Charlotte’s Web: Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

One morning, as Fern Arable and her mother Mrs. Arable are setting the table for breakfast, Fern’s father Mr. Arable heads out to the hoghouse with an ax. When Fern asks why he’s bringing the weapon along, Mrs. Arable explains that a litter of pigs was born last night, and Mr. Arable is going outside to “do away” with the runt. Fern is angry and indignant, and though her mother tries to comfort her by telling her that the small pig would die anyway, Fern follows her father outside and tries to wrestle the ax from his hands as she cries. Mr. Arable protests that “a weakling makes trouble,” but Fern begs Mr. Arable to be fair. She asks if her father would have killed her if she had been born little, and Mr. Arable tries to explain that “a little girl is one thing, [but] a little runty pig is another.”

Fern says she sees no difference between a girl and a pig, and suddenly a strange look comes over her father’s face. Mr. Arable softens, and agrees to let the runt live—if Fern promises to take care of it and feed it from a bottle, “like a baby.” Fern heads back up to the house, and a while later, Mr. Arable brings in a carton containing the runt. Fern loves the pig at first sight, even though her brother Avery makes fun of it for being as small as a rat. Fern feeds the pig his bottle of milk before eating her own breakfast.

The school bus arrives, and Fern and Avery run out to the road to meet it. On the way to school, Fern is so lost in her “blissful” thoughts about her new pig that she hardly notices anyone or anything else. She decides to name the pig Wilbur—“the most beautiful name she [can] think of”—and daydreams about what life with him will be like all day long.