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"A Way to Save a Pig's Life": The Impossibility of Animal Rescue in Charlotte's Web.

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Title: "A Way to Save a Pig's Life": The Impossibility of Animal Rescue in Charlotte's Web.
Authors: Rim, Jiwon1 rim.jiwon12@gmail.com
Source: Children's Literature in Education. Dec2025, Vol. 56 Issue 4, p668-679. 12p.
Subject Terms: *Communication, *Language & languages, Animal rescue, Ethics
People: White, E. B. (Elwyn Brooks), 1899-1985
Abstract: This article reads E. B. White's Charlotte's Web (1952) as a work that engages critically with the premises of popular narratives of animal rescue—most importantly, such narratives' promise that the love of individual humans towards animals can and somehow does make up for the wrongs of the system. With Wilbur turned into a sellable miracle pig in the happy ending, Charlotte's Web ironically brings into full view the paradigm of capitalist animal consumption in which a pig can never be free but only subject to different kinds of consumption. It shows a side of animal reality that is often glossed over in animal rescue narratives: a reality in which what starts out as genuine love towards animals is too often subsumed into the system of consumption. In doing so, Charlotte's Web also puts an unconventional twist on what has been considered "realism" in the tradition of anti-cruelty literature, experimenting with "realistic" representations of the cruelty of the animal circulation system without relying on the trope of vividly described animal suffering. By giving us an alternative approach to representing the realities of animal consumption, Charlotte's Web both critiques the existing formulae of animal rescue narratives and does narrative justice to the actual conditions of animal life under industrial capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Children's Literature in Education is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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  Data: This article reads E. B. White's Charlotte's Web (1952) as a work that engages critically with the premises of popular narratives of animal rescue—most importantly, such narratives' promise that the love of individual humans towards animals can and somehow does make up for the wrongs of the system. With Wilbur turned into a sellable miracle pig in the happy ending, Charlotte's Web ironically brings into full view the paradigm of capitalist animal consumption in which a pig can never be free but only subject to different kinds of consumption. It shows a side of animal reality that is often glossed over in animal rescue narratives: a reality in which what starts out as genuine love towards animals is too often subsumed into the system of consumption. In doing so, Charlotte's Web also puts an unconventional twist on what has been considered "realism" in the tradition of anti-cruelty literature, experimenting with "realistic" representations of the cruelty of the animal circulation system without relying on the trope of vividly described animal suffering. By giving us an alternative approach to representing the realities of animal consumption, Charlotte's Web both critiques the existing formulae of animal rescue narratives and does narrative justice to the actual conditions of animal life under industrial capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Children's Literature in Education is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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