Genre: Adult Fiction / Epic / Classic / Period Romance
Citation: Mitchell, Margaret. Gone with the wind, London : Macmillan, 1936.
Annotation:
Margaret Mitchell’s epic classic Gone with the Wind follows the life of
Scarlett O’Hara from the age of sixteen to twenty-eight. The story is set in
America’s South, mainly in Clayton county, Georgia and in Atlanta. The novel
begins at the dawning of the American Civil War (1861-1865) and continues
through the Reconstruction Era (1865-1877) that followed.
Scarlett is spoiled and selfish daughter of a plantation owner. The novel
follows her turbulent personal life as she manipulates the men around her in
order to create jealousies and to give herself the most comfortable life
possible. Many events in history impact on her life creating an engrossing
storyline that you can help but become obsessed with as you anxiously wait to
see how Scarlett will turn the latest disaster to her advantage.
Scarlett is a survivor. She suffers loss after loss. The American Civil
war destroys much in her life and takes the lives of many she holds dear both
directly and indirectly. When everything she owns is destroyed and she is left
basically destitute and starving she swears that she will “never go hungry
again!”
Scarlett constantly lies and is willing to do absolutely anything in
order to rebuild her comfortable life. She is an intelligent, independent and
proud woman who happily uses many of the people in her life.
As the novel’s storyline progresses a reader can’t decide if they despise
Scarlett for the more devious and unethical parts of her character or admire her
for being a very strong and independent woman in a time well before women’s
liberation.
Gone with the Wind was released in 1936 and lead to Margaret Mitchell
receiving the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1937. She was well known for her
eye to detail and as a meticulous researcher. Margaret ensured that her novel
was as historically accurate as possible. She even went so far as to ensure
that no actual person during the 1860’s shared the same names of any of her
fictional characters.
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