I. ROMANCE
HISTORICAL APPROACH
GONE WITH THE WIND
By: Margaret Mitchell
The world suffered from many uncertainties through time. Most countries have experienced different phenomena may it be natural or human made. For several decades, the world struggled with fostering a mutual alliance among neighboring countries which led to the deadliest conflict in human history, World War II. Margaret Mitchell portrayed the scenarios experienced by people during the era of the 2nd World War through her novel, Gone with the Wind.
In an article by Sparknotes entitled “Gone with the Wind”, it revealed how Mitchell came up to the idea of incorporating the Civil War in her novel. She was encouraged by her husband in 1926 and began writing nine complete drafts of the novel setting an epic romance against the Civil War she knew so well. However according to a source, Gone with the Wind is unique among the Civil War novels since it is written patronizing the South and demonizing the North. For instance, Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage is told from Northern perspective that tends to exalt the North’s values. Tracing back in history, women are viewed as the weaker sex hence leading to depriving them of the chance to join the war. This claim was also illustrated in “The Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott. On the other hand, Mitchell emphasized strength and resilience especially among women through the main character Scarlett O’Hara. The women's actions echo the plantation literature of the 1830's, 1840's, and 1850's. In the novel, Scarlett is portrayed as a strong-willed independent women whose characteristics have so much resemblance with the author herself. This is also one thing that made Mitchell’s novel interesting among others because of how she visualized women as a source of strength despite the threat of the raging war. Further, Mitchell numerously defied convention through portraying multiple marriages which society disapproves since the beginning of time. Sources revealed that this novel is published 10 years after she started writing it. Mitchell volunteered extensively during the World War II which perhaps gave her the right knowledge to write a novel about it.
This work of Mitchell gave so much representation of the truths during the war like how it killed millions of people .However, it is interesting to note how she gave hope through utilizing women’s strength and independence despite the fact that a larger American society emphasized female timidity. The portrayal of the main character in the person of Scarlett, a woman, is admirable particularly to the white Southern women in traditional plantation literature.
References
Gone With the Wind. (n.d.). Sparknotes. Retrieved from https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gonewith/context/
Collett, J. (n.d.). Romanticizing the Old South: A Feminist, Historical Analysis of Gone with the Wind. Feminist.com. Retrieved from https://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/remember/rtl8.html
World War II. (2020). Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II#:~:text=World%20War%20II%20(WWII%20or,lasted%20from%201939%20to%201945.&text=From%20late%201939%20to%20early,alliance%20with%20Italy%20and%20Japan.
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