Gone with the Wind is a novel set during and after the American Civil War. It is the story of Scarlett O’Hara and her experiences as she finds ways to cope with war, widowhood and the loss of her parents.
At the start of the story Scarlett is a spoilt girl, thinking only about beaus, parties, having a good time and getting her own way. As the story progresses she continues to be self-centred, scandalising the inhabitants of Atlanta by dancing and going out with men when she is newly widowed. As Sherman and his army approach Atlanta she flees to Tara with Melanie Wilkes and Melanie’s newborn baby, only to find that her mother has died and her sisters are ill. This is the beginning of her struggle to feed her family and the few slaves that stayed on the plantation, and to try to restore Tara to a going concern.
Throughout Gone with the Wind, Scarlett seems to think only of herself. Her fear of poverty and hunger have her riding roughshod over the feelings of the older inhabitants of Atlanta and her reputation suffers for it. Only right at the end does she come to appreciate why they behave the way they do. By then it’s too late.
Gone with the Wind is the only novel by Margaret Mitchell to be published in her lifetime. It was made famous by an Oscar-winning film starring Vivienne Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler. The film is reasonably true to the book, probably because of its epic length which required an intermission halfway through.
