Resumo de Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchelle

The story of Gone with the wind ran in two planes. On the
surface it depicted the waking up of Scarlett O Hara ?the
refreshingly beautiful girl, who mooned over the
intellectual Ashley Wilkes. Ashley was the personification
of the high morals of gone days. He loved and married noble
Melanie ?a sensitive soul exuding the purest emotions of
humanity. Scarlett never understood how could the sick-
looking ordinary woman score over her and steal her dream
man. Mad in jealousy, she jumped into a loveless marriage
with Melanie?s brother--Charles. The relationship gave her
opportunity to stay close to her hero.

In the second plane the story portrayed the great civil war
that had liberated the Blacks from the grasp of their
masters; Whites. Over the years the relationship of master
and slaves had taken a stable shape?to that of possessor
and possessed and neither was comfortable with the modern
ideas of equality. ; The war broke that inertia and
catapulted the sleeping civilization into the new world
order where people were equal and ruthless competition was
the key to survival. Few were smart enough to adapt and
excel. Captain Rhett Butler, the hero of the story was one.
The dashingly handsome Southern Blockader with little
respect for reputation not only survived but also became
fabulously rich. He appreciated Scarlett?s never-say-die
spirit and wanted her for himself.

Like Scarlett ?who apparently looked selfish and
lighthearted Captain also had a hidden side. Under the
cover of the self-created scoundrel image, he secretly
patronized the noble individuals like Ashley and Melanie
who were getting extinct from the new world. He convinced
Scarlett to marry him but did not curtail her freedom. The
liberal man made himself comfortable with idea of a working
wife, because it kept her happy. But he also had a
nostalgic passion for the bygone values and the noble
ladies like Melanie-Ashley?s wife. Ashley was also
attracted to the dynamism of Scarlett but he could only be
comfortable in Melanies world ?in the fragrance of the
bygone days.

War unleashed Scarlett?s hidden potential. The heroine of
the fairy tale life ?had turned into the leader of her
endangered family and defended her fort. Morals, values
and inhibitions all took a back seat before the need of her
home and people. She married an old man just to pay taxes
of Tara?her home and root. Only, it did not cure her of her
childhood dream ?Ashley Wilkes.
Married to Rhett- she enjoyed his affection but like a
pampered child she forgot to reciprocate it in kind. She
realized it only after Melanie?s death when the real
picture of Ashley ?the broken man was exposed to her. She
felt pity for her childhood dream and felt that
subconsciously she had always wanted to belong to a strong
man ?her husband Rhett Butler. However the realization had
come too late. Rhett had already left her, Scarlett decided
to fight another battle and visited Tara ?her root to frame
the strategy.

At the end of ravaging civil war reconstruction had
begun. The Southerners had finally accepted the reality and
were making the painful moves to divorce their old ideas.

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