Gone with the Wind

From the time I have started blogging long read books are resurfacing in memory. ”Gone with the wind” is one such and has been begging me to write.  I have read it a long time ago and I am ready for a reread :). So here goes.

 

Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone with the wind” is historical fiction set in the American Civil war era. It is a story of unrequited love. Scarlett O’ Hara loves Ashley, Rhett Butler loves Scarlett.  The story opens with Scarlett declaring her love for Ashley with Rhett watching from the sidelines. Ashley admits he cares for her but goes and marries Melanie. Scarlett out of spite marries Melanie’s brother.The story is set in Tara Scarlett’s beloved home. It is her father’s cotton plantation with scores of slaves.All of south is burning and the conflagration reaches Tara’s doorstep. Scarlett is driven to safety (Atlanta) by Rhett with a burning Tara in the background. This scene is immortalized on the covers of the CDs. Scarlett and family are reduced to penury as the cotton crops have been burnt and their field slaves have left. The scene is similar all across the South as the landed gentry, the whites hit rock bottom.  The rest of the story is about Scarlett’s fight to retain Tara. She will do anything for it including clawing the earth literally for roots to eat, this from a rich spoilt teenager. The Irish blood in her fights for her land and home. 

 

Till the end Scarlett continues to throw herself at Ashley to the point of causing a scandal. But Ashley is equally steadfast in not being able to give into her despite his liking for her. By the time the senseless Scarlett realizes Rhett loves her, he is at the “frankly my dear I don’t give a damn” stage. He leaves her and Scarlett again returns to Tara hoping to rejuvenate and win him back saying “Tomorrow is another day “.The story ends there. 

  

In reality Rhett is Scarlett’s soul mate .He is high spirited and with absolutely no scruples like her. He is running ships through the blockade and is a profiteer. And Scarlett will do anything for Tara including conning her sister’s beau into marrying her. The only redemption is with her new husband’s money Scarlett takes care of all her sisters and Tara while the selfish sister would have walked away without a backward glance. Rhett reads Scarlett inside out. There is a dramatic scene when Scarlett    in need of money visits Rhett in jail and propositions him while her soul belongs to Ashley. She stands in a gown made of green (if I remember correctly :) ) curtain from Tara.  Rhett sees the steel in her eyes, realizes why she is doing it and laughs at her. 

 

Mitchell’s magnum opus is a white man’s narrative of the civil war and reconstruction. It is also a white man’s perspective of slavery with loyal and happy slaves in stark contrast to “Roots” and “Uncle Tom’s cabin”.  So we have Scarlett’s  black nanny “mammy” who like Rhett reads her inside out. And it is to her that Scarlett runs to time and again.There are a few more loyal black characters like her. This sweeping saga covers more than a decade and the character of Scarlett grows up in her love life almost at the end.Meanwhile she has morphed into a business woman much to the chagrin of the Victorian society. She wants to be gentle and a lady like her mother but can never be.  They are as different as chalk and cheese, she takes after her father.  Girls want to be like their mother, this is a fact of life :).  Rhett is a ruthless business man but a gentle father and steadfast in his love for Scarlett. Very considerate and protective of her until his will is broken. Ashley all said and done is an opinionated wimp but devoted to his wife. But the surprise package is the mild, gentle lady Melanie. She is physically frail almost to the point of being fragile but what moral courage! The ladies have met at their sewing club when news of Ashley lying wounded arrives. Scarlett can barely sit; she is so agitated when the Police arrive looking for Ashley. Melanie continues to read loudly in a very composed manner betraying no sign of anxiety. The police go away, assured by her calm demeanour that Ashley has not been involved in the fight they are investigating. The fight referred to here is the birth of the Ku Klux clan.  This scene illustrates the difference between people who have physical courage embodied by Scarlett and people with moral courage embodied by Melanie. For all her physical frailty Melanie is made of steel. 

 

This book was made into a lengthy movie with the handsome Clarke Gable playing Rhett and the green eyed beauty Vivien Leigh playing Scarlett.Vivien Leigh was born in India :) The movie went on to win 10 Academy awards a record it held for 20 years. This is the only book published in the author’s lifetime.  

 

During the course of reading a book the author and the reader establish a rapport, a relationship. It is sacred and pristine. And the sequel to this book, “Scarlett” by Alexander Ripley is a violation of that relationship. I didn’t like it at all :( . I love Gone with the Wind :). The title is an ode to a way of life that has gone with the wind, winds of change caused by the civil war.

 

Excuse me for being politically incorrect in using the words whites, blacks etc but I have written about a society  which existed. 

 

This post has been long just like the book (1400 odd pages if I remember correctly:)  ). 

Enjoy it :)