other books by E.B. White: Is Sex Necessary?: Or Why You Feel the Way You
Do (with James Thurber). Stuart
Little. The Trumpet of the
Swan. Elements of Style
(with William Strunk). Essays.
Letters.
Some essays by E.B. White.
Richard Adams: Watership Down.
Helen Macdonald: H is for Hawk.
T.H. White: The Once and Future King.
Graeme Base: The Eleventh Hour.
André Alexis: Fifteen Dogs.
Michael Field: Whym Chow: Flame of
Love.
Next: Virginia Woolf: Orlando.
[Bookshop.]
The Spouter-Inn is made possible by listeners like
you.
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