Alaina+H.

**__March 26th, Research Reflection #3:__**
My author that I did my research paper on was Harriet Beecher Stowe. My areas in grading that I did the best on was the organization/content of the paper. The area that I did the worst in was the works cited page. So for my next research paper, I'm going to work on citing my sources better.

**__March 10th, Research Reflection #2:__**
My author that I did my research paper on was Harriet Beecher Stowe. I think that if anyone would start a research paper and just wing it right off the bat, it wouldn't be near as good as it could be. I feel like after using note cards for finding information, writing an outline, and also writing a rough draft before the final draft are a much more effective way to writing a complete and organized biography. I think the most difficult part of this process was finding all of the information that you needed to write a four-page paper. The easiest part was probably writing the outline, because all you have to do for that is write out what happened in chronological order.

**__March 3rd, Research Reflection #1:__**
My author was Harriet Beecher Stowe. She was born on June 14th, 1811, in Litchfield, Connecticut. One of the things that I learned about Harriet was that her mother died when she was four years old. Also, she was the seventh child born out of twelve children. Later on in her life she began writing different sketches, novels, and short stories, but her most famous and influential piece of work was //Uncle Tom's Cabin//. One thing I learned from research methods, is that you need a lot of different sources to gather all the proper information you need to write a good biography on someone. I learned that you need at least five sources, and you also need to write a proper outline to organize all of your information so that it will all fall into place when you write your draft.

__Characters:__ The major characters in this book are Tom, George, Eliza, St. Claire, Mr. Shelby, and Aunt Chloe. The minor characters are Harry, Eva, Marie, Ms. Ophelia, Tom Loker, Simon Legree, Mr. Haley,Topsy, and Emmeline. Uncle Tom is the protagonist in Uncle Toms Cabin. He always prays to God to help him and puts up with all the terrible treatment he gets from his slave owner, Simon Legree. George Harris is married to Eliza and they have a son named Harry. He loves his family so much and is willing to fight for his freedom no matter what. Eliza Harris is Mrs. Shelby's maid, and is brave and beautiful. Mr. Haley tries to sell her son but proves her great motherly skills by not letting that happen by escaping. St. Claire is Tom's master in New Orleans. He is kind of an alcoholic but treats his slaves so nice. He doesn't really like slavery and knows that it's bad, but still has slaves. Aunt Chloe is Uncle Tom's wife and the Shelby's cook. She kind of acts not very smart around the Shelby's but she just is covering up her actual self I think. Mr. Shelby is the one who sells Tom to Mr. Haley who is just cruel to his slaves.
 * __February 17th: Final Blog__**
 * [[image:uncle_tom's_cabin_pic.jpg width="269" height="365" align="right" caption="image curtesy of world.edu"]]A Terrific American Novel **

__Summary:__ This book starts off in the beginning when Mr. Shelby sells two of his slaves, Tom, and Harry to Mr. Haley. This creates an upset though because Haryy is the son of Eliza and George so they try to flee to Canada where they can be a happy family. All along the way, To Loker is trying to hunt them down for Mr. Haley but the slaves get help from some Quakers up north. Tom saves this little girl named Eva from drowning and ends up getting bought by St. Claire, the father of the little girl. Then Eva becomes really sick and dies. After that happened, St. Claire decides to let Tom be free and escape to have his own freedom. But then He dies and his mean wife sells him to another owner, Simon Legree, where fate isn't very kind to him there...

__Rating:__ I loved this book so much. I would give it a rating of 5 from a 1-5 scale. I think Harriet Beecher Stowe did an amazing job of describing all of the hardships the slaves had to go through. She also did a good job on making you feel like you were in the story on how she explained the settings. I would highly recommend this book to people to read, because I think it's a very good American novel.

__Wiki Reflections:__ I think that these Wikis are a good idea of how to write what you think about the book you read. It effectively shows what is happening at the time you are reading, and you are able to express your feelings on the book. Although, I wish we could have done maybe some kind of class discussion in class, because it's always nice to hear once in a while other people's opinions on books in person.

**The Runways!**
 * __February 7th:__**

Right now I'm in chapter 7 and on page 60. George and Eliza are married and have a little baby boy named Harry. He sounds like he's a very well-manner boy on how his owner describes him. George wants to escape from where he is living right now because his owner wants to make him marry another woman even though he is already married to Eliza! I could never imagine some forcing another human being to get married when they already are. I think that is just horrible. So anyways, he wants to run off to Canada and then once he gets there, he will buy his wife and son so they all can be a happy family together. I really hope that he will be able to pull this off because it sounds like they are a happy little family and I would hate to see them get pulled apart like slaves often did back then. I think this novel's greatest strength is how the author captivates it's readers by making them want the best for the slaves. "He came in a rage, and said he'd teach me who was my master; and he tied me to a tree and cut switches for young master..." It makes you root for your favorite character and get angry when the other characters are mean and hurtful to them.

**The Hardship of Slaves...**
 * __January 27th:__**

"A delicately formed hand and a trimmed foot and ankle were items of appearance that did not escape the quick eye of the trader, well used to run up at glance the points of a fine female article." Right now in my book that I'm reading, Mr. Shelby, who owns some good working slaves is talking with another man named Haley, who is trying to buy two of his slaves. One is an African American woman who is good looking, and a hard worker. Haley wants to buy her but not the woman's baby. Mr. Shelby is the kind of slave owner that does not like to split up his slaves from their families. He said he likes to be humane. The one thing about Haley though, is that he can be pretty tricky and sly with his words. He the agrees with what Mr. Shelby's wishes are, but then tries to buy another slave of his, which is a young African American man who is well mannered and an alright looking fellow. Haley says that he is looking for good servants for inside his house to show off to visitors that come by, and for a good butler/servant. If I would have to choose to live with either Mr. Shelby or Mr. Haley, I would definitely choose Mr, Shelby. He sounds like he is a level-headed man, and would not be too cruel to his slaves. Mr. Haley, on the other hand sounds like he would just be plain cruel to his servants.


 * __Janurary 20th:__**
 * It All Started in Kentucky...**

The beginning of this books starts out with its scenery on a chilly day in Kentucky. One of the main characters of this story would be Mr. Shelby, who starts off talking to another character, Haley, saying that Uncle Tom is a very uncommon fellow. He explains that Uncle Tom is "steady, honest, capable, and manages my whole farm like a clock." I think that so far it sounds like Mr. Shelby likes Uncle Tom by the way that he talks about him. I wonder what is going to happen next on the farm, because I have a feeling that some drama is about to start up.


 * __January 13th:__**
 * The Famous Book is Back Again!**



I have just started reading Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published by Barnes & Noble Classics. I thought that this would be a great classic read because it is written by America's famous author, Harriet Beecher Stowe. I've also heard that this story is a great insider to what really happened in the time of slavery.