Family Relationships in Bridge to Terabithia and Charlotte’s Web

We often perceive family as a group of made up of members that are related to us by blood. For example, our fathers, mothers, siblings, and more. However, we don’t often look at the role the family plays and what affect it has on us. The connection a family has, is like the glue it needs to keep it together. An individual needs a family, for it plays a very important role in his or her life. However, we don’t often think of other ways of what a family really is, or who makes it up. Families do not always have to be looked as the people who are related to you by blood. It should be perceived as the people who stick by you, raise, and help you become the person you are. Friends cane be another form of family. Sometimes our closest friends can be considered our family members. In fact, there are times where a close friend can be closer to an individual than their own family member. In both Bridge to Terabithia and Charlotte’s web we see how close friends are considered family.

Both books portray a very similar idea of what family is. In the book Charlotte’s web Wilbur is born into a farm and he is basically portrayed as an outsider a nobody. However, throughout the book the other animals slowly start opening up to him. The main example of a family in the book Charlotte’s web would be made up of the characters Fern, Wilbur and Charlotte. In the book Bridge to Terabithia, the character Jesse is also a character who’s usually brushed upon. He is also a brother amongst five sisters and struggles to have strong bonds with them. However, throughout the book we see that Jesse creates his own meaning of family when he meets Leslie.

The book Charlotte’s web was published during the year of 1952. It was written by an American author named E.B.White. The book falls under the genre of young readers. The books idea revolves around a strong bond between two characters Wilbur and Charlotte, hence the name. When Wilbur was born, he was not really accepted by the other farm members. He was also told that he would die very soon. However, he is saved by a girl by a girl named Fern arable, who soon enough becomes his friend. Wilbur then becomes friends with other characters in the book who help him along his journey. One of the main characters he creates a strong bond with is the character Charlotte. Charlotte is a spider who plays a very important role in Wilbur’s life. In fact, she was almost considered to be his mom. She was the person to calm him down and to tell him motivational words, that helped him keep his head up and stay strong. Through all of this the character Charlotte was going through her own struggles. She was taking care of her own unborn babies, and due to the amount of stress she was going through she died and early and tragic death. Wilbur was devasted but he promised to take care of her children just like she took care of him.

This book depicts family relations through Wilbur’s need of some support, he gets that from his animal friends and his close spider friend Charlotte. He was the runt of his litter, so he didn’t receive the love or family support a typical family might give. He went out to find this feeling and fill this void inside him. And he finally found that with Charlotte. Even after Charlotte does, Wilbur took it upon himself to care for her young.

In the beginning of the book, the character Wilbur felt left out and not wanted by the people around him. He felt as if there wasn’t a person who could play the role of his mother. A person who could help him cope with his feelings and emotions. But then he met a girl named Fern who basically adopted him. From then on, his journey of life actually started. He began to enjoy life with his new family members and his friends. He began to feel happy; he began to feel motivated and not scared of living life. Now that he has a person to look up to, he started to really love living his life. He then made another friend he soon ended up becoming his family member. Her name was charlotte. She was the person to comfort him when he felt down, and the person to motivate him and keep him happy. Soon this became Wilbur’s family.Although Wilbur differed from the other animals around him, he still felt at ease. This is why the animals around him are considered in some way his family. They provided that sense of safety and love for Wilbur. One, that he’s never had before.

Family can be one of the hardest things an individual can deal with. Whether that because of financial problems, emotional problems, or way more. The book bridge to Terabithia revolves around the character Jesse’s life. Jesse is the only boy out of three siblings and he definitely struggles with family relationship. He always looked up to his father and he wanted him to pay more attention to him. His father was a very busy man, to the point where he couldn’t see his son or be supportive of the things he enjoys and is passionate about. Throughout the story the character Jesse struggles with his relationship with his family, just like Wilbur he feels like he does not receive the comfort and support he is supposed to.

However later on in the story Jesse makes a new friend, who soon becomes hi family. Leslie also struggles with her own family problems. Both weren’t supposedly following the correct gender role stereotypes. Leslie was more of a tomboy and wasn’t afraid to break the rules. Jesse on the other hand does not follow the stereotype of being a man, instead he was very emotionally devoted/built, he was very passionate about things that were considered nonsense back then such as, his artistic dreams.

Both Jesse and Leslie help each other, and raise each other’s feeling, turning them into happy ones. The were both there for each other when their families weren’t. In fact, they become very good friends, and soon, create this mythical land. This mythical imaginary land called Terabithia was made for them to escape reality and to live like the wanted, living it to the fullest. They both create this world of there own and it includes enchanted and mythical creatures that they have created their own.Jesse’s life definitely changes when he met Leslie. However, Leslie dies in a tragic accident, when she decided to go to there make believe land and cross the river on her own. When Leslie died, he felt as if there was missing space that could not be filled, he considered that his only family had left him. But later on, he starts to realize the lessons he had learned. He learns the importance of family and the importance if its connections. Jesse kept holding on to the magical place of where it all started, the place that changed him, Terabithia.

Along with the importance of family relationships, we also learn how important friends are and how close they can truly be. Sometimes friends can also be considered as family. The meaning of family is having a strong and healthy connection with two individuals or a group of people who bond together. People who stick by no matter what.

In both books, the main characters lose their friends and realize the importance of family. Although they were the odd ones out, somehow both characters managed to fill that void and deem the compassion they never had.

In conclusion, both books had the genuine idea of depicting family relations and the cause of the lack of presence in one's life. The reader is given an outlook on how family relationships are important and are worth improving. Sometimes effort is needed in things most don't realize and that is portrayed perfectly in both Charlotte's Web and The Bridge to Terabithia.