Gone With the Wind
Sep 6, 2007
By Margaret Mitchell
Publisher: Scribner Books
Publication Date: July, 2007 - Paperback Edition
Preface by Pat Conroy
Pulitzer Prize Winner - 1937
I was very excited when I saw that Gone with the Wind was going to be republished yet one more time. Why? Well, I grew up with Scarlett and Rhett and Tara. I feel like they're the neighbors down the road that my Momma still talks about.
It's beautifully written by Ms. Mitchell and so in-depth - it approximates 1,000 pages. I have often felt that she had this one wonderful book in her and it took all of her energy, leaving her with nothing for future writings. She never did write another novel.
Gone with the Wind is one of the most Southern books I know. But it's also a feminist book, a racist book, a Civil War book..a book on finding your cause, your inner strength and changing your ways.
You read this book and you understand intimately what the South before the war was like for the gentleman farmer, or the sharecropper. You understand how women got what they wanted and needed in a time where they were often as oppressed as the slaves. You see how the slaves were valued, or devalued - with little thought ever given to them. You see how some people should never be taken for granted or at face value as they might have the deepest of inner strengths and goodness in them. You see people that didn't think they had those qualities find them when they're needed most.
This is a book about good and bad people, honest ones and liars, weak and strong, and how they all manage to survive the Civil War and Reconstruction as best they can.
I haven't said much about the plot, but of course most of the world knows the plot. Heck, we watched the movie every year in history class! Almost everyone I know has watched the movie. Far less have read the book - the size alone is imposing to many.
But the characters:
Rhett and Scarlett, two of the most famous American characters there are. These are not good people, very often selfish people, greedy even. But moments of goodness and love come shining through, just when you're ready to give up on them. Melanie, an angel walking the earth. Refuses to see bad in anyone. Ashley, good and upstanding, but baffled by bad behavior and conflict. Mammy, you gotta love her - she'll set you straight!
This is a wonderful novel that has been in my personal collection since I was 14. I continue to cherish it.
Labels: Southern History
