Final opinions on journals

I feel like I've touched on this topic many times since the subject first came up, and hosestly, I'm glad I've had so long to let my opinions grow and change. I initially preferred the paper format of the old journals, butalthough they would have been very useful during long play rehersals with a lot of downtime, I seem to have changed my preference. The online journals are simply much easier to write and edit. In addition, the idea of being able to see everyone else's blog has also grown on me, as I've begun to see much more of the critical minds of my peers than before. Honestly, I feel I would be happy with eiether system of journals, so long as we keep on doing journals. Journals are such an intregal part to how I really get into a book that I feel significantly  without it. Journals are important to me, and whether it's online or on paper, I feel I should stand by them and what they do for us as readers.

Opinions on Macon Dead II

With the new information of Macon being a responsible and "self-made" man, I was thinking about how my opinion of the character has changed. Once you consider the necessity for his drive towards wealth, all of his following actions can be viewed as simply Macon attempting to do what he's always done. Even still, I'm having trouble forgiving all of Macon's actions, especially when it comes to his gruff and unloving persona he displays for his family. I don't feel like we've discussed Macon II enough in class, and I mainly wrote this post so that I could hear a wider variety of opinions. So what do you guys think of Macon's intentions? Are they justified because of the conditions in which he was raised? Or is he simply a greedy jerk?

Song of Solomon and Timeline Jumps

I've really liked Song of Solomon as a book for many reasons, but probably the strongest is Morrison's ability to write interesting characters. From the beginning of the book I've been interested in how these people develop and what makes up their personalities. This makes the story jumps in the first half of the book very frustrating.

Although I understand that the book would be much longer if there was a more slow progression through the lives of these people, I feel almost cheated out of the character development and life-changing events that took place is the lost time. This feeling is probably at its highest when Milkman quickly jumps from age twelve to twenty-two within chapter 3. This skips over what some would consider the most important time for the development of character and takes out most of the discussion of "coming of age" (one of my favorite times for character development.) The depth of these characters in more continuous sections makes me certain that I've missed hundreds of crucial events in their development as people.

Now, although I find these early jumps confusing and misguided, I really enjoy some of the later jumps which utilize a different feeling of "in medias res". Take for example, the jump between chapters 4 and 5. We haven't skipped over too much time (about 6 months) and as we read, the narrative slowly fills in the details of what happened in the lost time. This draws the reader in and makes the events much more exciting to unravel. This is very different from the earlier jumps in progression, where the lost time is viewed as unimportant and barely even worth alluding to.

Although I find these characters to be rich and interesting to follow, I still can't help but wish that the earlier section breaks had not jumped over so much time that could have been interesting to the reader. Maybe if the jumps had been smoother and more polished, I would feel less perplexed by there exclusions. Even still, the book becomes much more engaging once these jumps become more minor and explained.