The novel is set in North Georgia at the time of the American Civil War, from 1861 to 1865 and beyond when the Southern plantation owners fought the northern Yankees for the right to own slaves. They lost the war, suffered innumerable losses of life in the process, and the romantic plantation life depicted in the early chapters of the novel is destroyed. During this period the characters in the novel undergo the transition from a carefree playful life of picnics and parties （underlain by the hard graft of their slaves） to one of hand-to-mouth living and hard physical labour, and finally, back to prosperity.
About Scarlett O』Hara and Brave
Scarlett O』Hara is a spoilt society beauty with 「bristling black eyelashes」 – I love this description! – which she uses to charm men. She lives with her sisters and parents on their plantation estate with dozens of slaves, including Mammy, their black housekeeper who is regarded （as much as was possible at that time） part of the family and plays an important role in Scarlett』s life. The storyline centres around Scarlett』s life at the time of the civil war and the other characters which interact with her.
The book starts with the heroine of the piece, 17 year old Miss Scarlett O』Hara flirting to the best of her capacity with the handsome Tarleton twins on the porch of Tara, her plantation house home, and berating the seriousness of the impending war because it ruins her capacity to have fun, attend parties and have beaux. I mention this first page because it encapsulates the very nature of the entire novel. Scarlett O』Hara is a spoilt, selfish beauty with enormous power to manipulate men and a desire for the good things in life. Knowing this, you can see why she makes some of her seemingly ridiculous choices throughout the novel.
Throughout the novel Scarlett makes some appalling decisions, such as marrying the shy, nervous Charles Hamilton （Melanie』s brother） for spite because Ashley dared to marry Melanie. She quickly finds that married life isn』t what it』s cracked up to be, and that she can no-longer flirt to her heart』s content. Matters are made even worse when Charles dies while at war, and Scarlett is doomed to years of widowhood, wearing black and no dancing. Worse than this even, she is pregnant with her first child, a fact she despises. However, Scarlett is not one to be held down for long and she quickly rebels against the constraints the society imposes by both dancing and wearing brightly coloured clothing （at Rhett』s impetus） while still in mourning.
Later on when the guns of war come close around Scarlett and her comrades she shows surprising resilience and strength, delivering Melanie』s baby single-handed amid the sacking of Atlanta, and taking on the responsibility of managing Tara. She proves to be a sound and resourceful businesswoman, who can make difficult decisions when they are needed.
You can』t help but like Scarlett. She』s hopelessly selfish, vain, manipulative, deluded and foolish, but she』s also an extremely vivacious, loyal and strong character who can be relied upon to say and do just exactly what she thinks, regardless of the impact on other people. Again and again through the novel you find yourself thinking 「No Don』t do that!」 but you know she』s going to do it anyway.
About Rhett Butler and Love
Rhett Butler is a dashing renegade, the man who is rumoured to have ruined a woman （whispered in shocked tones among Scarlett』s companions）。 But he is a hero at the same time.He jeered the South』s arrogant,but when he saw the soldiers fight bravely to protect their home,he was moved and join the army immediately. Butler is not a traditional gentleman.He is overbearing and wanton,foxery and unpoitely. He is a man who is full of contradiction which makes him so charming. That is the reality of social calm and unrestrained passion of love, like the mixture of fire and ice. We interpret his character by way of analyzing his attitude to the South and the War. His tortuous and full of tragic love story reflect his passion love to Scarlett. Furthermore, we expound on the reason of his character formation. That is particular growth experience and social environment of the time. The theme of the paper is the courage of straighten the life, the indestructible spirit. The practical significance of this character shaped by Rhett is revealing the strength and weaknesses of personality
When Scarlett first met Rhett,she said,
sir, you are no gentleman!』
And Butler answered sarcastically,
『And you, miss, are no lady!』
At that time, their fate has been an opened book.
Rhett Butler, known for his scandalous ways with women, is the first man to ever offer her real love, along with all the material possessions she could ever ask for. He also happens to be the first man besides her father to truly understand her, her flaws and attributes; in effect, he becomes a kind of solid rock for Scarlet throughout the picture. Their love is a thwarted union of two passionate spirits—share equal focus with the story of people swept along by the forces of history.
But Scarlett still can not forget Ashely,her first love--- a misplaced, deluded infatuation.She still fifn』t realize that she is nobody to Ashely and the man who really cares about her tears is Rhett.And this really hurts Rhett.
So Rhett turned his love to Bonnie----their daughter.He dote on Bonnie,treat her like a princess.He do everything for her to make her to be a respectable lade in the future.He ingratiate the upper class just for raising a good reputation for his dear little Bonnie.
When Bonnie was dead, he was drastically collapsed. He told Melanie that Bonnie is the first one that really belongs to him and she is almost the same like her mother Scarlett. He loved her so much,he wants her to be seraphic and happy, he wanted to protect her away from all the fears and darkness.
Rhett , his love is to protect, to connive.
About the war
The American Civil War （1861–1865）， also known as the War Between the States （among other names）， was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America, also known as "the Confederacy." Led by Jefferson Davis, the Confederacy fought against the United States （the Union）， which was supported by all the free states （where slavery had been abolished） and by five slave states that became known as the border states.
In the presidential election of 1860, the Republican Party, led by Abraham Lincoln, had campaigned against the expansion of slavery beyond the states in which it already existed. In response to the Republican victory in that election, seven states declared their secession from the Union before Lincoln took office on March 4, 1861. Both the outgoing administration of President James Buchanan and Lincoln's incoming administration rejected the legality of secession, considering it rebellion. Several other slave states rejected calls for secession at this point
Confederate commander Robert E. Lee won battles in the east, but in 1863 his northward advance was turned back with heavy casualties after the Battle of Gettysburg. To the west, the Union gained control of the Mississippi River after their capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi, thereby splitting the Confederacy in two. The Union was able to capitalize on its long-term advantages in men and materiel by 1864 when Ulysses S. Grant fought battles of attrition against Lee, while Union general William Tecumseh Sherman captured Atlanta and marched to the sea. Confederate resistance ended after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.
The American Civil War was one of the earliest true industrial wars. Railroads, the telegraph, steamships, and mass-produced weapons were employed extensively. The practices of total war, developed by Sherman in Georgia, and of trench warfare around Petersburg foreshadowed World War I in Europe. It remains the deadliest war in American history, resulting in the deaths of 620,000 soldiers and an undetermined number of civilian casualties. Ten percent of all Northern males 20–45 years of age died, as did 30 percent of all Southern white males aged 18–40.
In the book, Michell presented us a ruthless and misery picture of war through Scarlett』s eyes.
"War is a hellish way to settle a disagreement"
The war caused poverty , plague,criminal and panic.The war ruined Scarlett』s home, the spoiled beauty had to pich cotton and be the householder.All these tragedies were because of the war. Michell told us all these oppinions of war from a special female visual angle.
「Gone With the Wind 「is a book full of love and courage, I just can』t help but repeat the brilliant words that Scarlett said---Tomorrow is another day!
Scarlett is a woman who can deal with a nation at war, Atlanta burning, the Union Army carrying off everything from her beloved Tara, the carpetbaggers who arrive after the war. Scarlett is beautiful. She has vitality. But Ashley, the man she has wanted for so long, is going to marry his placid cousin, Melanie. Mammy warns Scarlett to behave herself at the party at Twelve Oaks. There is a new man there that day, the day the Civil War begins. Rhett Butler. Scarlett does not know he is in the room when she pleads with Ashley to choose her instead of Melanie.
Gone With the Wind, an all-time best-seller by Margaret
Mitchell, is a legendary recollection of the last brilliance of the Old South. The writer's debut novel was an instant success. And the story has been bestowed an even further reaching popularity since Vivian Leigh presented a vivid translation to the screen of Katie Scarlett O'Hara, a southern belle raised in her father's white-pillared plantation Tara. A climax of Hollywood, from Director Victor Fleming for MGM, Gone with the Wind is more than a vicissitude, it is also an old, lost culture revisited.
It is Old South, which today is no more than a dream remembered. People were once there, living with the high strong slaves' songs in the quarters, in security, peace and eternity. Here, Scarlett spends her young maiden years. She is well disciplined by her mother, but her blazing green eyes always betray her covert capricious self; the one who enjoys parties and the surrounding ofbeaus. She dreams to marry the noble Ashley Wilkes. The impending war shatters the golden peace of the South, and leaves many lives permanently changed. Plantations, treasures, and honor are ruined. Scarlett is made a most peculiar widow by the war, and then compelled into a second marriage in continuation of her struggle for the salvation of Tara. And her third marriage to Rhett Butler is also jeopardized because of her secret, stubborn ardency for Ashley.