Book Report on “Gone with the Wind”
“Gone with the Wind” is a very popular novel by the American author Margaret Mitchell, which depicts “the War Between the States”. Setting in Georgia in the period of the Civil War, it tells of the three marriages of the central characters Scarlett O’Hara, and of the devastation caused by the war.Margaret Mitchell was born on Nov. 8, 1900 in Atlanta to a family with ancestry like the O’Hara’s in “Gone with the Wind”. Her mother, Mary Isabelle Stephens was of Irish-Catholic ancestry. Her father, Eugene Muse Mitchell, an Atlanta attorney, descended from Scotch-Irish and French Huguenots. Many members of the family had fought in the American Revolution, Irish uprisings and rebellions, and the Civil War.
“Gone with the Wind” was published in June, 1936. Margaret was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for this popular novel in May, 1937. The novel was then made into an equally famous film. Till today, the novel is still very popular among the readers in all countries.
The novel figures three main characters. Scarlet, a person full of vitality and fighting will, never gives up, Melanie, who is both tender and tough, loves everyone with her warm heart. Rhett Buttler, a person of wit and determination, loves Scarlet so much.
I don’t like Scarlet at first. Although beautiful, she is also obstinate. She is so good at playing tricks that most people don’t like her. I feel sorry for her when she refuses to give even a kiss to Rhett who is about to leave to join the army. I even hate her when she marries her sister’s inamorato, in order to obtain his money.
But as the story goes on, I became deeply attracted by her personality. “Oh, Ashley, Ashley, I love you.” She is brave enough to express her deep love to Ashley who is going to marry Melanie. Although refused by Ashley, just because of a promise to him, Scarlet stays in a trapped city to accouche for Melanie, and tries her best to look after Melanie and her child in the later years. Scarlet enjoys a peaceful and happy life, but the War Between the States breaks out. Ashley goes to the battlefield. Her home Tara is destroyed and her father becomes muddleheaded because of the death of Scarlet’s mother. In such a situation, Scarlet doesn’t give up. On the contrary, with the power of will and courage, she challenges the difficulties and leads the whole family to live through the hard time.
Scarlet is just like a child, who is singularly clinging to the things she desires, but pays no attention to the things she already owns just like the two men she really loves in her lifetime—Ashley and Rhett. But I can’t help appreciating her bravery, her diligence and her passion for the land. She defies the destiny and carves out her way in life!
Another woman I appreciate in the book is Melanie. She is strong and patriotic. When Ashley is in the battlefield, she waits for him dumbly. When the food is eaten up, she sets her superiority complex aside and goes farming together with Scarlet despite of her poor health. When she sees Scarlet has killed a Yankee, she stays calm, and helps her to bury the body and clean the blood stains. When the war is over, she still spares no effort to help the Yankee soldiers, since she hopes that a Yankee woman is also offering food to her husband Ashley who is on the way home. When she is told that Ashley and Scarlet hug each other outdoors, she chooses to trust Scarlet.
With all these happenings, I feel that Melanie is such a great woman who has almost all kinds of virtues.
In the whole novel, the character I like most is Rhett Buttler. He is brave, charming, humorous and rich. He loves Scarlet so much that he protects her, takes good care of her and provides her everything she wants. His aim of pursuing Scarlet for such a long time is not to own her, but to conquer her soul. But as he has ever said, “the most eternal love could be polished one day”. His love is finally polished by Scarlet’s and Ashley’s stupid adamancy. After their daughter’s death, his heart dies, too. He finally chooses to give up and to leave. However, only at that time does Scarlet realize that Rhett is the man who she really loves. But she can’t get him back any more. Just like an excellent long-distance runner, Rhett refuses to accept the award when he reached the end point and to become successful.
Rhett is such a strong and ambitious gentleman, who never changes his beliefs on the basis of other’s views. He holds his own fate all the time. He is a brimless ocean, a luxuriant forest that can let a woman travel in freely as a fairy.
In this novel, the descriptions of love are all hidden in a series of affairs. And the love is dynamic and developing. Just as the novel “Pride and Prejudice”, the love between Elizabeth and Darcy is also described during the development of plots. In this novel, the characters are graceful, and the plot rises and falls. I am touched and deeply impressed by two scenes.
“The God is my witness. The God is my witness. I’m going to live through this, and when the war is over, I’ll never be hungry again, no nor any of my folk, even if I’ll have lies, cheat, steal or kill. The God is my witness. I’ll never be hungry again!” When Scarlet looks for food as mad as a hatter in the field, but cannot find any, she rises slowly and cries toward the sky with these words. She exclaims she will never give in to fate. What a brave and stalwart woman! The scene is so imposing, just like an oil painting which is deeply imprinted in my mind.
“Tomorrow is another day.” I think everyone knows this famous line. When Rhett decides to leave, she weeps sadly, saying “I will think of it tomorrow, I will think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.” Yes, this is what she always sticks to. Every time she faces difficulties, she chooses to confront them. Every time she faces responsibilities, she chooses to shoulder them. Every time she feels helpless, she tells herself “tomorrow is another day”. So in the whole story, she is a woman full of vigor, fighting will and hope. She never despairs nor gives up.
Scarlet is indeed a tough and conscientious woman. For her estate and her family, she props up the whole sky above Tara. In my life, I think everything can be thought over from different point of views. My life should be full of hopes and I should pursue them. Despite of many troubles and frustrations, I ought not to abandon my hopes and pursuits. Just as Scarlet has said, “After all, tomorrow is another day.”
页:
[1]