A Civilization Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind, written by Margaret Mitchell, is a story that reflects the changes that swept the American South in the 1860s. It is set against the Old South, the American Civil War, and the Reconstruction period in the defeated Southern states after it. As a result of the Civil War the South changed completely. Mitchell gives vivid descriptions of the transformations of the Old Southern culture; the Southern sons and daughters determination to overcome the adversities in order to survive; as well as, the importance of land. The novel opens in pre-war Georgia where tradition, loyalty, and pride thrives. Clear rules of society govern the dress, actions, and speech of ladies and gentlemen, and the punishment for transgressions, especially those of a sexual nature, are severe. In the Old South plantations are dependent upon slave labor; young ladies are expected to obey Southern high society rules of refined manners; and young gentlemen are expected to raise good cotton, ride well, shoot straight, dance lightly, and carry one's liquor like a gentleman "The Old Southern culture was based on a man's world. The man owned the property, and the woman managed it. The man took the credit for
She symbolizes both the Old and New South. Bonnie dies tragically at the age of four when she is thrown from her pony. Rhett, on the other hand, opportunistic and sensible, symbolizes the New South. White men fear black men; Southerners hate profiteering, and overbearing Northerners, and poor aristocrats resent the newly rich. Ashley has been trained for nothing but the life of a gentleman plantation owner. First, he leaves Scarlett in hostile territory and joins the Confederate army. Scarlett struggles through the hardships of the Civil War and Reconstruction. She often perceives to see no other choices than the ones she has made. He can't farm, and he proves to be useless as Scarlett's mill manager. Women ignored the lapses of speech and put the drunkards to bed. Rhett who became an opportunistic blockade-runner during the war, emerges as one of the richest Southern men in Atlanta after the war. Later, under threat of starvation and even death, she is determined to survive and does so by picking cotton, running her entire plantation, forging a successful business, and murders a Yankee thief. In addition, it reveals the importance of land.
Common topics in this essay:
War South,
Reconstruction Scarlett,
Melanie Scarlett,
Civil War,
Civil War-era,
Gone Wind,
South Ashley,
Gerald Land,
Twelve Oaks,
Scarlett Georgia,
gone wind,
civil war,
atlanta war,
importance land,
symbolizes south,
southern culture,
civilization gone wind,
southern sons,
overcome adversities,
war reconstruction,
changed world,
determination overcome adversities,
civil war reconstruction,
|
Acceptance Essays
