Hundred Book Challenge #17: "Gone with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell

Well, I finally finished Margret Mitchell’s opus “Gone with the Wind.” I’m trying a new format with these blog posts to make them easier for me and maybe a bit more entertaining to you. So! I present to you: 10 thoughts about "Gone with the Wind." 

1. Scarlett and Rhett Butler are both amazing characters. Evil and manipulative sure but still great. Most of the characters are well realized but Scarlett and Rhett are two of the best-realized characters I’ve come across. I didn’t really relate to either of them but that’s one of the things I liked about it- this is something I’ve talked about before though. I empathize with them while not relating to them. I often found myself shouting at both of them but none of their decisions were out of character.
2. It’s ahead of its time, meaning it has the same basic plot as most of the highest praised TV shows of the last few years: A tough, morally-complex anti-hero Gets Things Done while dealing with weaker, annoying family members. The big difference is in Gone With the Wind the anti-hero is a woman and in today’s TV show it’s always a man. Imagine if Ashley was a woman- the character would be more annoying than Skyler on Breaking Bad and ain’t no one more annoying than Skyler. I say this as a way to point out how forgiving we are to male characters, which brings me to my next point:
3. Scarlett has a bad rap. If her character was male she would be actively celebrated. I look at commentary and reviews and everyone hates Scarlett but she is not different from male anti-heroes who everyone loves, including Water White, Tony Soprano and so on. Once I realized this I enjoyed the book much more.
4. It’s one of the best American novels but I think it’s actively harmed American culture. It’s sympathy for the south extends to arguments in favor of slavery that I’ve heard given in all seriousness in the last year- that black people were better off in slavery because then they at least had work to do and someone responsible looking after them. Beyond that, the book’s attitudes on race, gender, dating, marriage, sexuality, rape, society and culture are so wrong but presented in a romantic way and put in ways I’ve heard time and time again in my life from people. It was sort of like when you watch an iconic movie that everyone quotes and you say “Oh! So that’s where this line comes from.” Except for horrible arguments about antiquated attitudes. This book is very popular and that popularity has caused its ideas to be woven into the fabric of American culture. It is a reflection of the time- or at least a Southern-biased look at the time- but it’s popularity makes it part of it.
5. All that said, it’s not as pro-confederate as I thought it would be. Sure, Rhett brags about “killing a uppity darky who insulted a woman” and, yeah, there is nothing right about that. Yes, it celebrates the confederacy while lampooning it. I’m not going to pretend to know what relationship people in the south, especially at the time of the writing of this novel, had with the confederacy and what it means but this book both celebrates and mocks the attitude of the South.
6. This is, like, three or four books in one. Pre-war days are dealt with like a dream with romance, humor and relationship problems- closer to Pride and Prejudice than anything else. The actual days of the war are shown from the Atlanta home front where Scarlett bemoans her lost youth, unable to have even the slightest empathy for the scores of confederate solders who die. It’s a story about a silly little girl transforming into a monster. It’s a villain origin story. Right after Sherman’s March, the story reads like Steinbeck and you really get a good picture of what Scarlett is really like. Hard times on the plantation where Scarlett is forced to pick cotton and plow the field, proof that her willingness to do anything to survive isn’t limited to being horrible to people and acts as a great anchor to the rest of the story. Once she moves back to Atlanta with the idea of marrying a rich Rhett the story takes on a horrible absurdist quality. Everything goes wrong for everyone. Moments of happiness only exist as palate cleansers for more horror. Of course this probably highlights how a society reacts to war and reconstruction which brings me to…
7. The Old and New South. Scarlett is obviously supposed to symbolize the South’s transition from pre-war days through reconstruction. Let’s try an experiment, shall we? The Pre-war south was a belle- full of itself and confident in it’s superiority and importance. At the onset of the way The South lost it’s youth and was forced to put on a face of bravery and honor for solders while really morning it’s lost youth. During the war the South scrapped by doing whatever it needed to in order to survive- including things that went against the traditions it grew up with. Post-war, the South had some successes by abandoning all tradition and being friendly with Yankee interests while secretly loathing anything non-Southern. That is the storyline, basically, for Scarlett and, yeah, it works. This also brings me to…
8. I can sympathize with Confederate Southerners. I’m no apologist. Say what you will, the Civil War was about freeing slaves- everything else stemmed from that. Slavery is evil and there is no justification that works in my mind for it. STILL- this book does such a good job and showing what life was like (or, again, what life was imagined to be like) that, yeah, I feel for them. I feel for Scarlett as she stumbled around the burned countryside trying to find food- any food- so she and her family and slaves wouldn’t starve to death. I feel for relationships that were dashed apart thanks to war. I feel for solders who didn’t believe in The Cause yet fought because honor wouldn’t allow them not to.
9. It’s a book about the inherent duality of life.  Mitchell seems to argue that the Old South was a silly and unsustainable idea that was destined to fail even as it presented a view of utopia- this dichotomy plays throughout the entire book. The Old South is silly and noble. Rhett is obscene and gentile.  Scarlett is loveless while nursing a pure love for Ashley. Melanie is weak yet commanding. Mammy is wise yet- racistly- ape-like.
10. It’s not a story about love. Love is part of it, mostly the love between Scarlett and Ashley, but it’s not what it’s about. Love is presented as a cheap thing that means little when you get right down to it. Rhett confesses love for Scarlett but the love shrivels and dies when the realities of life come into play. Scarlett believes she loves Ashley but realizes she is actually in love with the idea of Ashley- as in Ashley represents the honorable Old South while Rhett represents the scallywaggy new south- and her love of one while embracing the other ruins any chance for love. It’s hard for me to move this into the realm of real people rather than representations but when I do I see a story about silly, stupid people doing silly, stupid things that ultimately ruin their lives.

A few things: It’s been a while since I last updated this blog and that’s because I’ve been slogging through two of the longest books on the list: “Gone with the Wind” and “Infinite Jest.” Now I’m done with one and almost done with the other so things should get a bit more regular here on out.

I also think I’m nearing the end of the really long novels. I don’t know for sure but I’m pretty sure I’m done with the more than 1,000 pagers. My goal to read all 100 books on Time’s list is still a teenager as far as numbers go- but the tough ones are, maybe, almost over.