REVIEW: ‘Gone With the Wind’ will always be a timeless classic
It may have been written more than 80 years ago, but that doesn’t matter. It may have been written about a time when our nation was divided, but that doesn’t matter. This work of fiction, this timeless classic, is one you don’t want to pass by on the bookshelf.
“Gone with the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell is more than a book about Scarlett O’Hara, a selfish beauty from Georgia. Oh, no. Though Scarlett is the main character of the book, she is not like most main characters. She is the most beautiful girl around. In fact, Scarlett is the belle of the county. She always has a large circle of admirers around her wherever she goes, but there is only one man Scarlett has an eye on – Ashley Wilkes – and he has his eye on a different girl – his cousin, Melanie Hamilton.
This is where Scarlett is different from most heroines. Scarlett is the epitome of selfishness and coldness. There are only a handful of things Scarlett cares about: her parents, Ashley, her home and money. In fact, Scarlett is prepared to ruin her sister Suellen’s chance of happiness when she marries Suellen’s beau Frank Kennedy for his $1,000 that could save their plantation.
Scarlett hates Melanie Hamilton Wilkes. It isn’t until Melanie is on her deathbed, suffering from childbirth within the last few pages of the novel, when Scarlett realizes she has hated the most loving, understanding, innocent and kind person in the world – one of the few people in the world who loved her – and that person is about to die without knowing Scarlett finally loves her too.
Scarlett uses her beauty to manipulate people to her advantage. She marries Melanie’s brother Charles just because he begged. Besides, she couldn’t marry Ashley. She didn’t shed a tear when Charles died of disease during the war and hated that she had to wear black crepe for a whole year with no colors and no flirting. Frank Kennedy was just a tool to save their plantation, and marrying Rhett Butler was just a business proposition. Rhett promised she would never starve again. He promised her wealth and grandeur, and he kept his promise. Meanwhile, Rhett’s wife is still in love with Ashley when Butler’s daughter, Bonnie Blue Butler, is born. Bonnie is the apple of her father’s eye. Rhett even stops being a cad, a renegade, a social outcast and becomes more reputable for Bonnie’s sake. Scarlett just becomes meaner, crueler, more selfish and more spiteful. Bonnie’s death tore Rhett and Scarlett apart.
“Gone with the Wind” is probably famous for Rhett’s line at the end of the book when he tells Scarlett he doesn’t care that she finally is in love with him. Rhett is done. It took Scarlett too long to get over Ashley, and with Bonnie is gone, Rhett can’t bear the pain Scarlett has caused him.
I haven’t even scratched the surface. Besides Scarlett – her selfishness, her business dealings, her fight against the Yankees and her love life – there is the whole story about Southern culture and society prior to, during and at the end of the Civil War and then the story of the war itself and the Reconstruction following it; and of course there’s Mammy, Scarlett’s black maid who practically raised her.
Don’t let the size of “Gone with the Wind” scare you off. This book is incredible. I read it in ninth grade, and it instantly become one of my top three favorite books. This isn’t a romance novel, though Rhett Butler is quite dashing and handsome. No, this is a book about what s
elfishness does to you; this is about the destruction of your own life with the analogy of the war running side by side. This is about the power of being good. This is a warning of what doing whatever it takes results in. This book shows you that not letting go results in missed chances and lost time.
This book is not a difficult read despite its age. This book brings the time period to life and offers a unique perspective with an unconventional main character. The last page makes you want to read more and makes you wish Margaret Mitchell had written a sequel. But really, “Gone with the Wind” can stand all on its own, especially with the headstrong Scarlett O’Hara as its main character.