Templeton

Charlotte’s Web, page 46 “Templeton is actually a bad rat”; page 58 “Is Templeton smiling at Wilber fondly, or laughing at him”; page 74 “Maybe he is gloating about this because he wants the other barn animals to like him more”; page 90 “Maybe Templeton is just being mean because he feels left out”; page 98 “I’m not sure weather Templeton is being mean or simply doesn’t get it”; page 159 “See, Templeton can be helpful!”; 167-168 “If all of the animals hadn’t just assumed Templeton didn’t have a kind bone in his body, maybe he would have been nicer to them and more willing to help”. 

When most people read Charlotte’s Web they think of Templeton as a character that changes over the course of the book. That is one way to look at it. I think it is also possible that our perception of Templeton changes. From the beginning of the book Templeton is pegged by the farm animals as an awful, mean, selfish rat. No one wants to even give him a chance. He is first described as having “no friendliness”,  “no conscience” and “no morals”. He doesn’t care about Wilber’s life, Charlotte’s life or anyone else’s in the book. He does however do some things that are instrumental in saving Wilber’s life. Even so, the only time Templeton is offered any kindness throughout the whole book is when Wilber leaves an extra half noodle in his trough for Templeton. This gets to Templeton. He believes he deserves some sort of thank you. When Wilber asks him to get Charlotte’s egg sack, he refuses. He mocks Wilber and reminds him of all the things he did to help him. Finally they strike a deal and Templeton gets the egg sack.

When I first read about Templeton I thought he was mean, annoying and a glutton.  His character fascinated me though because he seemed evil. While the rest of the characters were multidimensional, Templeton was so simple. I kept thinking about the way he was treated by the other animals. I realized that they treated him with indifference and contempt. Even though Templeton was always a glutton and slightly sarcastic, I realized that maybe Templeton hadn’t always been mean. He does do some nice things for Wilber and Charlotte after all. It also seems as though he wants the other animals in the barn to like him even though he tries not to show it. His desire to be liked appears when he tries to brag about saving Charlotte’s life. He wouldn’t brag if he didn’t care what the others in the barn thought. I think it is very possible that when Templeton arrived in the barn, the animals judged him. They assumed that just because he seemed unpleasant on the outside, he wouldn’t be a nice rat. Maybe, Templeton acts like he doesn’t care about the lives of Wilber and Charlotte because he thinks that they will treat him the way the rest of the animals do. Templeton was misrepresented when he was first described in the book. He was described the way the opinionated animals saw him. If he had been described the way he really was we might have formed different opinions about Templeton.

E. B. White is trying to send us a message about life. We can’t take things at face value. They are not always as they appear. People need to really examine what is going on around them and look at different aspects of a situation or a person. If we make a judgment before we know the full story then we haven’t really made a fair judgment.