Gone With the Wind,By Thomas Hu,Contents,Gone with the wind,About the author,Gone with the wind,Margaret Mitchell,Margaret Mitchell was born in 1900 in Atlanta, Georgia and lived just 49 years. She attendedWashinton Seminary in Atlanta and Smith College in Massachusetts.,About the author,Gone with the wind,Margaret Mitchell,Margaret Mitchell was born in Atlanta. Her mother, Maybelle Mitchell, was a suffragist and father, Eugene Mitchell, a prominent lawyer and president of the Atlanta Historical Society. Mitchell grew up listening to stories about old Atlanta, and the battles the Confederate Army had fought there during the American Civil War. At the age of fifteen, she wrote in her journal: If I were a boy, I would try for West Point, if I could make it, or well Id be a prize fighter anything for the thrills. Mitchell graduated from the local Washington Seminary and started to study medicine at Smith College in 1918. She had adopted her mothers feminist leanings, which clashed with her fathers conservatism in the new surroundings, she lived fully the Jazz age.,Characters,Gone with the wind,Scarlett OHara,Characters,Gone with the wind,Scarlett OHara,She is The main character of the novel. She is thedaughterof Gerald and Ellen OHara and is accustomed to getting her own way, whether with clothes or boys. She surrounds herself with young men, flirting mercilessly and is not above stealing the beaux of other girls. She is willful, conniving, and yet far more intelligent than well-bred girls are supposed to be.,Characters,Gone with the wind,Ashley Wilkes,Characters,Gone with the wind,Ashley Wilkes,Husband to Melanie Hamilton and object of Scarletts life-long fantasy. He is a true member of the old south who feels unable to cope with the new world.,Characters,Gone with the wind,Melanie Hamilton,Characters,Gone with the wind,Melanie Hamilton,Wife to Ashley Wilkes and sister-in-law to Scarlett. Described by Rhett as the only truly kind person he has ever known. Unable to believe anything bad about people she loves.,Characters,Gone with the wind,Rhett Butler,Characters,Gone with the wind,Rhett Butler,Scarletts lifelong antagonist who is in love with her from the moment he sees her. He is an opportunist willing to take advantage of any situation, but not without kindness or generosity under the right conditions.,Characters,Gone with the wind,Mammy,Characters,Gone with the wind,Mammy,Scarletts childhood nurse and life-long servant and companion. Mammy understands Scarlett better than Scarlett understands herself and is remarkably intuitive, but also protective and motherly.,Characters,Gone with the wind,Plot Summary,Gone with the wind,She receives the first shock of her young life when Ashley Wilkes, son of a neighboring plantation owner, announces his engagement to his cousin Melanie Hamilton. When she cannot convince Ashley to change his plan, she quickly throws herself at Charles Hamilton who is shocked and thrilled to think that she would even consider him.,Plot Summary,Gone with the wind,Her plans are further disrupted when war breaks out, taking the young men away as soldiers, and Charles is among the first to die. She spends several years in Atlanta where she tries to enjoy life in her own way in spite of the disapproval of other women of her class.,Plot Summary,Gone with the wind,Her life is further complicated by the presence of Rhett Butler who is known to be a privateer and opportunist and is not received in his own hometown of Savannah. Scarlett admits that she is fond of Rhett, but his candor and frank observations of her character infuriate her whenever he is near.,Plot Summary,Gone with the wind,Just when Scarlett thinks the war is over and she can finally put Tara to rights, a major crisis comes in the form of new taxes-levied deliberately by the new government administrators and scalawags to try to take Tara away from her.,Plot Summary,Gone with the wind,She returns to Atlanta, hoping to trick Rhett into marrying her so she will have access to his money. When this fails, she steals her sisters fianc, who happens to have a store and a little money saved toward his wedding. She marries him and takes his savings to pay her taxes. Two weeks after the wedding, she borrows money from Rhett to buy a lumber mill.,Plot Summary,Gone with the wind,Scarlett finally marries Rhett who believes he cant get her any other way, and the two have a tempestuous marriage in which Scarlett often fantasizes that Rhett is Ashley.,Plot Summary,Gone with the wind,Any chance of salvaging a relationship with Rhett is lost when their four-year old Bonnie dies in a fall from her pony. When Melanie dies, leaving Scarlett virtually friendless, and then Rhett leaves her, she returns again to Tara. The only thing she still has, and tomorrow is another day.,Plot Summary,Gone with the wind,Plot Summary,Gone with the wind,Plot Summary,Gone with the wind,Diagram,Fantasy versus Reality,Loss and Change,Survival,Major Themes,Gone with the w