Gone With The Wind
(Margaret Mitchelle)
The story goes like this. Scarlett O?Hara the heroine was refreshingly uninhibited about her sensuality and sexuality when 19th century America dictated women to suppress their basic instincts. The queen of young hearts of entire Jonesboro County and a darling of an affluent family was totally ignorant of the hardships of life. The immature and self-centered girl had a dream; she was charmed by the Briton returned intellectual, Ashley Wilkes and wanted to possess that noble human as husband. But Ashley was in love with a plain looking girl, Melanie, to whom he was to be engaged. Desperation made scarlet mad and gulping her pride, she pleaded Ashley to give her a chance. Ashley regretted. This humiliating episode of Scarlett?s life was exposed to a Stranger ? captain Rhett Butler, the hero of the story. Rhett had come at Ashley?s invitation but being incompatible with the rest of invitees, he was resting in the corner of the library unnoticed. Captain was attracted by the spirited attempt of the young lady to achieve her goal and recognized his soul mate immediately. But the heart broken immature girl was yet to grow up. As if to prove her potential to be married to an educated man, Scarlett married Charles, Melanie?s brother. Southerners were joining Rebel army and Charles also joined. However he died a cowardly death in pneumonia leaving Scarlett a pregnant widow. Scarlett went to live at Atlanta with the hated Melanie who had stolen her dream man. The two women lived in close proximity and fought for survival as the war ravaged the country. The able-bodied men were summoned to join the causes of south. Wise Ashley had joined the war, fully aware of the fact that south was destined to lose. Only the scoundrel blockader, Rhett butler, made money out of the contingency by running a business with the Yankees and he turned fabulously rich. The plantations were not worked and Scarlett?s people were on the verge of starvation. Shedding the self-pity and depression, the former belle took charge of the situation. With bare hands, she cultivated the land to yield some crop and kept the family sustained. The sickly Melanie also searched in her reservoir of courage and gave her moral support. Disaster broke when taxes were imposed on Tara - her dwelling house. She needed money and the only man who had excess of that, was Rhett. But he was in jail. To captivate Rhett, Scarlett made dresses out of old curtains and approached Rhett in jail. But Rhett had cleverly kept his money out of the reach of Yankees, safe in Europe. To save Tara Scarlett seduced Frank Kennedy ?the old man who had eye for her own sister, Sullen. She made him marry her. Tara was saved. The second husband also died in a gallant act, leaving Scarlett free of bondage. War was over and Rhett proposed Scarlett. The practical woman could not ignore the rich man and also liked his amusing company. She accepted him. Rhett spoilt her with comforts and riches. He also allowed the spirited woman, the freedom of running her business and maintain her financial independence. But Scarlett was not yet over Ashley, her childhood dream. She tried to play the caretaker and protector of the idealistic man who lacked the common sense to survive in a competitive world; with a secret expectation that he would understand her worth. Rhett the go-getter of modern America had deep respect for the scholarly couple, Ashley and Melanie, and helped them without hurting their sensitivities. But he also felt ignored because of Scarlett?s obsession for Ashley. Rhett showered his unreciprocated love on Bonnie, his blue-eyed daughter. To avoid having another child she slept in a separate room. Humiliated Rhett assaulted her one night in desperation. It liberated the women in her that unconsciously wanted to surrender to a stronger spirit. Bonnie dieed in an accident. Rhett, the powerhouse of confidence shattered but Scarlett was too busy too notice. Melanie died during childbirth. Ashley the lost man was now Scarlett?s custody. She gave him emotional support but felt pity for the broken man and realized that she was never in love with that weakling. The eternal teenager had finally grown up to her woman hood and recognized her true love but the Hero had left. But the fighter in her didn?t give up; she revisited Tara, her root, to prepare for a new battle that would start tomorrow. The story had the background of the great American civil war. Here two aspects ran parallel, beautifully interwoven. On the broader aspect it depicted a resistance of the Southerners, living in the realm of 19th -century kingly ideas, to grow up to the maturity of equal status of Mankind. In the parallel plane it showed the inner journey of the immature girl to accept her own persona and the realities of life. Both the struggles were painful and prolonged- spanned through the entire period of the bloody civil war. Gone with the wind is the story of a time when gallantry was the ultimate virtue for American men and women needed an escort while courting a man
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