Gone with the Wind is such a fascinating cultural phenomenon; written by the granddaughter of a Confederate Sergeant, the novel is a glimpse into the generational rationale, 70 years on from the American Civil War, of the those whose families built their wealth upon slavery.
It’s a story that unapologetically frames history’s villains as the tragically-defeated, yet stalwart, champions of ultimate morality and civility. Unlike those in the increasingly-popular genre of villains’ origin stories, Margaret Mitchell’s infamous book is an accidental piece of revisionist history, because she BELIEVED in that which the Confederates defended.
She was an author who diligently spouted rhetoric about the necessity of the slavery complex for the flourishing of African Americans, who, like petty and bewildered children, could not cope without close guidance from the benevolent plantation owners.
Never before have I read a tale in which the Ku Klux Klan’s members were framed as vigilantes; men reluctant to bring about justice by their own hands, but equal to the task when arose the need.
Despite Mitchell’s obviously-problematic stance, this book provides an important and memorable peep into how the descendants of the defeated are raised to revel in a past they never knew.
