GONE WITH THE
WIND
The Romantic novel set in the backdrop of American Civil
War, between the Industrial North and agricultural
South is evergreen, if the
freedom loving liberal Americans want to have a glimpse into their nostalgic past.
Scarlet ‘O’ hara, the eldest daughter of a owner of cotton estates in the south is very conscious of her beauty and confident of the impact she could create in stealing the hearts of innocent youth. As was the custom in those days, girls were not given much education beyond the knowledge of languages and embroidery. The swarthy skinned black haired
Ret Butler spots her at first in a ball house surrounded by numerous youth. It is not the beauty, which is rather plenty in the North, which attracts the young man with
strong views of supporting the freedom of slaves, but the green eyes with expression of strong adamancy. She, on the other hand tries to ignore his presence, but always unconsciously wants to be at her best in his presence.
Ashley, with whom she thinks that she is in deep love, accepts her hand. Within two years after her son is born she looses her husband in the war. The next time she meets Mr. Butler, she is in the mourning dress, which she regrets worse than her yearning to wear colourful dresses. Third time he sees her holding the reins of a horse carriage with gun in the deserted streets of a lawless countryside. He is delighted to see her in a country where women are not allowed to move freely. But she is much embarrassed as she is now wife of a saw-mill owner, who is old with several children of his own.
As the war progresses her father’s estate along with the slaves is lost leaving them in poverty. Courageously she takes the responsibility of the
family with the family slave who escaped from being liberated forcefully. As a last resort she marries Ret Butler for his money, but saying that she still does not love him.
Ret Butler waits long enough for her to declare her love till he gets a daughter resembling her. The birth of a girl child changes him completely. Giving up his drinking and gambling he dedicates all his free hours for his daughter. The death of his daughter shatters him completely. He believes that his wife is the cause of the death and so abandons her and leaves home.
Only after she lost him, she realizes that she, in reality, has been in love with him although believed in the opposite. She waits for his return with wind near the window till her end. Intertwined with the love story, the description of war and the politics enlighten the reader with the life of people in a crucial period of American history.
While ‘Gone with the Wind’ extols the value of freedom and enterprise, it does not forget to show its negative side of crass commercialism. And we do have some glimpses of the strong family ties existing in the South.
SATHYA
More reviews about the GONE WITH THE WIND