Carnival Post

Well now it's time for the Carnival Post...so here goes.

Starting with Uncle Tom's Cabin, it really seems as though most of the class enjoyed reading this famed novel. Many blogs include comments about Tom's faith and how inspirational it is, as well as a few criticisms on the sentimental nature of the book. The highly idealized ending has also been criticized by some classmates. Even with the criticism, though, it seems as though this is a favorite among the stories we have had to read this semester. Many people in the class had never read the novel before, and were surprised by how well-written it is and how much they did like it. There was also a lot of discussion about the different types of slavery represented by Stowe throughout- there were the nice slaveowners like Eva's family, and then there were the horrific slaveowners like Simon Legree. It seems as though many people in the class really liked that Stowe included the stark contrasts in slaveowners and their ways throughout her book. Too often we are given just one view of slavery, and it is really interesting to know that there were other ways that slavery took place in that time period.

Poe is the next person many people blogged amount, and it seems that everyone likes Poe as well. Many people have heard and read Annabel Lee and The Raven multiple times, so those poems can get rather old to keep re-reading. But there were a lot of comments on The Purloined Letter. It seems as though many in the class had not read this selection of Poe before, and really enjoyed it. Some comments I thought were interesting were those saying that this story reminded them of the mystery stories of Agatha Christie and the like. I really enjoy Agatha Christie novels, and so I really liked this suggestion. When I was reading Poe, I didn't really think of it as something related to Christie's work, but when thinking about it now, I can definitely see similarities. So thank you for those comments.

Melville and Bartleby are the next-most blogged about, and there are some mixed reviews on them. Don't get me wrong, most people really enjoyed reading this story. But even though most of us enjoyed reading it, we also didn't really get it. Reading through the blogs, it definitely seems as though most of us would like a lot more explanation from Melville into who Bartleby is. Why would working in a Dead Letter office turn someone into who Bartleby is? For goodness' sake, Melville, help us out here. Many of us also questioned the point of the story. Why would Melville introduce us to a character such as Bartleby and then leave us all hanging? Is the point just to frustrate us? I'm not sure, and it doesn't seem like any of my classmates are very sure either. But we did all mostly enjoy reading Melville.

And last but not least- the poets. It really seems as though everyone loves Emily Dickinson. She is an amazing poet, and most people thoroughly enjoy reading her poems. There wasn't just one poem that many people focused on, it really seems like everyone has a different favorite. This goes to show just how good of a poet Dickinson is, because she has written peoms that suit everyone. I don't think anyone in this class said that they didn't like Dickinson, and that's saying something. Usually at least someone dislikes something about an author, but from those who have blogged about Dickinson thus far, no one seems to dislike her. Walt Whitman, on the other hand, has had some mixed reviews. I think he is more of an all-or-nothing poet. Those who enjoy his fantastic imagery and weighty metaphors from Song of Myself probably enjoy most of his other work too. Those who do not like this poem, for various reasons such as being too "me focused", etc, will probably not like the rest of this works. He is a very different style of poet than Emily Dickinson, and that has been emphasized in the statement that Dickinson is a microscopic poet while Whitman is a teloscopic poet.

I'm sure there will be more blogs written as the semester draws to a close, but there's what I got from the blogs thus far on everyone's pages. It does seem that Dickinson and Stowe have been the favorites of this part of the semester, and I fall into the group that views them as such. Thanks for all of the great posts, everyone, and I hope you all have a great end of semester and a wonderful summer. :)