Material objects can reveal a lot about an individual or a group. Authors often use objects from the material world in order to reveal to their readers certain things about the character and themes of their writings. In Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind , and in Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire, material objects are used to reveal characters and themes. Both authors use clothing, alcohol, and money in order to reveal to their readers both characters and themes.
             First published in 1936, Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell became an immediate best seller. The novel represented a historical romance set in northern Georgia during the drama of the civil war and the reconstruction years. The main character, Scarlett O'Hara is the product of a wealthy Southern family. Her only weakness is that she does not care what people think of her. Margaret Mitchell relates this to the reader through the clothing choices of Scarlett, who wears whatever she pleases. When the reader is first introduced to Scarlett she is dressing for the barbeque at Twelve Oaks, Ashley's father's plantation. She decides to wear a dress mammy finds inappropriate, "you can't show your bosom before three o'clock." Scarlett however, wears the dress anyway. Mitchel also uses clothing in her novel to relate to the reader the desperation of her Scarlett after the war. Scarlett, desperate to save Tara, gets Mammy to make her an outfit from the living room drapes in an attempt to fool Rhett that she is doing well. Mammy, who does not approve of Rhett Butler in the beginning is caught wearing a gift he had bought her, "Lawd Mister Rhett, that ain't nuthin' but my red silk petticoat you done give me" (Mitchell 256). Mitchell uses this article of clothing to relate to the readers Mammy's growing approval of Rhett Butler.
             Mitchel uses alcohol throughout the novel to relate to the...