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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Wilbur's first bed?

2. How does Fern like the barn best?

3. Why is Wilbur saddened by his new friend?

4. Why does everyone watch Templeton when he first approaches the goose?

5. How many goslings hatch from the goose's eggs?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Fern get along with the animals in the barn?

2. Why might Wilbur feel particularly betrayed that John Arable is in on the "conspiracy" to kill him?

3. What is Wilbur's boast and how does Fern feel when she hears him make it?

4. Are the goose and the gander more sentimental or more practical? Why do you think as you do?

5. Why does Uncle Homer agree to buy Wilbur?

6. How might you compare and contrast the goose and Charlotte's attitudes toward life and death?

7. What effect does Charlotte's web have on the farm?

8. For what reason was Mr. Arable going to kill the runt?

9. How grown-up is Wilbur by the end of Chapter 3?

10. Why is Wilbur so unhappy as a young pig after living in the Zuckerman's barn for awhile?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How do Garth Williams' illustrations deepen a reader's understandings of the characters, setting, and theme of the story? Examine the moments he chooses to illustrate and think about what they express that the text alone cannot. Address also how different the experience of reading the book would be without the illustrations.

Essay Topic 2

Is there a moral to this story, and if so, what is it? Can it be summed up in a sentence? Does a character state it outright, or must the reader piece it together from the experience of reading the book? Use specific examples from the text to support your opinion.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay examining mother-child relationships in this book, focusing on such relationships as Fern/Wilbur, Charlotte/Wilbur, Fern/Mrs. Arable, Charlotte/Charlotte's children, and the goose/the goslings. How are these relationships alike and different? How do some change over time? What does it mean to be a mother or a child in this book? Are motherhood and childhood different for humans than for animals?

(see the answer keys)

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