Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell is a sweeping novel that takes place during a pivotal time in American history, the Civil War. It was published during another important period of American history, the Great Depression and was written by Margaret Mitchell a woman who lived the iconic lifestyle of a flapper.
The scope and length of the novel makes it difficult to categorize or even describe easily. However, there are two things that can definitely be said about Gone With the Wind. It is definitely an all-American novel and it is definitely worth reading.
An All-American Novel
Gone With the Wind captures the essence of America. It is not the Southern lifestyle, the Civil War, slavery, Yankees or any other character or group in the novel that reveals the essence of America; it is the individuals.
America is a society of individuals. It was founded on the concept of the individual, which becomes evident when we read “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Whether what they pursued was right or wrong, all the characters in the novel were pursuing their own form of Life, Liberty, and Happiness.
And, while the story of Gone With the Wind focuses on a particular individual, Scarlett O’Hara, it shares the character of many different individuals from Melanie to Rhett and from Mammy to Archie. Every single character in the novel is a portrait of America and reveals a facet of what an American is.
Survival in Gone With the Wind
Mitchell said that the novel was about survival. The whole story is based on the question ‘How do people survive when their world changes.’ According to Mitchell, “"If the novel has a theme it is that of survival. What makes some people able to come through catastrophes and others, apparently just as able, strong and brave, go under?
It happens in every upheaval. Some people survive; others don't. What qualities are in those who fight their way through triumphantly that are lacking in those who go under...? I only know that the survivors used to call that quality 'gumption.' So I wrote about the people who had gumption and the people who didn't." Macmillan 1936.
Mitchell wrote the ending of the novel first, which makes the end worth reviewing when one seeks to understand Mitchell’s feelings regarding survival and change. The last sentence reads, “After all, tomorrow is another day.”
Survival for Mitchell, as summed up by Scarlett more than once during the novel, is about always moving forward and never looking back. American’s are survivors and they don’t look back. The foundation of America is based on moving forward, why else would people cross an ocean and forsake all they know to live in a different country?
A Novel Worth Reading
Critical concerns aside, Gone With the Wind is worth reading. There is hardly a person who would dispute the quality of Mitchell’s writing or the pleasure that the cast and story provide the reader. In addition, while one may disagree with the accuracy of some of the ‘types’ portrayed in the novel and while on might argue that her social commentary is off-base, Mitchell’s fact accuracy makes this a worthwhile book for students of history to read. However, the best reason for reading this novel is that it will draw you in and involve you in the story, which is, after all, the reason that stories are told.
