"Southerners can never resist a losing cause." Rhett Butler

Oh Scarlett. Oh Rhett! Why are you so frustratingly stubborn and stupid?


I read Gone With the Wind for the first time when I was in 8th grade and I loved it. Just like with The Catcher in the Rye though, different things stood out to me when reading it this time around. As a 13 year old girl, of course I focused on the romance between Scarlett and Rhett, and I was furious at Scarlett's ridiculous deceptions against all her lovers. When she lies to Frank Kennedy about Suellen's engagement just to win him over for money I literally slammed the book shut and couldn't pick it up again for days, I was so angry at her.


This time, even though my heart still breaks at the love story, I paid a lot more attention to the history of the Southern experience with the Civil War. The perspective that Margaret Mitchell provides is definitely one of a kind. She does drag it out a lot. By today's standards I think the book could've been several hundred pages shorter just through some editing and none of the war or love plot would be missing.


So which is more important, the history or the romance? According to Margaret Mitchell, I would say the history. Here's what she said when asked what Gone With the Wind is about:


"...if the novel has a theme it is that of survival. What makes some people 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 that go under? I only know that survivors used to call that quality 'gumption.' So I wrote about people who had gumption and people who didn't." (1936)


Scarlett certainly has gumption, almost to a fault. Hondo asked me why I love Scarlett. The truth is, I love her and I also kind of hate her. She drives me insane when it comes to her treatment of her children and the men who love her. But I still admire her strength. Her ability to do whatever it takes to survive in a world where women are expected to defer to the men is powerful. I feel like I understand her too. I understand her motives and even though I feel bad for the people who fall victim to her charms, I can't help but think "you go, girl" too.