Essay about Margaret Mitchells Gone with the Wind

Margaret Mitchell’s epic tale is impossible to dissolve down to a â€Å"brief† description. Her story is the War and Peace of Southern Literature. It is a tale of extremes and contrasts, telling the tragic story of peaceful affluence destroyed by the ravages of war and the destitution and desolation of its aftermath. It is a love story that examines the motivations of the heart contrasted against the will to survive. It is a story of the destruction of an aristocratic society and its disintegration from nobility, honor and hope to humility, disgrace and despair. It is a historical novel and graphic retelling of the Civil War and the Reconstruction of the South as well as a journal of the human side of those events as it recounts the†¦show more content†¦In 1865 she emerges from these trials a tough, ruthless and determined woman who can hold her own in a man’s world. By 1873 she has been married three times and has given birth to three children, she was widowed twice and buried her youngest child. Scarlett is weathered and worn but still strong and determined. She comes to realize her â€Å"love† has been wasted on a man who never really loved her and she is faced with losing her husband, the dashing scalawag Rhett Butler, the man she has really loved all along. These years are more than the volatile love story of Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler, the book chronicles the years, events and details of the South before, during and after the Civil War. The story begins with rumors of war and the valor of the gentlemen of the Southern Gentry as they answer the call to defend â€Å"The Cause†, determined to fight and die for their genteel way of life. Mitchell paints a vivid picture of antebellum life and describes the symbiotic relationship between the aristocratic families and the slaves that their economy depended on. Her imagery makes it easy to understand why they were so determined to preserve their way of lif e. After the war the south was left in ruin and faced the arduous task of Reconstruction of life, home and society. Mitchell brings understanding to the definition of the terms Carpetbagger and Scalawag. The South hadShow MoreRelatedMargaret Mitchell s Romantic View Of The Old South1617 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,† clearly Margaret Mitchell did not; despite Mitchell’s best intentions to keep her writing, â€Å"simple and stripped bare,† her Gone with the Wind created the paradoxical view of the Old South, using romanticism and social commentary. Margaret Mitchell’s romantic view of the Old South, which was obtained throughout her childhood, combined with a medley of literary devices helps create her simplistic writing style. This uncommon mixture affected the novel, bothRead MoreGone With the Wind Essay1788 Words   |  8 PagesGone with the Wind, was published in May 1936. The author, Atlanta born, Margaret Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937 for her efforts. The novel was the first and only published novel of her career. Miss Mitchell was a storyteller from the time she could speak. She enjoyed writing stories and plays. She would cast herself and her friends in the different roles. She lived in Atlanta all of her life and she was enchanted in the history of the city. Miss Mitchell was influenced by the storiesRead MoreAnalysis of Scarlett O’hara on the Perspective of Feminism5754 Words   |  24 Pagesç ­â€Ã¨ ¾ ©Ã¥ §â€Ã¥â€˜ËœÃ¤ ¼Å¡Ã¤ ¸ »Ã¥ ¸ ­Ã¯ ¼Ë†Ã§ ­ ¾Ã¥  Ã¯ ¼â€°Ã¯ ¼Å¡ è ¯â€žÃ©Ëœâ€¦Ã¤ º ºÃ¯ ¼Ë†Ã§ ­ ¾Ã¥  Ã¯ ¼â€°Ã¯ ¼Å¡ Ã¥ ¹ ´ æÅ"ˆ æâ€" ¥ ABSTRACT Gone with the wind was published in 1936, ten years after Mitchell writing it. It got a great success and becomes one of the bestselling novels of all time. It received the 1937 Pulitzer Prize. As the first novel which depicts American Civil War from women’s perspective, Margaret focuses on the suffering from the war of those women who stay at home and their difficult journey of reconstructionRead MoreEssay on Comparing Time of the Temptress and Gone With the Wind1876 Words   |  8 PagesComparing Time of the Temptress and Gone With the Wind      Ã‚   In the Harlequin romance Time of the Temptress, by Violet Winspear, the author seems to be trying to write an intelligent story of romance, bettered by its literary self-awareness. She fails on both counts. Winspear appears to recognize that more valued literature tends to involve symbolism and allusions to other works. It seems she is trying to use archetypes and allusions in her own novel, but her references to alternate literatureRead More Popularity of Gone With the Wind Essay964 Words   |  4 PagesPopularity of Gone With the Wind Margaret Mitchells romantic epic, Gone With the Wind, owes its remarkable popularity to the climate of sudden self-destruction and dreariness the Depression created. The Old Souths grandeur, coupled with its Civil War-era decadence, provided much-needed escapism for readers, as well as paralleling the U.S.s own plight in the 20s and 30s. In addition, Scarlett OHaras feminist role, her devotion to her land, and her indomitable optimism lent hope to thoseRead MoreEssay about Gone With the Wind : Born Survivors945 Words   |  4 PagesGone With the Wind : Born Survivors  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Gone With the Wind is a novel written by Margaret Mitchell which focuses on the life of a Southern belle during the Civil War. The underlying focus in Mitchells Gone With the Wind is that only those who are born survivors will really prosper during times of true hardship. A born survivor is one who will do anything to survive, at any cost. They will get down in the dirt and work like a dog just for a days meal; they will take something from someoneRead MoreSymbolic Meaning of the Land in Gone with the Wind6993 Words   |  28 PagesSymbolic Meaning on the Land in Gone with the Wind Abstract: The study of Gone with the Wind has mainly concerned with such aspects as the historical background of the American Civil War, the relationship between slave owners and slaves, Scarletts remarkable personality, and the conflicts between north and south cultures. Many more people read it as a love story. This thesis aims at analyzing the symbolic meaning of the land in this masterpiece to interpret this novel better. With applicationRead MoreGone With The Wind Essay1042 Words   |  5 PagesMargaret Munnerlyn Mitchell was the American author who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937 for her immensely successful novel, Gone with the Wind, that was published in 1936. She was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and often used the name Peggy. Her childhood was spent on the laps of Civil War veterans and of her mothers relatives who lived through the war and the years that followed. They told her everything about the war, except that the Confederates had lost it. She was ten years old before mak ing thisRead MoreGone With The Wind By Margaret Mitchell881 Words   |  4 PagesCounty is a county south of Atlanta s Fulton County. MapQuest states Clayton is 30 minutes from Atlanta, but on a good day it’s really only about 10 minutes. Clayton County can be highlighted for many reasons. Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 novel Gone with the Wind was set here. The Gone with the Wind museum is situated on the railroad tracks that run through the city of Jonesboro, which is county’s seat. The museum is a small, damp, and cramped space. For artist such as Gucci Mane, Trap music origins canRead MoreEssay Feminism in Literature1552 Words   |  7 Pagesclassism—recurring themes in entertainment through the 20th Century and into the modern day—have defined many narratives that are considered classics. The works that portray aspects of feminist issues and other facets of social inequality are Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind, Flannery O’Conn or’s â€Å"Revelation,† and Henrik Ibsen’s â€Å"A Doll’s House.† These stories use the female protagonists or lack thereof in central characters to expose gender roles, the perpetuation of social inequality through conversation