Biblical Interpretation Of E.B. White's Charlotte's Web

For centuries parents and teachers derived life-lessons for children from the existing literature that had been written for an adult audience, rather than books written specifically for children. That is because the emergence of writings directed at young people didn't begin until around the time of the European Renaissance, between the early sixteenth and middle seventeenth centuries. Until then many children were illiterate, and most could not afford to own books of their own. In fact the present study will show that it was really the nineteenth century before a systematic movement toward a separate category of literature for children first began to mature.With the progression of time our societies have come to depend more and more on the educational system to help to shape the character of our children. In striving toward this objective, books and literature have been critical and indispensible tools.Charlotte's Web belongs to the genre of children's literature; and—in fact-books like Charlotte's Web are early precursors to the vast lexicon of children's literature we have before us today. It was Anne Carroll Moore-one of the early pioneers of the movement to revise library standards to set aside special books especially for children-who convinced E. B White to begin writing books for children, himself. Anne Carroll Moore pursued White on the subject for about seven years, before he finally published his first book. Charlotte's Web was his second. Charlotte's Web provides an interesting understanding of what Chinese experts in this field, including Mei Zihan and Cao Wenxuan identifies as excellent literature. It still is a great children's book that has touched children all over the world.In developing the central idea of the present thesis, the author will point to the Bible's tremendous influence on Western thinking and culture-particularly in Western art, music, literature, law, and education. Beginning from the basic premise that the Bible itself is a timeless work of literature, our study will show how this book has surpasses presumed religious traditions to touch every aspect of Western life. This is important because the intention of this study is to show how even a non-religious piece of fiction, like Charlotte's Web, can have a plot that so closely parallels a core biblical message that the reader comes away with the impression that maybe even E. B. White was using his book to tell a familiar Bible story in a unique and novel way.As we know, western society is a society that is greatly immersed in Christian culture, and almost all the western major writers'works are greatly influenced by the Holy Bible. Elwyn Brooks White is no exception. He was born in a strongly Christian family, and was a pious Christian when he Was young.The present thesis, Biblical Interpretation of E.B White's Charlotte's Web, intends to investigate the biblical elements implicit in Elwyn Brooks White's Charlotte's Web, which would throw light on the themes of the novel.As the plot of the novel develops we see a newborn spring pig-Wilbur-saved from being euthanized by its owner by none other than the farmer's eight year old daughter. When the pig is transferred to a farm nearby the responsibility for this pig's life gets shifted, by a set of circumstances spelled out in the novel's pages, to a tiny barn spider named Charlotte. The story of Charlotte's sacrifice to ensure that her promise to save Wilbur from slaughter succeeds is reminiscent of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made to ensure that God's promise to man succeeded.The study will illustrate parallels between God's Plan of Salvation and Charlotte's plan for Wilbur. It will also show how several of the key characters in the novel resemble either themes or people found in the Bible. Lastly, it will show how death does not always mean the end, but rather in some cases is actually the beginning of something very new.Grace is a word that means "unmerited favor." It is the idea that an individual can achieve some benefit without actually earning-or even deserving-that benefit. The biblical "Plan of Salvation" stipulates that man committed an act of rebellion against God's sovereignty, and therefore made himself subject to death. In drawing the parallel between the story of Charlotte and Wilbur, and the story of how man was given grace-and subsequently saved from the penalty of death-the present thesis will explore the extraordinary measures that God took on man's behalf. At the same time we will look at how the plot develops in Charlotte's Web, to show how the extraordinary efforts Charlotte took in Wilbur's behalf are remarkably similar.Finally, the study will show that the death of the principal character in both stories was in fact necessary, in order to save the lives of others. At the conclusion, however, we will show that for both stories death is not the end, but rather a doorway to new life.