Gone with the Wind

Reason, Type and Setting

I selected Gone with the Wind by Margret Mitchell because I have heard much about it and seen the movie, but never came around to reading the book. The book takes place mainly in Georgia on a plantation. The time is the years leading up to the Civil War, during, and after.

Plot

Scarlett O’Hara, the main character lives on a large plantaion in Georgia. She is a very pretty, high class girl. She is madlyin love with a boy named Ashley Wilkes. One day she finds out Ashley is engaged to his cousin Melanie who lives in Atlanta. Scarlett confesses her feelings to Ashley and he tells her he does love her but he is marrying Melanie because they are similar. Scarlett slaps Ashley and she thinks no body is watching but it turns out that Rhett Butler, a scandolous adventurer, had been watching and compliments Scarlett on being unladylike. When the civil war begins Melanie’s boring brother Charles Hamilton proposes to Scarlett. She marries him in hopes that it will hurt Ashley. Charles then dies of measles. After he dies Scarlett learns she is pregnant. She becomes bored. She goes to Atlanta to stay with Melanie and Melanie’s aunt. Scarlett starts to fall for Rhett. As the Civil War continues, food runs scarce in Atlanta. Ashley is captured and sent to prison. The Yankee army starts heading toward Atlanta. On the night the Yankees capture Atlanta, Melanie gives birth and Rhett helps her and Scarlett escape but he abandons them outside of Atlanta so he can join the confederate army. Scarlett gets home to find out that the plantation has been raided and her mother is dead and her father has lost his mind. She needs to get 300 dollars or else the plantation will be closed. She goes to Atlanta to seduce money from Rhett who became wealthy but she finds that he is in jail. She turns to her sister’s husband Frank who owns a general store and gets the money from him. She betrays her sister and marries Frank. Frank ends up dying and Scarlett and Rhett get married. They are fabulously wealthy and in love until Rhett falls out of love, but Scarlett still loves him. Rhett leaves Scarlett and she goes back to the plantation to gain composure and think of a way to gain him back.

Character

The novel’s protagonist is a pretty southern belle, Scarlet O’Hara. She lives on Tara, a Georgia plantation on the