Book Swap: Nathan's Thoughts On "Gone With The Wind"

What I Liked

I felt like Scarlett is a woman before her time, as she’s extremely independent and strong-willed, and unlike the women surrounding her, she’s not afraid to go after what she wants—something that seems to be a social no-no. When Scarlett applies herself, she can do anything she wants, as she’s clearly intelligent and has the drive to succeed. What she doesn’t care about, she completely ignores. As a character, it’s hard to not like Scarlett, because I found it fun to read along as she plows the various challenges life presents her. Her character’s flaw of not caring about things that don’t interest her (politics, the war, making friends with other women, and considering what other people think about her actions) further add to her challenges, as they all seem to be key ways of life in the South). Through her faults, we learn about the South’s general perception of events and provide a good reason as to why Scarlett is able to succeed in times when everyone around her is falling apart. I also really liked how Margret Mitchell was able to create a story where the South comes alive. She paints a picture of a wonderful place where everyone is happy, including many of the slaves, because they are part of an idolized society where the world is nothing but parties and having fun. And despite how terrible the idea of slavery is, I found myself thinking that the South was a wonderful place that ended up being ruined by the Yankees, and all because Mitchell does such a good job of making everything in the South appear as a noble pursuit filled with honor and a sense of justice. To be able to take an ideal that’s so wrong and make it seem to be right is truly impressive writing.

What I Didn’t Like

The one thing I didn’t like about Mitchell’s writing was how she would randomly switch character perspectives. One moment Scarlett would be having some type of inner dialogue, and then, someone else would begin talking—but you don’t know who it is until a paragraph later. The writing style provides a kind of flow as it goes along, but as I’m used to Sci-Fi and Fantasy styles (where there are many characters and everyone is typically identified before they start speaking), I find that change to be confusing. Maybe it was the overall length of the story (though this is shorter than many of the Fantasy books I read), but the story also seemed to bog down after Scarlett marries Rhett. I found myself wondering how two people who were so in love appear to drift apart so quickly. It’s as if the moment Scarlett puts Ashley in charge of the mill, Rhett gives up on them as a couple. After he’s waited so long, it seemed out of character to me, but that’s just my opinion.

A Different Perspective

Gone With The Wind is a certainly a book that’s “out of my wheelhouse,” in terms of genre, but I certainly enjoyed it. I don’t have any problem with reading fiction, but when I read, I prefer to take myself to somewhere that I can imagine something I’ve never seen or thought of before. With some fiction, I find that reading about the normal lives of people don’t provide the type of mental release I’m looking for reading. With Gone With The Wind, I was able to imagine the beauty of the South and follow along with the “adventures” of Scarlet, which made the book tremendously enjoyable.