Gone-with-the-wind-乱世佳人读书笔记(自己写的)

The Report on Gone with the Wind

Gone

with

the

Wind,

an

American

novel

by

Margaret

Mitchell

published

in

1936 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. The novel is one of the most popular

of

all

time,

and

an

American

film

adaptation

of

the

same

name

released

in

1939

became

the

highest-grossing

film

in

the

history

of

Hollywood

and

received a record-breaking number of Academy Awards.

Mitchell's work relates the story of a rebellious Georgia woman named Scarlett

O'Hara

and

her

travails

with

friends,

family

and

lovers

in

the

midst

of

the

antebellum South, the American Civil War, and the Reconstruction period. It

also tells the story of the love that blossom between Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett

Butler.

Introduction of the Author

Margaret Mitchell was born in Atlanta. Her mother, Maybelle Mitchell, was a

suffragist and father, Eugene Mitchell, a prominent lawyer and president of the

Atlanta Historical Society. Mitchell grew up listening to stories about old Atlanta,

and the battles the Confederate Army had fought there during the American

Civil War. At the age of fifteen, she wrote in her journal:

try for West Point, if I could make it, or well I'd be a prize fighter

–

anything for

the thrills.

to

study

medicine

at

Smith

College

in

1918.

She

had

adopted

her

mother's

feminist leanings, which clashed with her father's conservatism

–

in the new

surroundings, she lived fully the Jazz age.

When Mitchell's mother died in 1919, she returned to home to keep house for

her

father

and

brother.

In

1922,

she

married

Berrien

Upshaw.

The

disastrous

marriage

was

climaxed

by

spousal

rape

and

was

annulled

1924.

Mitchell launched her career as a journalist under the name Peggy

Mitchell,

writing

articles,

interviews,

sketches,

and

book

reviews

for

the

Atlanta Journal. Four

years

later,

she

resigned

after

an

ankle

injury.

Her

second

husband,

John

Robert

Marsh,

an

advertising

manager,

encouraged

Mitchell in her writing aspirations. From 1926 to 1929, she wrote Gone with the

Wind. The outcome, a thousand page novel, was published by the Macmillan

Publishing Company in 1936. The retail(

零售

) price of the book was $$3.00.

Plot Summary

Scarlett O'Hara is the belle of the county and knows it. She participates in a

seemingly

endless

round

of

parties,

dances

and

barbecues,

always

surrounded by boys with whom she appears to be playing an elaborate game.

She

receives

the first shock

of her young

life

when

Ashley Wilkes,

son

of

a

neighboring

plantation

owner,

announces

his

engagement

to

his

cousin

Melanie Hamilton. When she cannot convince Ashley to change his plan, she

quickly throws herself at Charles Hamilton who is shocked and thrilled to think

that she would even consider him. Her plans are further disrupted when war

breaks out, taking the young men away as soldiers, and Charles is among the

first to die. She spends several years in Atlanta where she tries to enjoy life in

her own way in spite of the disapproval of other women of her class.

Her life is further complicated by the presence of Rhett Butler who is known to

be a privateer and opportunist and is

Savannah. Scarlett admits that she is fond of Rhett, but his candor and frank

observations

of

her

character

infuriate

her

whenever

he

is

near.

During

the

siege of Atlanta, she flees home to Tara along with her sister-in-law, Melanie,

and

the

newborn

baby

Beau.

There

she

learns

to

survive

unspeakable

hardships from work in the fields to shooting a Yankee soldier in defense of her

home.

Just when Scarlett thinks the war is over and she can finally put Tara to rights,

a major crisis comes in the form of new taxes-levied deliberately by the new

government administrators and scalawags to try to take Tara away from her.

She returns to Atlanta, hoping to trick Rhett into marrying her so she will have

access

to

his

money.

When

this

fails,

she

steals

her

sister's

fiancé

,

who

happens

to

have

a

store

and

a

little

money

saved

toward

his

wedding.

She

marries

him

and

takes

his

savings

to

pay

her

taxes.

Two

weeks

after

the

wedding, she borrows money from Rhett to buy a lumber mill. She manages

the mill herself and runs sharp bargains with her lumber, stealing customers

from other lumber mills and preying on the sympathies of Yankees to sell her

own. As the political climate in Atlanta worsens, Scarlett's careless behavior

turns

the

people

even

more

solidly

against

her.

Finally,

expectations

are

fulfilled and Scarlett is attacked. The Ku Klux Klan, of which nearly all the men

are a part, pursues vengeance on her behalf and her second husband, Frank

is killed.

Scarlett finally marries Rhett who believes he can't get her any other way, and

the two have a tempestuous marriage in which Scarlett often fantasizes that

Rhett is Ashley. Any chance of salvaging a relationship with Rhett is lost when