So, as promised, here is part one of the two part review on Gone with the Wind (GWTW)
Scarlett O'Hara is a gorgeous southern belle who has always gotten everything she's wanted. She has many admirers as evidenced by her interactions at the barbecue and ball of her good family friends, the Wilkes. She aims to get Ashley, the Wilkes' only son, away from Melanie Hamilton, his rumored betrothed. Scarlett confronts Ashley and fights with him over the direction of his life, eventually even slapping him. Unbeknownst to Scarlett, Rhett Butler has been eavesdropping on her conversation and, naturally, has a sarcastic remark to offer. Scarlett brushes him off in typical fashion and returns to the luxurious gardens to find Charles Hamilton, Melanie's brother, there waiting. He proposes marriage to her and she is quick to respond out of her previous rejection. They wed and Scarlett is soon pregnant. Charles enlists in the confederate army and dies shortly thereafter of pneumonia. Scarlett has the baby, a boy named Wade Hampton Hamilton after Charles' brave commander. Scarlett then travels, trying to appease the boredom of widowhood. She ends up in Atlanta, a bustling young city, living with her sister and aunt-in-law Melanie Hamilton Wilkes and Sarah "Pittypat" Hamilton. Scarlett volunteers in the hospital and then volunteers in a fundraiser where once again she comes into contact with Rhett Butler, who is eager to scandalize the entire city as he takes Scarlett out to dance with Charles barely a year in the ground. Scarlett sees Rhett on and off during the first years of the Civil War, and when General Sherman's army comes to burn Atlanta to the ground, it's Rhett she calls to come transport her, Melanie, Prissy, the house slave, and and Melanie's new baby, Beauregard to Tara, her family's plantation. However, halfway there, Rhett deserts them to go and fight in the Confederate army for the last campaign. When they arrive at Tara, they find Scarlett's sisters sick, her mother dead, and her father crazy with grief. Scarlett must fight against hunger, Yankee armies and sympathizers, and a lack of support to overcome her situation and return Tara to it's former glory. With the help of Will Benteen, an ex-Confederate that Scarlett and Melanie nurse back to health, Scarlett fights another day for Tara and "to never be hungry again".
While this is only the first half of GWTW, so much happens! It is a 1448 page book, after all. Anyway, Scarlett frustrates me a lot. The first half of the book is slow, and not much happens in the character development department, but she's just well...she's a "witch with a capital B." to quote the parent of a friend. I also admire her determination and gumption because it takes so much courage to face the situation that she faced, being ambushed on all sides. Margaret Mitchell does a phenomenal job of displaying the right amounts of fiction and history to make a vivid setting come to life and a rich culture display itself for every reader to come away with a deep knowledge of it. The fact that this is a book written in 1936 that actually holds some interest beyond it being "classic literature" is awesome. It's timeless and classic and elegant, as well as holding so much weight, both literally and figuratively, that you can't just speed through it. It takes time, but I'm sure if you pick it up, you'll not regret even trying to read it, because indeed, you will come away impacted, if not a little saddened that you're done.
Teaser Quote: "And you, my dear, are not a lady."-Rhett Butler
Stay tuned for Part 2 coming this week!!!!!
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