Reading Goal? DONE!

Granted, the reading goal I established for 2019 wasn’t that challenging. I knew that when I took it on. Part of the reason for such a lower standard of achievement was to allow me to read other things. Another reason is because next year I’m toying with a monumental goal…so, I wanted something easy this year.

Of course, I say reading Gone with the Windis easy. After all, I read War and Peaceover a summer. (Okay, okay…I wasn’t working, wasn’t married and didn’t have kids then – a totally different world!) If you asked Ed, though, he would say the thought of reading Gone with the Windin a lifetime was completely impossible. So, it’s all about your perspective.

Today Gone with the Wind is a controversial book. It was considered a classic when it was written in 1936 and the movie from 1939 was nominated for thirteen Academy Awards and won eight of those, including best picture, best actor and best actress. It is still considered one of the top 100 movies in American Cinematic history. But that was in the 1930s. Today some hash-tag on Twitter would have it cause a political upheaval…which was never anyone’s intention.

I saw the movie sometime in my late teens. It was one of those movies I just wanted to see because, well, shouldn’t everyone watch Gone with the Wind? Besides, I had to see what sort of man would cause my grandmother and all her friends to sigh every time he walked on screen (and thereby cause my uncle to declare he would nevertake them to a movie again). I can’t say I was impressed with Clark Gable. I’ve seen him in many other things since and he by no means compares to, say, Hugh Jackman. But everyone has their own taste. As for the character Scarlett O’Hara, well, I barely made it through the 238 minutes without throwing something at her. Could anyone possibly be a more spoiled, rotten brat than her? I think not.

So, to be honest, I didn’t jump into the book with any high expectations. Which was good. Because Vivien Leigh earned her Academy Award. Truly, no one could have played spoiled, rotten brat Scarlett O’Hara better than she. She captured the very essence of the book’s heroine, a word that is hard to spit out when talking about a woman who cares for no one else but herself. But I had to give her credit. She never pretended to be anything she wasn’t. She knew she was conceited and didn’t really care. Even in the end when Melanie’s death makes her realize several truths she had selfishly pushed aside, she responds just as you come to expect Scarlett O’Hara to respond: she’d fix it. Which is another trait I will begrudge her: determination. While her goal (wealth, wealth and more wealth) isn’t something to emulate, the fact that she worked hard to achieve it is certainly a trait worth obtaining.

Aside from Scarlett, did I find the book to be controversial? No. Though I know why people say it is. But here’s the reality: you can’t change history. People want to. They certainly try to. Let’s forget the Holocaust, or Stalin, or every regime or people group who has tried to wipe out another people group. And in America, the trend is to forget the War Between the States, or slavery, or Reconstruction. Let’s knock down statues of great men, give money to those whose ancestors may (or may not) have been slaves and completely ignore the Northern aggression that dictated the military strong-arming of the South after the war. I’m sorry, but you can’t. Because the problems we face today are rooted in the wars, genocides and dictatorships of the past. You can pretend Gone with the Wind doesn’t exist all you want. But it does. And if it steps on your toes, well, too bad. Because pretending Hitler was never born doesn’t explain away the millions of people he had killed. And wiping American history clean of the Reconstruction doesn’t wipe away the reality of slavery, in the North or in the South. Deal with it.

So, would I recommend Gone with the Windas a great read? Well, you certainly have to get over Scarlett. And one can’t really say Rhett Butler is much better, although at least he’s blatantly honest about his dishonesty. The forever mooning Ashley Wilkes leaves much to be desired. Not even his sainted wife Melanie can make up for him. On the other hand, aren’t all people flawed? And the book certainly contains some quirky Southern characters of all colors. It also demonstrates well a cast of characters who simply lived in the times in which they lived, fighting to survive in a world that changed overnight right before their eyes. I would have to say, yes, if you like to read really large books Gone with the Windis worth your time, no matter which side of the Mason Dixon you may be from.