Bashar on Jubilee

Margaret Walker wrote Jubilee and I think it’s a pretty good book. The segment from the last quiz we took was interesting. When Marster Dutton first showed signs of gangrene I was a little disappointed. Up until that point, I thought Marster Dutton was a pretty nice guy, for a southern plantation owner in the antebellum period. But they way he died exposed him as an evil coward. He hated Abe Lincoln and died with too much pride. He yelled at Vyry for no reason saying “I ain’t dead yet, so you cant be free.” He was a liar and a coward just like any other plantation owner. The book took a strange turn of events from chapters 24-29. It was strange because Vyry had hardly been mentioned in those chapters. It mainly focused on the events during 1862 when the Confederacy was actually winning in the east mainly thanks to the South’s General superiority. It was also nice to see the way Jim, brother Zeke, and Randall Ware met up in the North. I was glad to see brother Zeke die knowing that their Moses had finally arrived. It was also nice to see things work out for Randall Ware when he got the opportunity to do what he loved best, being a blacksmith and helping the Union army.

Bashar

Editor's note: Here are a few websites for Margaret Walker and Jubilee.
http://www.shs.starkville.k12.ms.us/mswm/MSWritersAndMusicians/writers/Walker.html

Jubilee

This week we wrapped McClellan and I am glad about that, I dont like talking about failures. I did not like talking about him because he was such a bad general. He claimed to be greater than he was and probably was the cause of many unnecessary lives. Jubilee is getting good. It started out slow, but is picking up. I am able to connect what is happening in the book to the things that I have learned in the class; like John Dutton going to war and how life on the plantation has changed since the beginning of the war. Reading about Johnny Dutton story in the war personalizes the war for me and makes it more real. Also, I like that the book does not idolize the war by having Johnny Dutton die, having Johnny Dutton die makes the war more surreal and puts a personality to another dead body.

Elisabeth

Khris's take on McClellan

I can't seem to comprehend how McCllean could be such an incompetent leader. During the demonstration of the battle of Antietam, I was astounded that he was so oblivious to the correct decisions that he should have been making, such as when he left a number of troops on one side of the river that had a clear path through the middle of the battlefield to the center where General Lee was camped. He lost an opportunity that could possibly have ended the war far sooner and saved many Federal and Confederate lives. His incompetency boggles me.

On a lighter note, three cheers for Mr. Wilson and Mr. Lonze for catching the person who stole the money and other stuff from our room. Bully for them.

Well that's my thoughts on what we have been discussing this week.
Khris