Review Of The Novel Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitchell

Gone With the Wind is a truly amazing novel that focuses on Civil War and the life of Scarlett O’Hara for the most part. Scarlett is living her life on a southern plantation throughout this novel. She journeys her survival through tragic Civil War events and reconstruction along with her love affairs with Rhett Butler and Ashley Wilkes. This is a historical fiction novel taken place in southern United States in the state of Georgia during the Civil War and the reconstruction era. Specifically from 1861 beginning into the 1870’s, in Atlanta on the O’Hara plantation located in northern Georgia. The protagonist is Scarlett, some difficulties she faces is struggling to find love, while synchronously trying to adjust to the changing ways of the south. Scarlett confesses her love to Ashley, but marries Rhett; Scarlett and Ashley fall in love, but he feels he won’t be happy with Scarlett. He later marries his cousin named Melanie Hamilton Bonnie. She is Scarlett’s last child and daughter of Rhett Butler dies who dies one day while horseback riding. That is a huge turning point because it breaks the bond that hold Rhett and Scarlett together.

Later in the novel the falling action can be portrayed as Rhett telling Melanie how much he loves Scarlett. Melanie later dies from falling down the stairs and miscarrying her child. Rhett says that he has lost his love for Scarlett, and he leaves her. Mourning and full of sorrow, Scarlett makes up her mind to goes back to Tara. She goes back to Tara to find reasurness and strength from mammy. Mammy is her slave and nurse from childhood, whom helps her think of a way to win Rhett back. The book ends on a cliff hanger with the words “Tara! Home. I’ll go home. And I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all… tomorrow is another day” (Mitchell 1024). Spoken by Scarlett. Gone With The Wind is a truly outstanding read. It tells a story about two people, yet still holds a lesson in history. I really enjoyed this novel because this was written in third person point of view about the American Civil War from the point of view of the Confederacy. Being in third person point of view helped the reader think about the thoughts and feeling of the characters along with their internal and external traits. I greatly enjoyed the development of each individual character. They all overcame a significant change, whether it was a large or a small change that impacted each character. All of the individuals learned some type of valuable lesson that helped them achieve a common goal. Whether it was education, social pursuits or marriage. Gone With The Wind describes powerful women, they are described how they accel throughout the novel.

A con is that this was a very racist and prejudice about african americans. I do understand that’s how people talked and acted during that time period, but some parts were very strong. Particularly “It was built by slave labor […] He had done it all, little, hard-headed, blustering Gerald” (Mitchell 34). Tara was constructed by slaves and yet, the novel says that Gerald created his plantation himself. Gerald who is an Irish immigrant makes a fortune in America through luck, skill and being able to be an alcoholic while gambling. Geralds determination is passed down to Scarlett. He is credited for his work and the hard-headedness, even though everything he did was based on forcing others to work for him, without pay and under threat of death. Margaret Mitchell chose a cherished moment in history and never hesitated from bringing this novel to life on a large scale. Atlanta native Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 novel did focus on the Civil War which took place from 1861-1865 and reconstruction taking place in Georgia. The first edition of was originally published by the Macmillan Company in 1936. The novel has became a cultural icon that represents the legend of the impermeable antebellum South.

Gone With the Wind has a lot of historical accuracy, when certain things are described, such as an important place in history pertaining to the twentieth-century America. This was turned away by most academic critics for being flawed, uneven, and written in an age marked by literary experimentation. This was attacked by some cultural reviewers as a published racist myth and undermining the very its feminist story. The best-selling novel continues to prove the doubtful critics wrong. Overall the historical perspective in Gone With the Wind was accurate. Most of the major events depicted slaves that live on plantations, that was historically accurate, because they were all treated very poorly. Another key detail was that reconstruction in the South did happen as portrayed in the novel. This is classified as historical fiction because the lives of Scarlett and her acquaintances were made up. The main characters are fictional, but the major historical events outside of their personal lives are historically accurate overall. I learned a lot of interesting stories and new valuable information pertaining to Gone With the Wind. Some fictional information mentioned in this novel taught me to cherish the world and land around you.

Throughout novel, Mr. O’Hara keeps telling Scarlett that “all we have is land. ” This is true still to this day. Our society relies on the earth for everything, we need to preserve and respect it while we still can. Gone With the Wind portrays a story of disaster and the relentless determination of Scarlett O’Hara who teaches us a lesson to never give in or conform. One very fascinating detail was the conclusion of the book. Scarlett says “after all tomorrow is another day. ” That line exhibits the conclusion of this novel and never truly ended happy nor sad. This relates to life because not everything is a fairytale and things won’t always work out the way you want them too. Just like anything in the government, politics, reconstruction or personal life. You always have to work for it and maybe their story just wasn’t done yet. This novel tells things like they are and touches our emotions in many aspects.

Mitchell does an extraordinary job of making the reader feel that while still teaching us some valuable information. Finally, yes I would recommend this novel to anyone. I really enjoyed the lesson this taught me and how the historical perspectives taught me what happened. I also learned how your surroundings can affect your daily life. It was a very good one and was a type of book that kept me wanting to add more once I was done. If I had my choice I would have hoped that it would never have ended. Margaret Mitchell did a tremendous job writing in a unique perspective and historical setting with Scarlett who just lives a day-to-day life as any other person. I was able to learn all the other valuable lessons as expressed. I learned that life was difficult during the American Civil War along with reconstruction and so much more. This book intertwined life with crucial events happening when mixed up with love. Finally, yes any person should read this and I highly recommend it because you won't be disappointed.