Charlotte's Web

So I'm tutoring a 12 year old, and we just finished reading Charlotte's Web. On reading it as an adult, I was a bit surprised by some things. These are things I picked up from the story, as a 25 year old worldly feminist democrat.

1. Behind every good scheme is a smart woman. Charlotte did all the hard work while lovable Wilbur preened around and got all the credit for it. Hmm, makes me ponder on a certain former president whose wife is now taking the plunge herself.

2. Good friends are important, and we should treat them as such.

3. We all die alone- it is so depressing when Charlotte dies- it reads- "No one was there to see her die." That is possibly the saddest thing I've ever read! Not even a qualifier like- "but we are remembered by our friends," though that does come later, it is first presented just this way. We die alone, deal with it.

4. Through Fern, it is postulated that when we gain an interest in sex/go through puberty, our ability to communicate with the rest of the world fades away, and we lose interest in more fanciful things. I resent this- J.K Rowling said she is disturbed by the same point in the Chronicles of Narnia- once Susan discovers a lipstick she has no interest in Narnia and becomes banned from entering again. All the characters that remain friends of Narnia remain unmarried- as if you can't have romantic love and be a part of Narnia, or Heaven, however religious you want to read into Narnia. This is horrible, to say that to grow up we have to forget our imaginations. Screw that E.B. White!

I'm sure some grad student has already written a thesis about this. It makes me afraid to reread other books I liked as a child, for fear I would find something I couldn't believe in anymore.