Charlotte's Web: Archetype

The Mentor- Charlotte is not only the mentor but the hero as well. She is a mentor to many animals at the barn but none more than Wilbur. She helped Wilbur understand that life isn't easy and safe like Fern's arms. She helped him realize life has it's risks and problems that he can't always change.

A definition for a mentor is someone who teaches someone else many things and helps the hero along the way. Throughout the book Wilbur was asking what many words meant, and learned a lot from those very tiny questions, and even when charlotte was just talking to wilbur she seemed to be teaching him stuff. And without Charlotte Wilbur wouldn't have had any advice to help him.

All though we could say that Wilbur was the hero and charlotte was the mentor. We could also say that Charlotte was the Hero too. Hero's tend to "save the day" in many books, and that's exactly what Charlotte did. She saved Wilbur from being turned into bacon from Mr. Zuckerman.

I can't see how People Think Wilbur is the hero except for when he saved Charlotte's egg sac. Other than that he didn't do anything to save anyone or go on a perilous journey or anything. I just think that Charlotte should be called the hero not Wilbur.