Gone with the Wind, the book

I finished reading Gone with the Wind this weekend. I loved it for the being sweeping epic it is. As a “Yankee” my knowledge of the Restoration after the Civil War was really, it happened, the states reunited, and let’s move on. And to be honest, I never thought about it from the South’s point of view, the hardships they faced, and how they viewed the Yankee ‘victors’ and newly freed slaves. 

I loved, hated, loved, hated Scarlett. At first I viewed her like Jane Austen’s Emma, she grew up very sheltered, very privileged and so she has this very limited world view and very selfish, self-involved outlook. Caring only for her 17-inch waist, her slippers, and the number of beauxs she had at any given time all while mooning incessantly over Ashley Wilkes. Through the war her outlook and character doesn’t change, it wasn’t until the war was over, and she’s faced with poverty and starvation, where she decides rather than slowly starve with my pride that she is going to work, take care of her family, save their home, and shoulder everyone’s burdens. While her methods were “unwomanly” and reckless I respected that. But then as soon as she has the money and  stability again it’s like nothing happened, all she can think of is her finery and one-upping her neighbors. That her post-war experiences had not changed her, and her character returned to what it likely would have been if the war had never happened. And always, always the mooning over Ashley.  But in the end she does realize her mistakes, finally sees her relationships for what they truly are and does attempt to right things with the people she was wronged, I couldn’t hate her then. 

The love-story broke my heart. That Rhett loved her for so long for who she really was and Scarlett just didn’t see that she loved him too. she couldn’t see past the veil of Ashley in her mind to who he really was and how she wasted her life wanting something that didn’t exist. Rhett wasn’t perfect, he was a cad and scallawag but he was honest about that, and he wasn’t so blinded by pride or prejudice to see the world and people for who and what they really were.  

And I think we would all be better off if we were more like Melanie Hamilton, all heart, able to see the best in everyone and to be genuinely kind, but also to stand firm in our convictions and standby the people we love no matter what family, friends, or society thinks of them.