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Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell

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LoveHistory
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Post by LoveHistory » Fri May 21st, 2010, 9:34 pm

I believe the book said "he had used her brutally and she had gloried in it."

Gable did a good enough job capturing Rhett's spirit that I don't even mind his lack of a drawl.

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Miss Moppet
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Post by Miss Moppet » Fri May 21st, 2010, 11:04 pm

I recommend Helen Taylor's book Scarlett's Women for anyone who loves GWTW - all about the GWTW female fandom. Written in the 1980s so a little dated but a lot of fun to read.

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Post by Helen_Davis » Sun May 23rd, 2010, 8:08 pm

one of my professors said I was a racist for liking this book and movie...

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Michy
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Post by Michy » Sun May 23rd, 2010, 8:46 pm

I'm not going to go into a rant, but I'll just say that I strongly disagree with your professor, and leave it at that. :)

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Post by LoveHistory » Mon May 24th, 2010, 4:13 pm

I won't rant either but I will say that professor is very closed-minded, and very likely an idiot. Many people love the story and I doubt more than a handful are racists.

Racism is not a theme in GWTW. The book is set before, during, and after the Civil War in the state of Georgia. Slavery is an unavoidable background element. Leaving it out would have been irresponsible, and demonstrated a child-like inability to deal with unpleasant realities.

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Post by Vanessa » Mon May 24th, 2010, 4:54 pm

That's definitely not what springs to mind when I think of GWTW. Most people think of it as a romance, actually, but I think it's a lot more than that, too. It's mostly about war and what effects it has on people and the other things are just part of that. Some great characters.
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Books are mirrors, you only see in them what you already have inside you ~ The Shadow of the Wind

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Post by Ludmilla » Mon May 24th, 2010, 6:02 pm

[quote=""Misfit""]It's one of those books you need to read in your teens and then years later when you are really grown up.
[/quote]

I agree... I've only read it once and when I was a young teen at that, but have really felt the desire to read it again at some point this year (probably late this summer with an LT group that is reading it in August). My interest has partly been rejuvenated by the fact that I literally live in GwtW territory on land once owned by Mitchell's forebears. I think she would sit down and cry if she could see what suburban sprawl has done to much of the land that inspired her novel and what was once largely agricultural even in her lifetime.

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Post by Misfit » Mon May 24th, 2010, 6:40 pm

[quote=""Ludmilla""]I agree... I've only read it once and when I was a young teen at that, but have really felt the desire to read it again at some point this year (probably late this summer with an LT group that is reading it in August). My interest has partly been rejuvenated by the fact that I literally live in GwtW territory on land once owned by Mitchell's forebears. I think she would sit down and cry if she could see what suburban sprawl has done to much of the land that inspired her novel and what was once largely agricultural even in her lifetime.[/quote]

Oh, you'll be surprised at how differently you react to it, at least I did. I don't see it as racist at all, it's just telling it like it was. I loathe sugar coated history anyway.
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Michy
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Post by Michy » Mon May 24th, 2010, 7:55 pm

[quote=""Vanessa""]That's definitely not what springs to mind when I think of GWTW. Most people think of it as a romance, actually, but I think it's a lot more than that, too. It's mostly about war and what effects it has on people and the other things are just part of that. Some great characters.[/quote]
I've heard others denigrate GWTW as being racist -- particularly for the way Mitchell wrote the slaves' speech. But to do that is to judge her book by today's standards, not by the standards or context of the times in which she wrote it.

Hers is not the only book written pre-Civil Rights that treats black slaves in a less-than-flattering way in literature. When I re-read Anya Seton's My Theodosia earlier this year (which was also written pre-Civil Rights) the way she depicted slaves made me squirm.

For those who don't like GWTW because of the slavery, I can't blame them. But as Misfit says, that's the way it was. All I can say is, I just love the book! Not because of the slavery issue, but in spite of it.

I really think that's the way most people feel. For someone to call that racist is totally missing the mark and unfair.

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Post by Misfit » Mon May 24th, 2010, 8:08 pm

When I re-read Anya Seton's My Theodosia earlier this year (which was also written pre-Civil Rights) the way she depicted slaves made me squirm.
Oh, me too. Really hard to take at times but then like I said before......
At home with a good book and the cat...
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