Arachnophobia & Children's literature

Arachnophobia (fear of spiders) is a feature of many books, notably "Lord of the Rings", where Shilob, a vicious female spider, who ranks with the other vicious characters like the Dark Riders, Balrog & Ring-wraiths appears. It takes all the ingenuity of Frodo Baggins & Sam Gamgee to outwit her.

In the "Harry Potter" books also, Harry's best friend, Ron Weasley suffers from Arachnophobia.


Such being the case, it is going against the grain to picture a spider as a sympathetic creature in "Charlotte's Web", one of the most popular children's books. Without downplaying her essential nature of spinning  webs, catching flies & eating them, Charlotte  the spider, befriends the lonely pig Wilbur & with her wily webs prevents him from ending  up as bacon or ham. He, in gratitude, saves her eggs & helps her progeny to grow.