Background of the Author

Name: Margaret Mitchell

Birthday: November 8, 1900
Died: August 16, 1949
Spouses: John Marsh (m. 1925-1949) Berrien K. Upshaw (m. 1922-1924)

1. As a child, Mitchell was an avid reader and precocious writer.

Mitchell and her mother May Belle were big fans of Edward
Stratemeyer’s Rover Boys series, and Mitchell’s favorite books were Five
Children and It and The Phoenix and the Carpet, both by Edith Nesbit. She
also loved to read Dickens, Shakespeare, and Sir Walter Scott. Later
discovered juvenilia reveals Mitchell wrote fairy tales and animal stories as
early as age nine, and 11 years old, she even founded her own imprint,
which she called the Urchin Publishing company.

2. While in college, she endured two major tragedies.

While attending Smith College, Mitchell’s fiancé Clifford West Henry was
killed in WWI in France. Shortly afterwards her mother died of the flu in the
epidemic of 1918. Mitchell went home to Atlanta to help her father run the
household and never returned to college. Knowing she would die, May
Belle wrote to her daughter, “Give of yourself with both hands and
overflowing heart, but give only the excess after you have lived your own
life.”

3. Mitchell’s two husbands were friends and roommates.

She married the first, Barrien “Red” Upshaw, in 1922, but the marriage was
doomed due to Upshaw’s alcoholism and abuse. John Marsh, Upshaw’s
best man at the wedding, became Mitchell’s second husband in 1925.
Mitchell always used her maiden name professionally.
4. Despite being a “debutante” she landed a job as a reporter at The
Atlanta Journal (now Constitution) with almost no experience.

While still married to Upshaw, Mitchell needed to earn an income of her

own. She applied to the Atlanta Journal and was hired as a society
reporter. While there she wrote 129 features, 85 news stories, and several
book reviews.

5. She collected erotica.

In her early 20s, Mitchell developed a love for erotica and became a
collector of the genre. Apparently, she and her friends were interested in
“all forms of sexual expression.” Her favorite books were Fanny
Hill and Aphrodite.

6. Before Gone with the Wind, Mitchell had written three novels, two in
adolescence.

Mitchell wrote a romance novel, Lost Laysen, when she was 15 and gave it
to a boyfriend. The manuscript was not discovered until 1994. It was
published in 1996, 80 years after it was written, and became a New York
Times Bestseller.

In earlier correspondence, Mitchell discusses another novel, The Big Four,

about four friends in boarding school, but a full manuscript was never
discovered. In her 20s she wrote ‘Ropa Carmagin, a short novel about a
woman who falls in love with a biracial man. She submitted ‘Ropa
Carmagin alongside the manuscript for Gone with the Wind in 1935, but
Macmillan publishers felt it too short for publication.

7. Immobilized after an ankle injury, Mitchell began to research the

Civil War.
Apparently, Mitchell’s ankle injury was so severe she was forced to quit her
job as a reporter and stay at home to recuperate. An avid reader, she drove
her husband crazy by asking him to make multiple trips to the library so that
she could read. One day he brought home a typewriter and exclaimed, “For
God’s sake Peggy, can’t you write a book instead of reading thousands of
them?” And Gone with the Wind was born.

8. Mitchell began work on GWTW when she was 25; it took her a
decade to write, and no one knew she was working on a novel.

Writing GWTW was an arduous process that took Mitchell a decade to

complete. (The novel is, after, 1,037 pages long.) According to Mental
Floss, she didn’t want any of her friends to know she was working on a
book, and “went to extreme lengths to hide her work from friends and
family, including hurriedly throwing a rug over pages scattered on her living
room floor once when company showed up unexpectedly.” In the original
draft, Scarlett was originally called Pansy. When her publisher requested a
name change, Mitchell replied, “We could call her ‘Garbage O’Hara’ for all I
care, I just want to finish this damn thing.”

9. During WWII, she volunteered for the Red Cross.

Inspired to help the soldiers during WWII, Mitchell sold bonds and wrote
letters to American men overseas. She also sponsored an anti-aircraft ship
which she christened the USS Atlanta, named for her hometown, but it
sank during the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1944. A second sponsored ship,
also called the USS Atlanta, sank during an explosive test in 1970.

10. She was killed by a taxi outside her home in Atlanta.

Mitchell was crossing the street with her husband on August 11, 1949, on
their way to see a movie and was struck by a taxi. She died five days later
at Grady Hospital. Her home, The Margaret Mitchell House, is now a
museum.

Summary of Gone with The Wind

It is the spring of 1861. Scarlett O’Hara, a pretty Southern belle, lives on Tara, a large
plantation in Georgia. She concerns herself only with her numerous suitors and her
desire to marry Ashley Wilkes. One day she hears that Ashley is engaged to Melanie
Hamilton, his frail, plain cousin from Atlanta. At a barbecue at the Wilkes plantation the
next day, Scarlett confesses her feelings to Ashley. He tells her that he does love her
but that he is marrying Melanie because she is similar to him, whereas he and Scarlett
are very different. Scarlett slaps Ashley and he leaves the room. Suddenly Scarlett
realizes that she is not alone. Rhett Butler, a scandalous but dashing adventurer, has
been watching the whole scene, and he compliments Scarlett on being unladylike.

The Civil War begins. Charles Hamilton, Melanie’s timid, dull brother, proposes to
Scarlett. She spitefully agrees to marry him, hoping to hurt Ashley. Over the course of
two months, Scarlett and Charles marry, Charles joins the army and dies of the
measles, and Scarlett learns that she is pregnant. After Scarlett gives birth to a son,
Wade, she becomes bored and unhappy. She makes a long trip to Atlanta to stay with
Melanie and Melanie’s aunt, Pittypat. The busy city agrees with Scarlett’s temperament,
and she begins to see a great deal of Rhett. Rhett infuriates Scarlett with his bluntness
and mockery, but he also encourages her to flout the severely restrictive social
requirements for mourning Southern widows. As the war progresses, food and clothing
run scarce in Atlanta. Scarlett and Melanie fear for Ashley’s safety. After the bloody
battle of Gettysburg, Ashley is captured and sent to prison, and the Yankee army begins
bearing down on Atlanta. Scarlett desperately wants to return home to Tara, but she
has promised Ashley she will stay with the pregnant Melanie, who could give birth at
any time.

On the night the Yankees capture Atlanta and set it afire, Melanie gives birth to her son,
Beau. Rhett helps Scarlett and Melanie escape the Yankees, escorting them through
the burning streets of the city, but he abandons them outside Atlanta so he can join the
Confederate Army. Scarlett drives the cart all night and day through a dangerous forest
full of deserters and soldiers, at last reaching Tara. She arrives to find that her mother,
Ellen, is dead; her father, Gerald, has lost his mind; and the Yankee army has looted
the plantation, leaving no food or cotton. Scavenging for subsistence, a furious Scarlett
vows never to go hungry again.
Scarlett takes charge of rebuilding Tara. She murders a Yankee thief and puts out a fire
set by a spiteful Yankee soldier. At last the war ends, word comes that Ashley is free
and on his way home, and a stream of returning soldiers begins pouring through Tara.
One such soldier, a one-legged homeless Confederate named Will Benteen, stays on
and helps Scarlett with the plantation. One day, Will brings terrible news: Jonas
Wilkerson, a former employee at Tara and current government official, has raised the
taxes on Tara, hoping to drive the O’Haras out so that he might buy the plantation.
Distraught, Scarlett hurries to Atlanta to seduce Rhett Butler so that he will give her the
three hundred dollars she needs for taxes. Rhett has emerged from the war a fabulously
wealthy man, dripping with earnings from his blockade-running operation and from food
speculation. However, Rhett is in a Yankee jail and cannot help Scarlett. Scarlett sees
her sister’s beau, Frank Kennedy, who now owns a general store, and forges a plan.
Determined to save Tara, she betrays her sister and marries Frank, pays the taxes on
Tara, and devotes herself to making Frank’s business more profitable.

After Rhett blackmails his way out of prison, he lends Scarlett enough money to buy a
sawmill. To the displeasure of Atlanta society, Scarlett becomes a shrewd
businesswoman. Gerald dies, and Scarlett returns to Tara for the funeral. There, she
persuades Ashley and Melanie to move to Atlanta and accept a share in her lumber
business. Shortly thereafter, Scarlett gives birth to Frank’s child, Ella Lorena.

A free black man and his white male companion attack Scarlett on her way home from
the sawmill one day. That night, the Ku Klux Klan avenges the attack on Scarlett, and
Frank ends up dead. Rhett proposes to Scarlett and she quickly accepts. After a long,
luxurious honeymoon in New Orleans, Scarlett and Rhett return to Atlanta, where
Scarlett builds a garish mansion and socializes with wealthy Yankees. Scarlett becomes
pregnant again and has another child, Bonnie Blue Butler. Rhett dotes on the girl and
begins a successful campaign to win back the good graces of the prominent Atlanta
citizens in order to keep Bonnie from being an outcast like Scarlett.

Scarlett and Rhett’s marriage begins happily, but Rhett becomes increasingly bitter and
indifferent toward her. Scarlett’s feelings for Ashley have diminished into a warm,
sympathetic friendship, but Ashley’s jealous sister, India, finds them in a friendly
embrace and spreads the rumor that they are having an affair. To Scarlett’s surprise,
Melanie takes Scarlett’s side and refuses to believe the rumors.

After Bonnie is killed in a horse-riding accident, Rhett nearly loses his mind, and his
marriage with Scarlett worsens. Not long after the funeral, Melanie has a miscarriage
and falls very ill. Distraught, Scarlett hurries to see her. Melanie makes Scarlett promise
to look after Ashley and Beau. Scarlett realizes that she loves and depends on Melanie
and that Ashley has been only a fantasy for her. She concludes that she truly loves
Rhett. After Melanie dies, Scarlett hurries to tell Rhett of her revelation. Rhett, however,
says that he has lost his love for Scarlett, and he leaves her. Grief-stricken and alone,
Scarlett makes up her mind to go back to Tara to recover her strength in the comforting
arms of her childhood nurse and slave, Mammy, and to think of a way to win Rhett
back.

Setting (Time) : 1861–early 1870s

Setting (Place) : Atlanta; Tara, the O’Hara plantation in northern Georgia

Key Characters

1. Scarlett O’Hara - A headstrong Southern belle and the protagonist of the film. A
self-centered, determined beauty willing to step on anyone in her way, Scarlett
deeply resents anything that interferes with her own interests. Constantly seeking
money and entertainment,
2. Rhett Butler - A Confederate rogue and major foil for the protagonist. A bold,
cynical rule-breaker, Rhett claims that his heroic smuggling during the war was
purely for profit and that he doesn’t care what society thinks of him.
3. Ashley Wilkes - A Southern gentleman and major obsession of the protagonist. A
passive, blond, handsome man, Ashley is so caught up in visions of the world as
he feels it should be that he never does anything to affect the world as it is.
4. Melanie Hamilton Wilkes - Ashley’s wife. A kind woman unable to turn away
anyone who needs help, Melanie is well liked by a swath of society that ranges
from community leaders to the local madam. Wanting to find the best in
everyone, Melanie foolishly sees Scarlett as a supportive sister-in-law and
defends her at every opportunity. Despite this sweet nature, Melanie is also
highly practical and willing to do what must be done to save those she loves.
5. Mammy - A house slave who helped raise Scarlett. Big-voiced and bold, Mammy
remains unafraid to firmly chide Scarlett for her misbehavior despite the little
effect it has. Though very loyal to the O’Haras, Mammy eventually warms up to
Rhett and becomes his firm supporter.
6. Gerald O’Hara - Scarlett’s father. A native Irishman with a fierce love of Tara and
the land surrounding it, Gerald has a reckless side he indulges through wild
jumps on his horse. Though he is the unquestioned head of the house, Gerald
regularly seeks his wife’s counsel on how to run the plantation, and it is her death
as much as the destruction of the land that finally drives him to a state of half-
madness.
7. Ellen O’Hara - Scarlett’s mother. A stately, dignified woman, Ellen has very firm
views on what is and what is not proper behavior and expects to see those views
maintained by others in her household. She is the emotional center of her family,
and the O’Haras begin to break apart after her death.
8. India Wilkes - Ashley’s sister. A serious, dignified young woman, India was in
love with Charles Hamilton before Scarlett stole him away. Because of this
action, as well as the way Scarlett continues to chase after the married Ashley,
India considers Scarlett a despicable woman who thinks only of using others.
9. Suellen O’Hara - Scarlett’s younger sister. A young woman constantly in
Scarlett’s shadow, Suellen deeply resents Tara and all the indignities the
O’Haras must go through to keep the plantation. Suellen begins to hate her older
sister after Scarlett marries Suellen’s sweetheart Frank, leaving Suellen with the
fear that she will die an old maid.
10. Franklin Kennedy - Scarlett’s second spouse. A shy, older man whom Scarlett
tricks into marrying her, Frank is truly in love with Scarlett’s younger sister
Suellen. Frank’s marriage makes his life miserable despite his part ownership in
a business made even more successful by Scarlett
11. Prissy - A squeaky-voiced house slave. Silly, squeamish, and inclined to
exaggeration, Prissy is the film’s comic relief.
12. Charles Hamilton – Scarlett’s first spouse. He is the brother of Melanie Hamilton
Wilkes.
13. Bonnie Blue Butler - Scarlett and Rhett’s daughter. An attractive woman and a
skilled horse rider who loves both her parents, Bonnie is the glue that holds her
parents’ marriage together.

Key Conflict/s

1. Scarlett strives to survive and prosper during Civil War and Reconstruction Era.
2. Scarlett struggles to find love, trying out Ashley Wilkes and Rhett Butler, while
simultaneously trying to adjust to the changing face of the South.

Two Dominant Themes/Influence

1. The transformation of Southern culture; overcoming adversity with willpower; the

importance of land; female intelligence and capability
2. Romance between Scarlett, Ashley, and Rhett.

Analysis of the Literary Devices

Foreshadowing

Scarlett's father, Gerald O'Hara, dies while jumping on his horse. Scarlett and
Rhett's daughter, Bonnie, takes an affinity to horses. She too leaps over a jump with
her horse only to fall and break her neck. Her death was one of the final breaking
point's in Scarlett and Rhett's marriage.

Understatement
Margaret Mitchell dramatically employs understatement at the onset of the novel
when the men of Georgia discuss the impending war. The men trivialize the war.
They are convinced it will be over before it starts and the South with gloriously
defeat the North. Naturally, the reader is aware that this will not be the case.

Allusions

Scarlett struggles with her feelings for Ashley and Rhett throughout the course of the
novel. She throws away her marriage with Rhett because of her unrequited feelings
for Ashley, only in the end to realize she was never meant to be with Ashley at all.
By the time she understands her love for Rhett, it is too late.

Imagery

Margaret Mitchell uses imagery generously throughout the novel. She frequently
uses visceral sounds and descriptions to depict the horrors of war and its aftermath.

Paradox

In the final chapter of Gone with the Wind, Scarlett rushes home to Rhett after
Melanie's death. She confesses that she truly loves Rhett and had never loved
Ashley. She tells Rhett, "I— I don’t believe I’ve cared anything about him for ages."
This, of course, is not the case, as she had just previously been caught embracing
Ashley. The sentiment still rings true somehow but is none the less a paradox.

Parallelism

Many of Scarlett's most memorable speeches are memorable due to their

parallelism. "As God is my witness, as God is my witness, the Yankees aren’t going
to lick me. I am going to live through this, and when it is over, I’m never going to be
hungry again. No, nor any of my folks. If I have to steal or kill — as God is my
witness, I’m never going to be hungry again" The repetition of both "as God is my
witness" as well as "I'm never going to be hungry again" serves to emphasize this
dramatic moment.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

Metonymy is used throughout the novel, notably using the word "heart." The word
"heart" in Gone with the Wind is often used as a substitute for love. Synecdoche is
most obviously seen the use of the word "South" as it applies to the Confederate
States and their loss in the American Civil War. The word "South" is used in place of
saying the government, politicians, soldiers, and citizens of the Confederate States.
Personification

Mitchell often uses personification when describing the Georgian land. She depicts
the land after rain as, "moist hungry earth, waiting upturned for the cotton seeds,
showed pinkish on the sandy tops of furrows, vermilion and scarlet and maroon
where shadows lay along the sides of the trenches." While earth itself cannot be
hungry, the personification illustrates how fertile the land is after a storm. Similarly,
the land is also often depicted as having feelings of its own. For example, "the
plantation clearings and miles of cotton fields smiled up to a warm sun, placid,
complacent."

Symbolism in Gone with The Wind

Ashley Wilkes: The Old South and its antiquated notions of aristocracy. He is
inbred and very isolated from what the rest of the world is like. Even though he has a
normal IQ he does not use his intelligence to figure out how to survive in the new
world order after the war.

Melanie Hamilton: Despite her delicate health she is a mental and emotional
survivor. She possesses a level of social tolerance unseen in other Southern
characters and was capable of surviving the new world order. Some see her as a
cock-eyed optimist and others see her as a fool, but she had the most emotional
intelligence of any of the characters in the story. She is what the South would need
more of. She would have made a good shrink.

Gerald O’Hara: He is what most immigrants aspired to be, a self-made man who
achieves wealth and respectability in a very socially “elite” environment. He is
accepted among people who would have normally excluded him because his great
x3 grandparents were not born on Southern soil. Nothing defeats him until the loss
of his wife.

Scarlett O’Hara: She is the New South. She is not inbred aristocracy, nor does she
blindly follow rules that make no sense to her, especially when the chips are down.
Even before the war she feels straight jacketed by the rules governing female
behavior. She comes to prefer the new over the old.

Rhett Butler: He rejects the rules of the old South because despite having been
born to it he sees where everyone else is in denial about what is going to happen to
their world. He does what he needs to do to survive and prosper.

Belle Watling: She represents the fate of women who were either born to
unfortunate circumstances or broke the rules and were cast out by their families.
Mammy: The quintessential loyal servant. She was born into slavery and does not
know what freedom feels like. However, she is respected because of her position
within the O’Hara household.