Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind which was first published in the year 1936 is a romantic novel which won the honorable Pulitzer prize in year 1937. The book is set during the Reconstruction and American Civil War in the Clayton County of Georgia and Atlanta. The novel is the depiction of the experiences of Scarlett O’Hara, who is the spoilt daughter of a plantation owner. The novel was adopted in a 1939 movie as well which went on to become a very popular film.
The story begins at the “Tara” tea plantation which is owned by a wealthy immigrant family from Ireland, the O’Haras. Scarlett is the daughter of Ellen and Gerald O’Hara and is 16 years old. She is described as not having very beautiful looks but she indeed had a different effect on men. The book also describes about South, the characters and their backgrounds. Miss Scarlett comes to know that Ashley Wikes, her beaux, is soon going to be engaged with Melanie Hamilton, Ashley’s cousin. She is hurt with the news and on the immediate next day she confesses her love to Ashley who in return says that even he loves her. But, Ashley tells her that he cannot marry her due to the personality differences between them. Hearing this, Scarlett gets angry and says a lot of things to Ashley which he silently takes. After that Scarlett marries Charlie Hamilton, Melanie’s brother when there are clouds of war all over the area. Charlie dies 2 months before the war begins at the time when Scarlett is carrying his baby. At the age of sixteen, Scarlett is widowed and she bears a baby boy. The events that follow, take her to stay with Melanie in Atlanta. The ongoing war and the participation of Ashley in it has a huge impact on what happens in Scarlett’s life after being widowed. In the end, the Confederate Army abandons Atlanta to the Union army and sets flame to it. The last people habituated in the South are gone with the wind.
Beautifully written by Mitchell, Gone With the Wind is indeed an interesting novel which has portrayed the character of Scarlett O’Hara is a way that keeps the reader glued to the novel. It is certainly one book that everyone should read once in their life.
