[196] Gone with the Wind – Margaret Mitchell

She stood up straight and looked at the house on the hill. She had thought, half an hour ago, that she had lost everything in the world, except money, everything that made life desirable, Ellen, Gerald, Bonnie, Mammy, Melanie, and Ashley. She had to lose them all to realize that she loved Rhett—loved him because he was strong and unscrupulous, passionate, and earthly, like herself.” [946]

How long does it take someone to realize love shown to him (her)? Under the hand of Pulitzer Prize winner Margaret Mitchell, the epic novel takes its not-so-beautiful but obstinate heroine through unimaginable changes that Civil War had wrought on all Southerners. One war, two loveless marriages, many fatalities. It was in Southern women, most vehemently and conspicuously through Scarlett O’Hara, that the deep hatred the war engendered came to nest for real in the years of Reconstruction. Through poverty, widowhood, and starvation of these women, one can perceive the hard truths of the war firsthand. Although the Civil War and its aftermath might not be as Mitchell has portrayed in Gone with the Wind, the book allows one to bath in the pleasures of reading itself.

Tara is Scarlett O’Hara’s world—sheltered, privileged, prim, and ordered. Her entire nature shines with the joy of being pretty and sought after and frivolous in the early chapters and one can see her character darkening gradually throughout the novel. From a proud eighteen year old who lives in the bubble and whose primary concern is one Ashley Wilkes, a man whom Rhett designates right-on as someone lost in time. Someone whose delicate and intellectual faculty is no use for his time. Someone who is not forward at the moment nor is he hopeful in the future. Scarlett rises to meet challenge after challenge as the war destroys the entire world she was born to as a daughter of the South. Therefore, the war that liquidates her from comfort makes her who she is: someone who strives at all expense (even if it means cotton-picking) to reclaim the lost security and luxury.

Hunger gnawed at her empty stomach again and she said aloud, ‘As God is my witness, the Yankees aren’t going to lick me. I’m going to live through this, and when it’s over, I’m never going to be hungry again. No, nor any of my folks. If I have to steal or kill, as God is my witness, I’m never going to be hungry again. [426]

In the midst of interminable hardship, she continues to focus on what she must do to create an image of herself as successful and desirable. In her determination to do what it takes to survive, and to protect her family, she assumes leadership and becomes a fierce taskmaster. When a Yankee soldier appears in Tara, she has no scruple about killing him.

Although survival has dictated many of her choices, Scarlett might have gone too far as she is prepared to lie in order to achieve the success she craves. She persuades Frank Kennedy to marry her with the ulterior motive of sing his money to launch a lucrative business. She literally cuts corners morally when necessary to insure economic well-being and financial stability. She spares no moment of hesitation to consider feelings and scruple. Later she borrows money from Rhett Butler to buy a sawmill and demonstrates her gift for deceptive business practices. Even Rhett, who is known for speculating money and bankrolling prostitutes, concedes that Scarlett O’Hara wants money more than anything in the world. While she collaborates with the occupying army and prospers by embracing pragmatism and eschewing honor, Scarlett might have overlooked her loss in human relationship, as Rhett has foreshadowed.

‘Yes, I want money more than anything in the world.’
‘Then you’ve made the only choice. But there’s a penalty attached, as there is to most things you want. It’s loneliness.’ [635]

Scarlett has laid herself open to criticism so often in small matters throughout the novel. Long has breached are the traditional etiquette and behavioral code that her mother has so punctiliously inculcated in her. When she decides to marry Rhett, shortly after Kennedy’s death, the face of the town is set against her. Whatever her birth and family connections were, she is now in the category of a turncoat, a traitor. It dawns on her the importance of allies and her lack of them. While she loses most of her contacts, Melanie, whom everyone loves and respects, remains on her side. But Scarlett’s enduring fantasies for Ashley, and Melanie’s forbearance only amplify the meanness, the two-faced disloyalty, and the hypocrisy that are in Scarlett.

The cynicism of Rhett Butler becomes the pillar of the New South. That he never lets an opportunity pass in order to mock the pieties and abstractions of Southern patriotism has formulated a sense of rationality in the novel. But despite all his victories, his personality dramatically arcs—his wounded masculinity is what dominates and haunts the book. His greatest flaw is making the mistake of falling in love with Scarlett O’Hara, who only chases after someone who doesn’t exist, except in her imagination. She only comes to term with her true feelings, which she lacks throughout the book, and acknowledges emotions as strength, only a tad too late. Her long journey to become a person who is capable of love seems ironically fruitless.

Did it occur to you that I loved you as much as a man can love a woman? . . . I loved you but I couldn’t let you know it. You’re so brutal to those who love you, Scarlett. You take their love and hold it over their heads like a whip. [952]

In this vividly written novel, with interesting characters and unforgettable crises, Margaret Mitchell has given us an epic. While the language might be different from that of Faulkner, Joyce or Morrison, Gone with the Wind will certainly stay with readers for many years to come because of its reader readability. It’s what critics might call a timeless American classic. It muses on that reflection sometimes can be the only chance of happiness in the memory of what was promised to us.

960 pp. [Read/Skim/Toss]

Reading Notes on Gone with the Wind
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