'Gone with The Wind' by Margaret Mitchell chronicles the life of sixteen-year-old Scarlett O’Hara, rife with teenage exuberance and accustomed to getting everything and every man she wants.
About the Book
Article written by Onyekachi Osuji
B.A. in Public Administration and certified in Creative Writing (Fiction and Non-Fiction)
Scarlett’s sheltered, indulgent life first gets hit by the news that Ashley Wilkes, the man she is in love with, is to marry another woman, Melanie Hamilton.
Swiftly in the wake of her heartbreak comes the American Civil War with its adversities that would keep her in a continuous battle with her worst fears, the cynical jeers of Rhett Butler, and an inextricable connection with the gentle Melanie Hamilton whom she resents for marrying Ashley Wilkes.
Margaret Mitchell was born in 1900, decades after the war, and the era ‘Gone with The Wind’ is set in. However, she got insights into the personal experiences of the war survivors from stories her folks told, especially her Irish-American grandmother, Annie Fitzgerald Stephens.
She began writing ‘Gone with The Wind’ in 1926 while recovering from a slow-healing leg injury that had forced her to quit her job as a reporter for the Atlanta Journal. John marsh, her husband at the time, had been bringing her books to read from the public library to keep her occupied in her convalescence but one day, had told her it was high time she wrote her own book instead of always reading books by other people. John Marsh would later play a key role in editing the manuscript of ‘Gone with the Wind’.
While ‘Gone with the Wind’ is a work of fiction, many of its characters and events were inspired by Margaret Mitchell’s true life. One of the most striking connections between ‘Gone with the Wind’ and Margaret Mitchell’s personal life was her relationship with her mother—she revered and admired her mother but her mother’s aloofness left her a lot to be desired. In ‘Gone with the Wind’, Mitchell portrayed these maternal images in two very different ways. On the one hand is Ellen O’Hara, strong, ladylike and perfect, likened to The Virgin Mary of the Catholic faith, giving all of herself in service to everyone around her. Then Scarlett O’Hara the protagonist is impatient and cold to even her children.
Margaret Mitchell faced a lot of backlash for racial controversies in ‘Gone with the Wind’ especially about her depiction of Negroes and slavery but she does not agree with her detractors, saying that the black characters are some of the most dignified characters in the book. ‘Gone with the Wind’ is the only novel by Margaret Mitchell to be published in her lifetime but scores of decades after Margaret Mitchell’s death, the controversies around Gone With The Wind are anything but gone with the wind.
The world can never have enough books that tell of how war devastates people both individually and collectively. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell is one such book that tells of war and its effects. Some of the books related to ‘Gone with the Wind’ include:
‘Gone with the Wind’ by Margaret Mitchell had a widely successful reception after its publication in 1936. It was one of the foremost novels to give an insight into the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era from the perspective of the defeated Confederacy and with a female protagonist at the center of the story. It was a top American bestseller in the years 1936 and 1937.
‘Gone with the Wind’ won its author, Margaret Mitchell the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937. It was also adapted into a movie of the same title in 1939 and was a Hollywood sensation for many decades.
The novel can be applauded for challenging gender restrictions on women and societal ideals of propriety through the unrelenting rebellion of the protagonist, Scarlett O’Hara, and another interesting character, Rhett Butler. The gender issues raised in the novel such as occupational stereotypes for men and women, widowhood practices, contempt for independent women and many others are still struggles women face in modern societies across the world today.
On the other hand, ‘Gone with the Wind’ has been the subject of many backlash and controversies about the social dynamics of race and the historical accuracy of details of the American Civil War depicted in the novel.
It still impacts pop culture today by being the subject of many debates, parodies, and numerous sequels. In 1976, there was a film parody of ‘Gone with the Wind’ titled ‘Went with the Wind’ and it was aired in an episode of the Carol Burnett Show.
In a 1995 issue of Vanity Fair, a pictorial parody of ‘Gone with the Wind’ appeared with all the protagonists black and the slaves white. It was titled Scarlett ‘n the Hood.
Also, given how ‘Gone with the Wind’ ended in a somewhat inconclusive situation with Scarlett and Rhett Butler, publishers and fans urged Margaret Mitchell to write a sequel to the novel but she vehemently refused to state that writing a sequel would mean undermining the integrity of an already complete story. However, since the death of Margaret Mitchell, some writers have written sequels to ‘Gone with The Wind’ such as Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley published in 1991; Rhett Butler’s People by Donald McCaig published in 2007; and Ruth’s Journey by Donald McCaig published in 2014. Unfortunately, none of the sequels is as successful or as popular as the main novel.
Gone with the Wind also has an organization of ardent fans known as “The Windies” who dress up in ‘Gone With The Wind’ costumes and meet periodically in Atlanta to follow updates about the novel.
Literary artistry is not what makes ‘Gone with the Wind’ a timeless favorite for many readers. It is its fascinating characters and plot that has made it endure in relevance even many decades after its publication. Here is a review that points out some of the pros and cons of the novel
One of the things that make Gone with the Wind a worthwhile read is its array of interesting characters. From virtuous Melanie to vicious Scarlett, the characters project individual differences and human nature in vivid pictures.
From “I’ll think about it tomorrow” to “I don’t give a damn” and many other things in between; let’s take a look at some meaningful quotes in this Margaret Mitchell’s famous novel that does not deserve to be gone with the wind.
It is not surprising that ‘Gone with the Wind’ is so controversial. A story told to reflect the racial divisions and slave-driven economy of the nineteenth century South would be problematic to modern-day sensibilities. Below are some of the historical contexts of the novel.
‘Gone with the Wind’ is a story to either love or hate but it surely never fails to evoke emotions in readers. Here are some thought-provoking themes and symbols you should try not to miss in this timeless novel.
‘Gone with the Wind’ follows Scarlett O’Hara and how her decisions were informed by her circumstances. From marrying to spite a lost love, to venturing into unconventional businesses to escape poverty and starvation. It is an interesting story of individual and collective struggles for survival.
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