Charlotte: Hero and Mentor

            In E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web, Charlotte is both the hero and then mentor.  To be a hero some has to show self-sacrifice.  Self-sacrifice is when one character gives up something of his for another character.  The mentor helps, trains or teaches a hero.  Charlotte is both a hero and a mentor to Wilbur.

            Charlotte is the hero because she saves Wilbur’s life.  Charlotte saves Wilbur’s life when she writes words in her web.  Mr. Zuckerman usually turns pigs into bacon because it is the farmer’s way of life.  When he sees the words he never thinks that a spider can spell so he doesn’t kill Wilbur because he believes the words on the web.  In the web, Charlotte writes some pig, terrific, radiant, and humble.    When Mr. Zuckerman sees the words in the web, he thinks that they must be talking about Wilbur so he spares the pigs life.  Charlotte also shows hero characteristics when she goes to the fair for Wilbur, otherwise he would have been lonely.  Charlotte, because she attended the fair and wrote the last word while there, almost didn’t get to complete her egg sac.  Charlotte shows self-sacrifice with all she did for Wilbur so she is a hero.

            Charlotte is the mentor to Wilbur because she is teaching him along the way.  She teaches him new words.  She aids Wilbur by acting like his mother.  She teaches him all about the life of spiders when she answers his questions while she reads to him.  She helps him mature.  Wilbur is helped a great deal by Charlotte.  He is lucky to have her as a mentor.

            Heroes and mentors change lives.  In Charlotte’s Web Charlottes changes Wilbur’s life by writing words in her web and teaching him.  She saves him from becoming bacon and helps him mature. Wilbur was lucky to find a hero and a mentor all in one.