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Gone With the Wind, an American novel by Margaret Mitchell, was published in 1936 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937.
Title The title is taken from the first line of the third stanza of the poem Non sum qualís eram bonae sub regno Cynarae by Ernest Dowson: "I have forgot much, Cynara! gone with the wind." The title phrase also appears in the novel: When Scarlett escapes Atlanta's bombing by the forces of the North, she flees back to her family's plantation, Tara. At one point, she wonders, "Was Tara still standing? Or was Tara also gone with the wind which had swept through Georgia?" page 390. Plot summary Mitchell's work relates the story of a rebellious Georgia woman named Scarlett O'Hara and her travails with friends, family and lovers in the midst of the antebellum South, the American Civil War, and the Reconstruction period. It also tells the story of the love that blossoms between Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler. Part One Chapters I to VII From Scarlett going to Twelve Oaks to the engagement of Ashley. Part Two Chapters VIII to XVI From Tara to Scarlett's early years of the war in Atlanta with Aunt Pitty and Melanie. Part Three Chapters XVII to XXX Scarlett's escape just before September 1864's Surrender of Atlanta back to Tara and the hardships there. Part Four Chapters XXXI to XLVII Post-bellum, carpetbagger taxes force Scarlett to return to Atlanta where she ends up married to Frank. Part Five Chapters XLVIII to LXIII Her marriage to Rhett Butler and realization that she never could love Ashley. Unfortunately this realization comes too late, because Rhett abandons her and loves her no more. Characters Important places Politics Critics and historians regard the book as having a strong ideological commitment to the cause of the Confederacy and a romanticized view of the culture of the antebellum South. The book includes a vivid description of the fall of Atlanta in 1864 and the devastation of war (some of it absent from the 1939 film), and shows a considerable amount of historical research. However, Mitchell's sources were almost exclusively Southern writers and historians. Mitchell's sweeping narrative of war and loss helped the book win the Pulitzer Prize on May 3, 1937. An episode in the book deals with the early Ku Klux Klan: in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, Scarlett is assaulted by recently-emancipated Blacks, whereupon her male friends make a retaliatory night-time raid on the Blacks' encampment. This raid is presented sympathetically as being necessary and justified, while the law-enforcement officers trying to catch the perpetrators are depicted as oppressive Northern occupiers. Although the Klan is not mentioned in that scene, Scarlett later learns that Ashley Wilkes and others who were involved in the raid are members of the Klan. Many such local anti-Black vigilante groups did eventually join the Klan in the late 1860s, as Mitchell must have been aware from her historical research. However, it is mentioned that Scarlett finds the Klan abominable and believes the men should all just stay at home (though this is motivated mostly by a selfish desire to both be petted for her ordeal and to give the hated Yankees no more reason to tighten martial law, which is bad for her businesses). Rhett is also mentioned to be no great lover of the Klan, though he says at one point that if it is necessary he will join in an effort to integrate well into society. The novel never explicitly states whether or not this drastic step was necessary in his view. The local chapter later breaks up under the pressure from Rhett and Ashley. Racism and historical inaccuracies Scarlett expresses views about black people that were common for white slaveholders of that time. Some examples: Whether the author necessarily shared Scarlett's views is open to debate. Inspirations Several components of Gone with the Wind have parallels with Margaret Mitchell's own life, suggesting her experiences provided some inspiration for the story. Mitchell's understanding of life and hardship during the Civil War, for example, came from elderly relatives and neighbors passing war stories to her generation. While Margaret Mitchell used to say that her Gone with the Wind characters were not based on real people, modern researchers have found similarities to some of the people in Mitchell's own life as well as to individuals she knew or she heard of. Rhett Butler is thought to be based on Mitchell's first husband, Red Upshaw, whom she married in 1922, but divorced after it was revealed that he was a bootlegger. (It should also be noted here that it is also thought he was modeled after Sir Godfrey Barnsley of Adairsville, Georgia. After a stay at the plantation called The Woodlands, and later Barnsley Gardens, Mitchell may have gotten the inspiration for the dashing miscreant.) The story is set in Clayton County, south of the City of Atlanta. Another at least partial character source for Scarlett O'Hara might have been Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, the mother of US president Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt biographer, David McCullough, discovered that Mitchell conducted an interview with one of Martha's closest friends and bridesmaid, Evelyn King Williams, at age 87, while a reporter for The Atlanta Journal. In that interview, Martha's physical appearance, beauty, grace and intelligence were described in great detail. The similarities between Martha, who was also called Mittie, and Scarlett are striking. Trivia Sequels Alexandra Ripley wrote the novel Scarlett, in 1991, as the authorized sequel to Mitchell's novel. Author Pat Conroy was also approached to write a follow-up, but the project was ultimately abandoned. • In 2000, the copyright holders attempted to suppress publication of Alice Randall's The Wind Done Gone, a book that retold the story from the point of view of the slaves. A federal appeals court denied the plaintiffs an injunction against publication in Suntrust v. Houghton Mifflin (2001), on the basis that the book was parody protected by the First Amendment. The parties subsequently settled out of court to allow the book to be published. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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