Gone With the Wind Read-Along Check-In #1

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Chapters 1-10

And now for one of my favorite books of all time...Gone With the Wind!! 

After 45 years it still is one of my absolute favorites. 

It's been a long time since I last reread it and I believe I appreciate it more, the older I get! 

  These people, drawn from many different places and with many different backgrounds, gave the whole life of the County an informality that was new to Ellen, an informality to which she never quite accustomed herself. She instinctively knew how Coast people would act in any circumstance. There was never any telling what north Georgians would do. 

  And, quickening all of the affairs of the section, was the high tide of prosperity then rolling over the South. All of the world was crying out for cotton, and the new land of the County, unworn and fertile, produced it abundantly. Cotton was the heartbeat of the section, the planting and the picking were the diastole and systole of the red earth. Wealth came out of the curving furrows, and arrogance came too--arrogance built on green bushes and the acres of fleecy white. If cotton could make them rich in one generation, how much richer they would be in the next! (39)

I believe this to be one of the most succinct descriptions of the southern US and its rise due to agriculture at the time. And just listen to the language...heartbeart...red earth...diastole...systole... Perhaps because I am a displaced farm girl, I can just see those fields...and feel nature's rhythms. Scarlett's father, Gerald, got quite a catch with her mother, Ellen, who was from a rather genteel southern family. 

Ah, Gerald and his horse riding! As Scarlett watches him approach on horseback:
...jumping fences and keeping it a secret from his wife gave him a boyish pride and guilty glee that matched her own pleasure in outwitting Mammy. (19)
Perhaps Scarlett just inherited her scheming little mind, and her insistence to do just as she pleases, no matter what Mammy or her mother says! 

I had rather forgotten just how much Scarlett and Mammy tried to manipulate each other! So funny! And all the customs of dress and manners in those days and times! They seem so ridiculous to me now in so many ways! Men were rude and outspoken, women were always kind, gracious and forgiving. (41) (Yep! I would have never made it as a Southern Belle!) I so enjoy Mitchell's writing--it really is superb. I was shocked at just how fast the story moves, yet I feel the characterization and detailed settings are so thorough and well defined! I feel as if I'm right there beside Scarlett...and Mammy...and Melanie...down in the Deep South! Oh, and especially Rhett!! I love me some Rhett!! ;)

I had the best time discovering pictures to post! Oh, my, the way Scarlett and Mammy do fuss at each other! And Scarlett is surely no angel, to say the least!

     But for all the modesty of her spreading skirts, the demureness of hair netted smoothly into a chignon and the quietness of small white hands folded in her lap, her true self was poorly concealed. The green eyes in the carefully sweet face were turbulent, willful, lusty with life, distinctly at variance with her decorous demeanor. Her manner had been imposed upon her by her mother's gentle admonitions and the sterner discipline of her mammy; her eyes were her own. (1)

I chuckled and giggled at Scarlett and Mammy negotiating over the breakfast food before the Wilkes' barbeque! That whole thing about a lady not eating much! So funny to me...now! Back then, such silliness was taken so very seriously! 

And the Tarleton family, especially those twins! (So glad they were not my sons!) In the usual "manly" feats the twins excelled, 

  And they were equally outstanding in their notorious inability to learn anything contained 

between the covers of books. Their family had more money, more horses, more slaves 

  than any one else in the County, but the boys had less grammar than most of their poor 

  Cracker neighbors. (2)
Observing Scarlett and the twins:

  The faces of the three on the porch were neither slack nor soft. They had the vigor and 

  alertness of country people who have spent all their lives in the open and troubled their 

  heads very little with dull things in books. (2)

Mitchell states it succinctly and leaves no room for doubt as to the lack of academic achievement or motivation to do so among these spoiled southern children. (Makes a shiver go up and down my spine!) For instance, when describing the local soon-to-be Confederate Troop, 
     Drills always ended in the saloons of 
  Jonesboro, and by nightfall so many 
  fights had broken out that the officers 
  were hard put to ward off casualties 
  until the Yankees could inflict them. (12)
That had me laughing out loud--literally! :)

And of course, Scarlett has all the young men waiting on her hand and foot. And she is such a conniving little wench! She's constantly monitoring Ashley and Melanie since their engagement is to be announced--certain that if only she can get Ashley alone and confess her unbridled love for him, he will forsake Melanie and run off with her that very night! Good grief! What conceit! That extends way beyond self-confident! 

  "...Ashley was born of a line of men who used their leisure for thinking, not doing, for spinning brightly colored dreams that had in them no touch of reality. He moved in an inner world that was more beautiful than Georgia and came back to reality with reluctance. He looked on people, and he neither liked nor disliked them. He looked on life and was neither heartened nor saddened. He accepted the universe and his place in it for what they were, and, shrugging, turned to his music and books and his better world. 
  Why he should have captivated Scarlett when his mind was a stranger to hers she did not know. (18)
And that, my friends, pretty much says it all as to how differently these two approach and live life. Although the phrase "opposites attract" is often used, I wonder just how often that really works?
Scarlett finally manages to speak with Ashley "alone"...or so she thinks... Enter Rhett! That handsome devil! He hears every word of Scarlett's profession of adoration and love to Ashley and then rises up from the sofa where he was lying down to let her know he knows... I secretly always loved Rhett for doing that...putting Scarlett in her place, more or less, and guaranteeing a hold over her, which she took very seriously! Even her usual "I won't think of that now...If I think of it now, it will upset me." (51) can't quite dispel her disappointment, anger, and embarrassment to realize Rhett, alone, knows her true feelings. 



And then poor Charles Hamilton, Melanie's brother. That poor soul! He never even saw it coming or knew what had hit him, did he? ;) As Scarlett admitted to herself within a day of her marriage, 
...she regretted it all. She had often heard of people cutting off their noses to spit their faces but heretofore it had been only a figure of speech. Now she knew just what it meant. (92)
As soon as the men started leaving the Wilkes' plantation to plan for going to war, the cold calculating Scarlett re-emerged long enough to figure she could do worse than marry Charles. 
  "He has a lot of money,"..."And he hasn't any parents to bother me and he lives in Atlanta. And if I married him right away it would show Ashley that I didn't care a rap--that I was only flirting with him. And it would just kill Honey." (89)
Within two weeks Scarlett became Mrs. Charles Hamilton (The day before Ashley and Melanie's wedding!) and within two months she was a widow, pregnant with her dead husband's child. And poor Charles? As did many thousands of other "volunteers," he died of disease as a result of unsanitary crowded living conditions with insufficient shelter. He never even got close to war. Scarlett arrives in Atlanta to stay with Melanie and Aunt Pittypat and
The difference between the two girls lay in the fact that Melanie spoke kind and flattering words from a desire to make people happy, if only temporarily, and Scarlett never did it except to further her own aims. (109)

In the process of helping to nurse soldiers and work to raise funds for the various hospitals, Rhett re-enters Scarlett's life and scandalously bids the highest amount to dance with her (A newly widowed mother of an infant, for goodness sakes!) at the major fundraiser. Needless to say, this thrilled 17-year-old Scarlett and prompted her father, Gerald, to come for her. Do you think Scarlett returned to Tara with him? Let's just say it is rather uncanny how seamlessly Scarlett and Rhett work together and scheme their way to getting what they want... They seem to have forged an unspoken unconscious formidable partnership! 

I realize I am more than a month behind with this initial posting, but I love love love this book, and I will catch up!! Promise! Are you joining in the Read-Along? It is interesting that the URL for the pursuit of happiness now leads to a message that the authors have deleted the site...hmmm... Well, I guess that means we're on our own! But so be it! I will still catch up and bravely continue onward! I have found at least one other blogger participating and posting: Bryn at Gleaningful. Who knows? Perhaps there are more out there! :)

Classics Club Spin #7: A Truly Timeless Masterpiece

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

This is a larger-than-life novel!! Although quite intense, it is so very readable! If you decide to read or (as in my case) reread it, please obtain this Penguin Classic version (ISBN 978-0-14-303943-3). The 34-page introduction written by a Steinbeck scholar, Robert Demotte, is not to be missed. There is so much pertinent background material that makes you realize Steinbeck literally put his heart and soul into researching this novel over the course of a decade, though it only took 100 days for him to actually write it! Awards conferred upon this work: National Book Award (1939), Pulitzer Prize (1940), and it was cited prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962. For once I totally agree that this novel is so very deserving of such accolades! 

I originally started rereading this after some 43 years as part of the NPR GoW 75th Anniversary Read Along. This link takes you to the first of three online discussions, the last of which was led by the National Steinbeck Center scholar-in-residence, and author of On Reading the Grapes of Wrath, Susan Shillinglaw. I became too busy to participate in the third/last session, but have read the comments/discussion. (Links to these later sessions are located on the right as you scroll down a bit.) I found it fascinating to read others' comments on this timeless masterpiece. So scary how it still relates all too well to our world now! 

I now remember how dreary this novel seems in the aftermath of completing it, and yet, there is also that glimmer of "hope," be it ever so dim and faraway. How to define that bit of "hope"? The answer is quite complex, as when contemplating anything about this novel. It is as if Steinbeck overlooks nothing in his social commentary: familial relationships, the breakdown of an agrarian society, the unbridled greed of corporate/business/banking entities, gender roles, organized religion and just "preachers," corruption among those with money and the "police"/law, and symbolism for almost every word written in this work. Steinbeck's word choice actually elicits visceral reactions for many readers, me included, and not just once or twice, but repeatedly throughout the novel. It would be very easy to teach a one-semester course based upon this work alone, there is so much to be discerned and teased out and related to so much else in our world: other literary works, social commentaries now and then, etc. Absolutely fascinating! I am so very glad I reread it 40+ years later; my interpretation now is so much more intense and fulfilling!

I am literally scared as I read and complete this novel...scared that it could all happen again, in the present-day U.S. I'm not sure what could or would ever happen to make that impossible, but at present, I feel the corporations and elite rich folk have enough power and control to wipe out many, if not most, of the lower SES folks, at their whim. Although I've always considered myself an eternal optimist, the past 12-15 years have demonstrated this possibility in the ever-lower wages for most U.S. lower- and middle-class jobs, and the ever-increasing numbers of working poor who slip lower and lower, into poverty or below, on the economic scale. While corporations get to deposit and hold their profits overseas and evade paying U.S. taxes, set pricing, exploit world labor for the cheapest wages and most dangerous settings. Overall, the setup is much the same now as it was then. 

As Steinbeck notes repeatedly throughout this novel, it is only by organization of the masses to strike, that any change will occur. However, as also noted by Casy and others, men must be willing to sacrifice their own lives, and that of their families, in order to "fight back" at all. We see that many of these men must have separated themselves from family in order to pursue such noble yet dangerous causes. Perhaps it is this conflict that upsets me the most, the fact that even if a person can understand the source and continuing manipulation of the migrant masses, the "common man" has little to no recourse without being killed. We have certainly witnessed this throughout history in so many ways and times. However, as is noted many times in this novel, for every step taken forward, or gain in civil rights, there may be steps backward, but never totally back to the beginning, it continues to improve, little by little, through the advances and retreats... I am using the term "civil rights" in an extremely broad sense, to include workers' rights, equality among genders (purposefully included more than just two...) and people of all heritages/backgrounds, overall a respect for each and every human to have equal access to all societal entities and opportunities for growth and development. 

It interests me that the message I take away from this novel, that we all must help each other in any way we can, is echoed by so many present-day "philosophers." I could try to name them all, but it seems the list would be endless. I do believe that the human race is slowly but surely realizing this really is all each of us can do for the world/Universe, but without that, there truly is no hope for this species. Of course, the ultimate goal is to grow these numbers of people who are motivated thusly in their daily behaviors and intentions to a critical mass that will actually change our man-made society for the better. James Redfield is the first "modern-day" spiritualist I've read who echoed this philosophy and took it a step further. In the years since first reading The Celestine Prophecy, I have developed a very practical life philsophy of exactly this sentiment: try to leave each person I encounter throughout the day a little better off for having interacted with me, in whatever way that is possible, based upon mutual respect, kindness, and compassion. Simple. Hands-on. Practical. It never ceases to amaze me how this simple philosophy in action seemingly allows me to spot those who profess to live their life this way, typically under the guise of organized religion, and yet, in reality, do not... Perhaps their intentions get lost in all the ritualism, etc., 

Have you read this classic? If not, you really really should. It is timeless and there is so much to say about it. I could easily create 20 different posts analyzing so many aspects of this text, but basically, that has all been done and is available online. (I have 10 pages of notes and so many post-its in the book, you can hardly see the edges of the pages!) You could start with the NPR link above for that... Rereading this now has reinforced my beliefs about the importance of each individual contributing whatever they can to better this world. No contribution is too small. And that is the way I will continue into 2015... Happy New Year!