My Submitted Poem on Teenink

http://teenink.com/poetry/haiku/article/462644/London/

Uncle Tom's Cabin Week 2

  As I've begun to read deeper in my book and have gotten farther along, I've realized how sucked into it I have actually been. While reading Uncle Tom's Cabin, it feels like I'm actually there, in that time period. I know it's a bit crazy but, it's true. I completely forget what's happening in my life and solely focus on what's happening in my book. It's amazing, really, how you can get so caught up in a book that you forget the rest of the world. I guess that what makes a great book, though. The further I get into my book, the more I long to be living in the past. So many amazing things and amazing people inhabited the past that I wish to be part of it. I guess I was just born too late.

Uncle Tom's Cabin Week 1

While learning about the scenarios leading up to the Civil War in my Social Studies class, Uncle Tom's Cabin was a heavily discussed topic. Because it caused so much conflict before the Civil War, it is thought of as a contributing factor to starting the war, although I presonally believe that the war would've happened anyway, whether Uncle Tom's Cabin was published or not. I absolutely love history and that is the main reason I chose this book. My teacher talked about it a bit in class and it made me want to read it and see why there was so much conflict on it. At first glance, it seems like a boring read, I have to admit. But the further I've gotten into the book, the more I've started to like it. It shows the relationships between the slave and their owners, the relationships between the slaves and other slaves, and even the relationships between the slave owners and slave traders.
            It is about Tom, a hard-working, trutworthy slave, who is surprisingly sold with another trustworthy slave's son, Harry. Harry's mother, Eliza, takes Harry in the middle of the night and runs away, overhearing the conversation of Harry being sold between her master and the trader. She told Tom, and he decided to stay and accepted the fact that if he wasn't sold, his master would have to sell all the other slaves and his property due to financial problems. The master's wife, Mrs. Shelby, raised Eliza and I'll even go so far as to say that she loves Eliza, and when she hears the news that Eliza's son was sold, she was heart-broken. She asked her husband to not sell Harry, but he could not. Then, she found out Tom was sold whom they both trusted and she practically broke down. She begged her husband, Mr. Shelby, not to sell Harry and Tom but, Mr. Shelby had to. They trusted Tom so much that they sent him to another city to collect five hundred dollars, and of course he came back with the money without trying to escape. Mrs. Shelby was horrified because there was a huge possibility that he would get traded and sold to a cruel, harsh master. It is truly heart-breaking and you can't help but feel bad for Eliza, Harry, Tom, and even Mr. and Mrs. Shelby. So far it has also mentioned some slave owner's views on abolitionists, which was very interesting to read. As I've been reading it, I realize that people in the mid 1800's read Uncle Tom's Cabin, and I have to admit it's weird to think about. It's strange thinking about how much conflict the very same book I'm reading had caused between the Union and Confederacy, the North and the South, Patriots and Traitors. All in all I am really loving the book and I cannot wait to continue reading.