Gone With The Wind
I usually go to garage sales on Saturday morning. This last Saturday morning, I found across an older copy of Gone with the Wind. I’ve been reading it ever since. I’ve read the book several times. It has to be one of my favorite books. It has so much to offer to the reader. Action, comedy, drama, and emotion is set forth throughout the whole book. Gone with the Wind is set in Atlanta during the Civil War. It recounts the horror of the Civil War and how it destroyed the culture and traditions of the South.
The whole story swirls around Scarlett. Scarlett is young, beautiful, and charming. However under all those charms lies a soul that is black as oil. She has everything in the world at her feet except her love, Ashley. And this is where the plot thickens. It’s hard to determine throughout the book whether or not Ashley really loves Scarlett. Personally, I don’t think that he does love her. I think perhaps he wants what he cannot have but it’s not love. It was a different time in the middle 1800s. You didn’t marry for love exactly. It’s said many times in the book that love comes after marriage. You marry based on birth, social class, and expectations. Ashley marries Melanie. Melanie is widely adored amongst the good people where as Scarlett is not. Melanie is sweet and pure unlike Scarlett. You could love her for that or find it incredibly annoying throughout the book. So Scarlett marries Melanie’s brother. She believes that jealously will bring Ashley back to her. However, her plan fails. Shortly after her marriage, her new husband, Charles, and Ashley leave to serve in the Confederate Army. Charles dies right away, leaving Scarlett pregnant and a widow at the young age of 16.
The South was very traditional at this point in time. It was ill-conceived to show your bosom in daylight much less kiss a man before you married. Especially during this time period, the South was trying to preserve the past while involved in the Civil War. However, there was no way to salvage anything after the war was lost.
This is where Rhett Butler enters the picture. He is not a gentleman which means that he is not accepted into the society of the South. Men were meant to be gentleman, a classy breed. He is crude. He would have become a great man if he wouldn’t have fallen in love with Scarlett. Of course he would never admit that he loves her. I don’t think he even says those words in the book. However, actions speak louder than words. Eventually Scarlett and Rhett get married after many a battles with each other. In the beginning their relationship seems to work. I mean work in the best that it can with two obstinate people. Everything soon begins to unravel. They have a child together named Bonnie. Bonnie is the light of her daddy’s eyes which of course Scarlett hates. Scarlett hates anything that takes attention away from her. The part which I hate and love about the book is Scarlett and Rhett. They would be amazing together if they would not expect the worst in each other. Rhett loves Scarlett that is evident. However Scarlett is chasing Ashley which upsets Rhett. I think in the end of the story that Scarlett realizes she loves Rhett. But at that point it’s too late to matter.
I think that Gone with the Wind is a great book. It’s a love-hate relationship with it. Scarlett is a terrible person but you want to root for her. You want to rally behind her. Scarlett and Rhett make me sad. However, sometimes relationships don’t work out and that’s just it with these two.