Blogtember: Day Sixteen

Review a book, place, or product.

I decided to review the book Gone with the Wind, seeing as I am almost finished with the book! Finally! I want to get to some less intimidating books already! But anyways, I know many people are familiar with Gone with the Wind from the movie in 1940 – which I have actually never seen. The book is an old time classic by Margaret Mitchell, and a very voluminous book, with roughly 1,000 pages. The main character is a selfish, mean-spirited young girl Scarlett O’Hara, and the book follows the transformation of her character throughout the Civil War and how it affects not only her, but the entire South. Following her life, you begin to see her self transformations, where there will be times when you absolutely loathe her character and other times love her character. But the point of view is very interesting to read when it comes to the Northern views of slavery and the Southern views. Coming from the north originally – Minnesota – and then moving down to Florida, and now to North Carolina, the point of views are even different as taught in schools. From reading the book, you see that slave-holders were not as malicious as people often think. Yes, there are some cases as you find out in the book as well where it gets out of line, but all in all the two different points of view really open your eyes to the truths behind the Civil War.

Scarlett is a great character at times, she is throughout the majority of the book in love with Ashley, but he is married to Melanie instead before the war commences. Scarlett marries Charles, Melanie’s brother out of spite for Ashley. She is widowed within two months of her marriage but also with a child. Years pass and the war continues, she encounters Rhett Butler often enough and throughout the course of the war we see their two characters collide and you can see how much Rhett has fallen for her. But Scarlett is still in love with Ashley and Rhett knows this, so he does not press for her hand – as he does not believe in marriage anyways. Rhett Butler is the only character throughout the entire book that truly understands Scarlett and her true thoughts and manners. While reading the book you wish she would just wake up and realize her true feelings for him. The majority of the time, her blind and obliviousness to everything surrounding her is quite annoying.

 

I will not give a full story synopsis, because hey you should just read the book yourself 😉 but right now as I am not finished with the book I will go up to my knowledge at this time. After the course of the war times are very hard, and after Scarlett vows to never make an oath of love to Ashley again – for she is his one weakness and it is proven throughout the book – she goes back to Atlanta and marries Frank Kennedy. She marries him strictly for his money, but after she gets a loan from Rhett she begins her own sawmill business. This is the first time that a woman is seen in  the business world. Scarlett is the epitome of an early feminist, and an outrage to the city of Atlanta. She is successful in the running of these sawmills, but once she is with child she is criticized even more for being seen in public.

All in all I love this book, at times it is a hard read, but I have always had a fascination with history. To see a different point of view than that of which I was taught is definitely an eye opener for me, and actually even enrages me at times. The book is written very well, to the point where each description you can vividly picture in your mind. I can see why a lot of people would not like this book, but as for myself I love the book. Scarlett is a great character, but in no way can I identify myself with her, which makes her all the more interesting to try and understand. As for the written language of the book, the only difficult parts to read are when the “darkies” or the African American’s are speaking. It is very hard to read, and a lot of times I need to reread the sentence three times to comprehend what is being said.

Scarlett: “As God is my witness, as God is my witness they’re not going to lick me. I’m going to live through this and when it’s all over, I’ll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folk. If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill. As God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again.”