How Accurate Are These Literary Pests? – Part 2
Welcome to part 2 in this mini-series dedicated to the analysis of some famous literary pests! If you missed the first installment, you can check it out here. Today, we are looking at two more critters from some of the most well-known stories in our time. There are plenty of creative liberties taken when including real animals and insects in a fictional story, as it is more entertaining to read about a talking spider than to find a real one in the garage. But there are still some facts to be found within the stories, and that is what we are analyzing once again!
Charlotte the Spider – Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
Charlotte may look a little scary, but her kindness and loyalty make her a much better friend than an actual spider. The titular character in this story is a maternal figure to Wilbur the pig, as well as the other barnyard animals. Her full name is Charlotte A. Cavatica, which was a purposeful decision by White to pay homage to her species. Charlotte is a North American barn spider, or Araneus cavaticus. The real spider is brown and yellow with stripes, whereas Charlotte is simply gray. They avoid humans and are not dangerous, which is also true of Charlotte. She spends her days making plans for Wilbur’s mini talent shows, spinning her webs with various words in them, and keeping the peace in the barnyard. Real barn spiders don’t seem to be as multi-talented, much to the disappointment of fans of this book. But they also spin intricate webs in wooden structures — like the corners of a barn — so there are some similarities to Charlotte. This is because these spiders are orb-weavers, meaning they craft large wheel-shaped webs in which to live and catch prey.
Just like Charlotte, orb-weavers are generally non-aggressive and will stay in their webs for most of their lives. They are nocturnal and do most of their work at night, which is also when Charlotte weaves the words into her webs. Charlotte even eats her prey in the same way, much to the horror of Wilbur. These spiders will first bite the insect to paralyze it, then expel digestive enzymes onto it if the insect is worth eating. The spider will simultaneously munch on the outside of the insect and drink its insides. Charlotte may explain this in a child-friendly way, but this is quite the process to include! If you read this story as a youngster, you may remember the emotional ending that was slightly emotionally-traumatic for everyone in the class. After creating her egg sac and explaining to Wilbur what this meant, Charlotte dies of natural causes. She lived for about a year, which is also true of real North American barn spiders. Her egg sac contained hundreds of tiny siders that eventually used their webs to parachute away to their new homes, a realistic depiction of the spider’s circle of life. All of these realistic facts had a lot to do with E.B. White’s own observations. After watching a barn spider produce an egg sac, he put the egg sac in a box with holes in the lid so he could watch it on top of his dresser. The tiny spiders eventually hatched and crawled everywhere, much to the chagrin of his housekeeper, and White eventually released them outside in his own barn. Charlotte and her children seemed friendly, but the real spiders are far less likable and inviting.
Subjective Accuracy Rating: 4.75/5
A Confusing Caterpillar – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Even if you haven’t read the original novel, the caterpillar from the animated Alice in Wonderland film gives the same general idea of this strange creature. It is the most inaccurate pest in this mini-series, which is great for the whimsical story but difficult for anyone who wanted a realistic caterpillar experience. This caterpillar is in chapters 4 and 5, where Alice meets it as she’s still trying to assess her new unbelievable situation. It doesn’t provide much help because this caterpillar is more focused on smoking and asking Alice questions in response to her own valid questions. It is also quite rude and does not have much patience with Alice. Since caterpillars don’t talk – as far as we know – it is tough to say if they would also only speak in questions and riddles. But the fact that this caterpillar is sitting on a toadstool and moves by crawling away in the tall grass could be true to life. Caterpillars like to stay near their food source as long as possible, and they eat every part of a plant. They tend to prefer leafy plants, but those are usually easy to find around toadstools.
The reader learns that this caterpillar is 3 inches tall when Alice is struggling with her own newfound shrunken height and the caterpillar takes offense at her comments. Most caterpillars are around 2 inches long, but some of the larger varieties could potentially be as long as this fictional one. However, the physical similarities stop there as the Wonderland caterpillar is basically a physical monstrosity rather than a realistic caterpillar. The book’s illustrations differ with the edition and illustrator, but the general concept is the same. This caterpillar has the legs and back of the head of a normal caterpillar, but the face and hands of a human man. The animated version is definitely more colorful and appealing, but that caterpillar is even less realistic than this nightmare. The most logical components of this caterpillar are how it crawls away and how slow it talks. Actual caterpillars are never in a hurry, as they will take their time crawling from place to place in search of food. They are also independent and prefer to be far from any potential predator, so they would not be as lackadaisical with seeing Alice as this caterpillar seems to be. With how this fictional caterpillars talks and moves, it would be interesting to see what its eventual butterfly form would act like!
Subjective Accuracy Rating: 2/5
High-Quality Pest Control is No Fantasy
Although our journey into the world of literary pests has come to an end (for now), real pests are a constant problem for homeowners and business owners alike. They are even more of a nuisance in cold weather for a couple of reasons. Insects are cold-blooded and therefore are dependent on the weather for their energy levels. They seek out warm shelters for the fall and winter months in order to survive, which leads them straight into our homes and businesses. This is why Pointe Pest Control provides customized services in every season, as we strive to solve each pest problem as efficiently and thoroughly as possible. Our environmentally-friendly treatments control dozens of pests so that our wonderful clients can enjoy a pest-free home or business as soon as possible. If you want to receive affordable pest control that provides long-term solutions, contact our team for more information today!
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Citations
Carroll, L. (1865). Chapter V: Advice from a caterpillar. Alice’s adventures in wonderland. Macmillan.
Lanzendorfer, J. (2015, August 24). 10 things you might not know about Charlotte’s Web. Mental Floss. Available at https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/67639/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-charlottes-web (Accessed on February 28, 2023).
Orb weaver spider. (n.d.). Wildlife Heritage Foundation. Retrieved March 1, 2023, from https://www.wildlifeheritage.org/orb-weaver-spider/
Shorey, E. (2021, November 7). Charlotte in Charlotte’s Web. Study.com. Available at https://study.com/learn/lesson/charlottes-web-eb-white-character-traits-analysis-description.html (Accessed on February 28, 2023).
White, E.B. (1952). Charlotte’s web. Harper & Brothers.
