Gone with the Wind Essay

Overview •Setting (time): 1861–early 1870s. •Setting (place): Atlanta; Tara, the O’Hara plantation in northern Georgia. •Major conflict: Scarlett struggles to find love, trying out Ashley Wilkes and Rhett Butler, while simultaneously trying to adjust to the changing face of the South. •Rising action: Scarlett confesses her love to Ashley; Scarlett marries Rhett; Scarlett and Ashley embrace. •Climax: Bonnie dies while horseback riding, breaking the tie that binds Rhett and Scarlett. Falling action: Scarlett falls down the stairs and miscarries; Rhett tells Melanie of his love for Scarlett; Melanie dies; Scarlett realizes that she loves Rhett, not Ashley; Rhett abandons Scarlett. Characters: Scarlett O’Hara Determination defines Scarlett and drives her to achieve everything she desires by any means necessary. This determination first manifests itself in her narcissistic and sometimes backstabbing efforts to excite the admiration of every young man in the neighborhood. Later, she is determined to survive and does so by picking cotton, running her entire plantation, forging a successful business, and even killing a man.

Scarlett possesses remarkable talent for business and leadership. Despite her intelligence, however, she has almost no ability to understand the motivations and feelings of herself or others. Scarlett lives her life rationally: she decides what constitutes success, finds the most effective means to succeed, and does not consider concepts like honor and kindness. She often professes to see no other choices than the ones she makes. Rhett Butler Rhett Butler brings excitement to Scarlett’s life and encourages her impulse to change and succeed.

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Rhett, like Scarlett, goes after what he wants and refuses to take ‘no’ for an answer. He earns his fortune through professional gambling, wartime blockade-running, and food speculation. Rhett’s character is partially motivated by emotion. Rhett falls in love with Scarlett, but, despite their eventual marriage, their relationship never succeeds because of Scarlett’s obsession with Ashley and Rhett’s reluctance to express his feelings. Because Rhett knows that Scarlett scorns men she can win easily, Rhett refuses to show her she was won him.

Ashley Wilkes Ashley courts Scarlett but marries Melanie Hamilton, thus setting in motion Scarlett’s central conflict. Ashley admits to his love for Scarlett, but as a gentleman he ignores this love in order to marry Melanie, the more socially appropriate match for him. Ashley cannot or will not allow himself to thrive in a changed society. He sinks even lower as he sacrifices his honor—the only thing he still values in himself—by accepting charity from Scarlett in the form of a share in her mill and by kissing her twice. Themes

The Transformation of Southern Culture Gone with the Wind is both a romance and a meditation on the changes that swept the American South in the 1860s. The story begins in 1861, in the days before the Civil War, and ends in 1871, after the Democrats regain power in Georgia. As the Civil War begins, the setting shifts to Atlanta, where the war causes the breakdown of traditional gender roles and power structures. When the South loses the war and the slaves are freed, putting a stop to the Southern way of life, the internal conflict intensifies.

White men fear black men, Southerners hate profiteering or domineering Northerners, and impoverished aristocrats resent the newly rich. Ashley stands for the Old South; nostalgic and unable to change, he weakens and fades. Rhett, on the other hand, opportunistic and realistic, thrives by planting one foot in the Old South and one foot in the New, sometimes even defending the Yankees. Motifs Female Intelligence and Capability Despite the severe gender inequality of their time, women in Gone with the Wind show strength and intelligence that equals or bests the strength and intelligence of men.

Scarlett is cunning, and manipulates men with ease. She runs Tara when her father falls ill, and eventually realizes that she has a better head for business than most men. She becomes a very successful mill owner, running every aspect of the business and putting her weak, incompetent husband to shame. Melanie, although she is a subdued figure, exhibits increasing strength as the novel progresses, and she eventually emerges as the novel’s strongest female character. She provides much of

Scarlett’s strength, although Scarlett realizes this only at the end of the novel. Melanie also protects Ashley from the world he cannot face. Despite her humble means, she single-handedly facilitates the restoration of Atlanta society. Old Miss Fontaine and Ellen also demonstrate strength and intelligence. Both women act as head of the family, and the narrator describes Ellen as the true mind and strength behind Tara. Prostitution Prostitution threatens and embarrasses the characters, but it also intrigues them.

Scarlett first sees a prostitute in Atlanta and is instantly fascinated. The woman she sees, Belle Watling, is an exaggerated version of Scarlett, which perhaps explains Scarlett’s interest in her. Both women ignore social mandates, manipulate and seduce men, and trade sex for money. Scarlett offers to prostitute herself to Rhett in order to get money for taxes, putting herself in Belle’s moral camp. If Scarlett can be read as a high-class prostitute, Belle can be read as a low-class aristocrat. Belle has the ideal aristocrat’s impulse to help the needy.

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