Gone with wind
应用英语学院刘莉莉0907 1201090514
《Gone with the wind》
Having read the novel Gone With The Wind written by American writer Margaret Mitchell,I was deeply shocked.The novel, which the author spent about 10 years on, not only created a myth,but also show her own personal charm to the world. Novel's underground is based on the Civil War .It is happened in the United States.
Now I want to talk about the character in this book .
Heroine Scarlett is a simple but very complex figure. On the surface she has kinds of good quality,quiet, good-hearted, full of ability like her mother . Contacting her at first, I thought that she is just a beautiful woman , She 's so beautiful that almost all the young men in the book are tempated by her. She almost makes many men crazy. But her exaggerated and performance doesn't work on Rhett Butler and Ashley Wilkes, and makes a completely different effects. Scarlett can't grasp the heart of Ashley Wilkes, he is out of her control. To my surprise, she produced some mystical love toward him. But to Rhett Butler,she gain the feeling of hate. These two feelings, as the main theme of the novels from beginning to end.
Scarlett's hasty makes her pay a great price! In order to show that she is not “no buyer” to Ashley Wilkes, she get married with Charlesa Hamilton who she doesn't like. Soon after the war broke out, Charles die. At that time, she is just a willful child . Consequences and responsibility don't seem to have relations to her. But she continues to show her own charm and still attracts a lot of men .
War has changed Scarlett, and it also enables me to a better understanding toward her. She kills the Northern soliders at the critical moment, and creats a poverty. It all reflects her strong, courage. In order to protect her families and industries, she had to get married with Frank Kennedy, which shows her spirit of sacrifice to us. Scarlett is a proud woman after all, she turn a blind eye to many beautiful things around her, such as Melanie Hamilton Wilkes' love, and Rhett Butler's care, not to mention the treasure! It seems that nobody can see through her.
I think every one of us has her own desires, each person is serching for her own happiness . The desire will be a driving force for us, and the desire can improve the development of culture. Science and technology may also lead to crime and war. Though desires may have some bad effects on us, it’s very important. We will pursue our own happiness, although there might be some difficulties and disputes, we should not give up our desire!。
英文读后感 Gone with the Wind
英文读后感 Gone with the WindIn the "gone with the wind", the American Civil War is described, which depicts the painful transformation process from slavery to capitalism in the middle of the nineteenth Century in the middle of the United States. But it is not the theme of war, the authors do not intend to do historical road. The theme is love, about youth.The war killed women Scarlett's youth, he was a headstrong man, full of vitality and fantasy, like a green fairy girl. But in these beautiful and lively appearance, she is also stubborn and hypocritical to be chasing for the honor but not treasure, proud she missed the handsome she loved Ashley, and has been rejected and ridiculed Reed later. Then she married Charles with her self - abandonment and ended her beautiful maiden age. After Charles's death, she became a widow at the age of seventeen. The next life is unfortunate, and finally she had to maintain the image of sarcastic ridicule a broken family chaos.In fact, she could have lived a happy life, but her vanity and pride hurt those who love her man's heart, just like the text they say: "God bless the one who loved you, you crumple up his heart." "I've never been that kind of person. I can't pick up fragments and combine them together. Then I tell myself that this patch is exactly the same as the new one. A broken thing is broken. I'd rather remember the best of it,rather than fix it up, and then look at those broken places for life. "I love you, but I don't want you to know that you are cruel to those who love you. You can catch their love and whip them on their heads."In fact, the author appoints a strong attachment and sadness to his youth in Scarlett's body, rather than to show the cruelty of war, rather than to warn people to cherish youth and seize the present.。
gone with the wind讲解
电影飘的观后感
以美国南北战争为背景的电影飘,也称为乱世佳人,真的是很一部很好的爱情和励志电影,女主人公大胆而热烈的追求自己的爱情,但最后始终没有得到,但他从没有放弃过,经历漫长的曲折一直到后来嫁给了瑞德,一个很富有的投机商人,但他是爱情的专一者,从第一次见到思嘉就没有放弃过对他的追求,这2个人物都表现了极明显的个性特征,都敢于追求自己的想要的东西,并且富有智慧和毅力。
思嘉对爱情的忠贞和最后发现自己竟然不了解所爱的人。
最后终于明白自己真正喜欢的人是瑞德,于是她要让瑞德重新回到自己的身边。
经历南北战争的萧条,女主人为了兑现对艾希莉的诺言,依然坚持帮助梅兰妮和她的儿子,费劲千辛万苦终于回到自己的家乡泰拉,确是什么都没有,贫穷,挨饿,生活在崩溃的边缘,,但是思嘉在这时表现了极大的勇敢和坚韧,她担负起家庭生活的重担,辛苦的劳作带领一家人在困难中生活,真的可歌可赞!那一刻女主人的性格刻画的淋漓尽致!好一个坚强的女性!战后,为了不再贫穷,她费劲心机让自己富有,不惜嫁给一个自己不喜欢的木材商人,经过她的精心经营,终于让自己富有起来,好一个精明能干的女人!。
Gone with The Wind(乱世佳人)经典电影对白双语阅读
Gone with The Windnd is the only thing in the world worth working for, worth fighting for, worth dying for. Because it‘s the only thing that lasts.(土地是世界上唯一值得你去为之工作,为之战斗,为之牺牲的东西,因为它是唯一永恒的东西)2.I wish I could be more like you.(我要像你一样就好了)3.Whatever comes,I‘ll love you, just as I do now. Until I die.(无论发生什么事,我都会像现在一样爱你,直到永远)4.I think it‘s hard winning a war with words.(我认为纸上谈兵没什么作用)5.Sir,you‘re no gentleman. And you miss are no lady.(先生,你可真不是个君子,小姐,你也不是什么淑女)6.I never give anything without expecting something in return. I always get paid.(我做任何事不过是为了有所回报,我总要得到报酬)7.In spite of you and me and the whole silly world going to pieces around us, I love you.(哪怕是世界末日我都会爱着你)8.I love you more than I‘ve ever loved any woman. And I’ve waited longer for you than I‘ve waited for any woman. 此句只可意会不可言传9.If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill, as God as my witness,I‘ll never be hungry again!(即使让我撒谎,去偷,去骗,去杀人,上帝作证,我再也不要挨饿了)10.Now I find myself in a world which for me is worse than death. A world in which there is no place for me.(现在我发现自己活在一个比死还要痛苦的世界,一个无我容身之处的世界)11.You‘re throwing away happiness with both hands. And reaching out for something that will never make you happy.(你把自己的幸福拱手相让,去追求一些根本不会让你幸福的东西)12.Home. I‘ll go home. And I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.(家,我要回家。
gone with the wind
白瑞德
• 穿越封锁线牟取暴利的商人。个性 粗率、实际、不羁,视道德如无物。 他深深地爱着女主角郝思嘉,他的爱 看似平淡不经意,实则非常深沉。他 可以包容郝思嘉一直爱着别人,最终 他感到太累了,于是离开了思嘉。
• 瑞德是一个性格的复杂体。一方面 ,从他身上可以看到19世纪西方资本 主义社会中的资本家的某些特性,他 信奉的是野心家的金钱哲学。另一方 面,也可以看到他桀骜不驯的性格下 隐藏的深情和独特的品格。
Gone With The Wind 飘
Alice Summer
作者简介
• 玛格丽特·米切尔
• 美国现代著名女作家。她生于亚 特兰大市,曾获文学博士学位, 担任过《亚特兰大新闻报》的记 者。1937年她获得普利策奖。 1939年获纽约南方协会金质奖章 。1949年,她不幸被车撞死。她 短暂的一生并未留下太多的作品 ,但只一部《飘》足以奠定她在 世界文学史中不可动摇的地位。
“虽然她那宽大飘逸的长裙显得端庄朴素,头发也平 滑地梳在脑后,挽成一个发髻,一双白皙而小巧的手规矩 地叠放在大腿上,但是,她真正的性情并未得到很好的掩 饰。在那张极其恬美的脸上,她那绿色的双眸显得骚动不 安、狡黠任性,而且生气勃勃,与她那副似乎很有教养的 行为举止极不相符。她那副仪态纯粹是平日里在她母亲的 温和训导以及黑人嬷嬷的严厉管教之下形成的,而这一切 都是别人强加给她的。只有她的双眸才是与生俱来、能显 示她本性的地方。”
主人公郝思嘉就是这样一个生活 的强者。小说最吸引人的地方是郝 思嘉的个性以及她的爱情故事。她 的爱情不是充满诗意和浪漫情调的 那一种,而是现实的和功利的。为 了达到目的,她甚至不惜使用为人 所不齿的狡诈伎俩。
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Gone with the wind剧情及其人物详介
•乱世佳人乱世佳人Gone with the Wind(1939)原著:《飘》(玛格丽特·米切尔著)电影:《乱世佳人》(GONE WITH THE WIND)导演:维克多·弗莱明主演:费雯·丽、克拉克·盖博、李斯利·霍华德、奥莉薇·黛·哈佛兰类型:剧情爱情战争上映:1939年01月15日地区:美国时长:238 分钟颜色:彩色对白:英语出品:米高梅公司剧情简介《乱世佳人》(GONE WITH THE WIND)是好莱坞影史上最值得骄傲的一部旷世巨片,影片放映时间长达4小时,观者如潮。
其魅力贯穿整个20世纪,因此有好莱坞“第一巨片”之称。
影片当年耗资400多万美元,历时三年半完成,其间数换导演,银幕上出现了60多位主要演员和9000多名配角演员。
在1939年的第12届奥斯卡奖中一举夺得八项金像奖,轰动美国影坛。
这部耗资巨大,场景豪华,战争场面宏大逼真的历史巨片,以它令人称道的艺术成就成为美国电影史上一部经典作品,令人百看不厌。
1861年南北战争爆发的前夕,塔拉庄园的千金小姐斯佳丽爱上了另一庄园主的儿子阿希礼,但阿希礼却选择了查尔斯的表妹——温柔善良的玫兰妮为终身伴侣。
斯佳丽出于妒恨,抢先嫁给了玫兰妮的哥哥查尔斯。
不久,美国南北战争爆发了。
阿希礼和查尔斯作为征兵上了前线。
查尔斯很快就在战争中死去了。
斯佳丽成了寡妇,但她内心却一直热恋着阿希礼。
一天,在一次举行义卖的舞会上,斯佳丽和风度翩翩的商人瑞特相识。
瑞特开始追求斯佳丽,但遭到她的拒绝。
斯佳丽一心只想着去追求阿希礼,结果也遭到拒绝。
在战争中,美国南方军遭到失败,亚特兰大城里挤满了伤兵。
斯佳丽和妹妹玫兰妮自愿加入护士行列照顾伤兵。
目睹战乱带来的惨状,任性的斯佳丽成熟了不少。
这时,从前线传来消息,北方军快打过来了,不少人家惊惶地开始逃离家园,而斯佳丽的母亲和两个妹妹也患病了,斯佳丽十分想要回去塔拉庄园,回到敬爱的母亲身边。
gone with the wind 飘 中英文双语介绍
Gone with the WindPlot summaryGone with the Wind takes place in the southern United States in the state of Georgia during the American Civil War (1861–1865) and the Reconstruction Era (1865–1877) that followed the war. The novel unfolds against the backdrop of rebellion wherein seven southern states, Georgia among them, have declared their secession from the United States (the "Union") and formed the Confederate States of America (the "Confederacy"), after Abraham Lincoln was elected president with no ballots from ten Southern states where slavery was legal. A dispute over states' rights has arisen[60] involving enslaved African people who were the source of manual labor on cotton plantations throughout the South. The story opens in April 1861 at the "Tara" plantation, which is owned by a wealthy Irish immigrant family, the O'Haras. The reader is told Scarlett O'Hara, the sixteen-year-old daughter of Gerald and Ellen O'Hara, "was not beautiful, but"[54] had an effect on men, especially when she took notice of them. It is the day before the men are called to war, Fort Sumter having been fired on two days earlier.There are brief but vivid descriptions of the South as it began and grew, with backgrounds of the main characters: the stylish and highbrow French, the gentlemanly English, the forced-to-flee and looked-down-upon Irish. Miss Scarlett learns that one of her many beaux, Ashley Wilkes, is soon to be engaged to his cousin, Melanie Hamilton. She is stricken at heart. The following day at the Wilkeses' barbecue at "Twelve Oaks," Scarlett informs Ashley she loves him and Ashley admits he cares for her.[60] However, he knows he would not be happily married to Scarlett because of their personality differences. Scarlett loses her temper at Ashley and he silently takes it.Then Scarlett meets Rhett Butler, a man who has a reputation as a rogue. Rhett had been alone in the library when Ashley and Scarlett entered, and felt it wiser to not make his presence known while the argument took place. Rhett applauds Scarlett for the unladylike spirit she displayed with Ashley. Infuriated and humiliated, Scarlett tells Rhett, "You aren't fit to wipe Ashley's boots!"[60]Upon leaving the library and rejoining the other party guests, she finds out that war has been declared and the men are going to enlist. Seeking revenge for being jilted by Ashley, Scarlett accepts a proposal of marriage from Melanie's brother, Charles Hamilton. They marry two weeks later. Charles dies from measles two months after the war begins. Scarlett is pregnant with her first child. A widow at merely sixteen, she gives birth to a boy, Wade Hampton Hamilton, named after his father's general.[61] As a widow, she is bound by tradition to wear black and avoid conversation with young men. Scarlett is despondent as a result of the restrictions placed upon her.Melanie, who is living in Atlanta with Aunt Pittypat, invites Scarlett to live with them. In Atlanta, Scarlett's spirits revive and she is busy with hospital work and sewing circles for the Confederate army. Scarlett encounters Rhett Butler again at a dance for the Confederacy. Although Rhett believes the war is a lost cause, he is blockade running for the profit in it. The men must bid for a dance with a lady and Rhett bids "one hundred fifty dollars-in gold"[37] for a dance with Scarlett.Everyone at the dance is shocked that Rhett would bid for Scarlett, the widow still dressed in black. Melanie smooths things over by coming to Rhett's defense because he is generously supporting the Confederate cause for which her husband, Ashley, is fighting.At Christmas (1863), Ashley has been granted a furlough from the army and returns to Atlanta to be with Melanie. The war is going badly for the Confederacy. Atlanta is under siege (September 1864), "hemmed in on three sides,"[62] it descends into a desperate state while hundreds of wounded Confederate soldiers lie dying or dead in the city. Melanie goes into labor with only the inexperienced Scarlett to assist, as all the doctors are busy attending the soldiers. Prissy, a young Negro servant girl, cries out in despair and fear, "De Yankees is comin!"[63] In the chaos, Scarlett, left to fend for herself, cries for the comfort and safety of her mother and Tara. The tattered Confederate States Army sets flame to Atlanta as they abandon it to the Union Army.Melanie gives birth to a boy named Beauregard, and now they must hurry for refuge. Scarlett tells Prissy to go find Rhett, but she is afraid to "go runnin' roun' in de dahk". Scarlett replies to Prissy, "Haven't you any gumption?"[63] Prissy then finds Rhett, and Scarlett begs him to take herself, Wade, Melanie, Beau, and Prissy to Tara. Rhett laughs at the idea, but steals an emaciated horse and a small wagon, and they follow the retreating army out of Atlanta.Part way to Tara, Rhett has a change of heart and he abandons Scarlett to enlist in the army. Scarlett makes her way to Tara without him where she is welcomed on the steps by her father, Gerald. It is clear things have drastically changed: Gerald has lost his mind, Scarlett's mother is dead, her sisters are sick with typhoid fever, the field slaves left after Emancipation, the Yankees have burned all the cotton and there is no food in the house.The long tiring struggle for post-war survival begins that has Scarlett working in the fields. There are so many hungry people to feed and so little food. There is the ever present threat of the Yankees who steal and burn, and at one point, Scarlett kills a Yankee marauder with a single shot from Charles's pistol leaving "a bloody pit where the nose had been."[64]A long succession of Confederate soldiers returning home stop at Tara to find food and rest. Two men stay on, an invalid Cracker, Will Benteen, and Ashley Wilkes, whose spirit is broken. Life at Tara slowly begins to recover when a new threat appears in the form of new taxes on Tara.Scarlett knows only one man who has enough money to help her pay the taxes, Rhett Butler. She goes to Atlanta to find him only to learn Rhett is in jail. As she is leaving the jailhouse, Scarlett runs into Frank Kennedy, who is betrothed to Scarlett's sister, Suellen, and running a store in Atlanta. Soon realizing Frank also has money, Scarlett hatches a plot and tells Frank that Suellen has changed her mind about marrying him. Thereafter Frank succumbs to Scarlett's feminine charms and he marries her two weeks later knowing he has done "something romantic and exciting for the first time in his life."[65] Always wanting Scarlett to be happy and radiant, Frank gives her the money to pay the taxes on Tara.While Frank has a cold and is being pampered by Aunt Pittypat, Scarlett goes over the accounts atFrank's store and finds many of his friends owe him money. Scarlett is now terrified about the taxes and decides money, a lot of it, is needed. She takes control of his business while he is away and her business practices leave many Atlantans resentful of her. Then with a loan from Rhett she buys a sawmill and runs the lumber business herself, all very unladylike conduct. Much to Frank's relief, Scarlett learns she is pregnant, which curtails her activities for awhile. She convinces Ashley to come to Atlanta and manage the mill, all the while still in love with him. At Melanie's urging, Ashley takes the job at the mill. Melanie soon becomes the center of Atlanta society, and Scarlett gives birth to a girl named Ella Lorena. "Ella for her grandmother Ellen, and Lorena because it was the most fashionable name of the day for girls."[66]The state of Georgia is under martial law and life there has taken on a new and more frightening tone. For protection, Scarlett keeps Frank's pistol tucked in the upholstery of the buggy. Her trips alone to and from the mill take her past a shanty town where criminal elements live. On one evening when she is coming home from the mill, Scarlett is accosted by two men who attempt to rob her, but she escapes with the help of Big Sam, the former negro foreman from Tara. Attempting to avenge the assault on his wife, Frank and the Ku Klux Klan raid the shanty town whereupon Frank is shot dead. Scarlett is a widow for a second time.Rhett puts on a charade to keep the men who participated in the shanty town raid from being arrested. He walks into the Wilkeses' home with Hugh Elsing and Ashley, singing and pretending to be drunk. Yankee officers outside the home question Rhett and he tells them he and the other men had been at Belle Watling's brothel that evening, a story Belle later confirms to the officers. The men are indebted to Rhett for saving them, and his Scallawag reputation among them improves a notch, but the men's wives, with the exception of Melanie, are livid at owing their husbands' lives to Belle Watling.Frank Kennedy lies cold in a coffin in the quiet stillness of the parlor in Aunt Pittypat's home. Scarlett is in a remorseful state. She is swigging brandy from Aunt Pitty's swoon bottle when Rhett comes to call. She tells Rhett tearfully, "I'm afraid I'll die and go to hell," to which Rhett replies, "Maybe there isn't a hell."[19] Before she can cry any further, Rhett asks Scarlett to marry him saying, "I always intended having you, one way or another."[19] Scarlett declares she doesn't love him and doesn't want to be married again. However, Rhett kisses her passionately, and in the heat of the moment she agrees to marry him. One year later, Scarlett and Rhett announce their engagement.News of the impending marriage is the talk of the town. Mr. and Mrs. Butler honeymoon in New Orleans, spending lavishly. Upon their return to Atlanta, the couple take up residence in the bridal suite at the National Hotel while their new home on Peachtree Street is being constructed. Scarlett chooses a modern Swiss chalet style home like the one she saw in Harper's Weekly, and red wallpaper, thick red carpet and black walnut furniture for the interior. Rhett describes the house as an "architectural horror".[67] Shortly after the Butlers move into their new home, the sardonic jabs between them turn into full-blown quarrels. Scarlett wonders why Rhett married her. Then "with real hate in her eyes"[67] she tells Rhett she is going to have a baby, a baby she does not want.Wade is seven years old in 1869 when his sister, Eugenie Victoria, named after two queens, arrives in the world. She has blue eyes like Gerald O'Hara and Melanie gives her the nickname, "Bonnie Blue," in reference to the Bonnie Blue Flag of the Confederacy.When Scarlett is feeling well again, she makes a trip to the mill and talks to Ashley, who is alone in the office. In the conversation with him, she comes away believing Ashley still loves her and is jealous of her intimate relations with Rhett, which excites her. Scarlett returns home and tells Rhett she does not want more children. From then on, Scarlett and Rhett sleep in separate bedrooms, and when Bonnie is two years old, she sleeps in a little bed beside Rhett's bed (with the light on all night long because she is afraid of the dark). Rhett turns his attention towards Bonnie, dotes on her, spoils her, and worries about her reputation when she is older.Melanie is giving a surprise birthday party for Ashley. Scarlett goes to the mill to keep Ashley there until party time, a rare opportunity for Scarlett to see Ashley alone. When she sees him, she feels "sixteen again, a little breathless and excited."[68] Ashley tells her how pretty she looks, and they reminisce about the days when they were young and talk about their lives now. Suddenly Scarlett's eyes fill with tears and Ashley holds her head against his chest. Then in the doorway of the office Ashley sees standing his sister, India Wilkes. Before the party has even begun rumors of an adulterous relationship between Ashley and Scarlett have started, and Rhett and Melanie have heard the gossip. Melanie refuses to accept any criticism of her sister in-law and India Wilkes is banished from the Wilkeses' home for it, causing a rift in the family.Rhett, more drunk than Scarlett has ever seen him, returns home the evening of the party long after Scarlett. His eyes are bloodshot and his mood is dark and violent. He enjoins Scarlett to drink with him. Not wanting Rhett to know she is fearful of him, Scarlett throws back a drink and gets up from her chair to go back to her bedroom. But Rhett stops her and pins her shoulders to the wall. Scarlett tells Rhett he is jealous of Ashley and Rhett accuses Scarlett of "crying for the moon"[53] over Ashley. He tells Scarlett they could have been happy together saying, "for I loved you and I know you."[53] Rhett then takes Scarlett in his arms and carries her up the stairs to her bedroom where passion envelops them.The following morning Rhett leaves town with Bonnie and Prissy and stays away for three months. Scarlett finds herself missing him, but she is still unsure if Rhett loves her, having told her so when he was drunk. She learns she is pregnant with her fourth child.On the day Rhett arrives home, Scarlett waits for him at the top of the stairs. She wonders if Rhett will kiss her, but to Scarlett's irritation, he does not. He tells her she looks pale. Scarlett tells him she is pale because she is pregnant. Rhett sarcastically asks her if the father is Ashley. She calls Rhett a cad and tells him no woman would want a baby of his. To which Rhett responds, "cheer up, maybe you'll have a miscarriage."[69] At that comment, Scarlett lunges at Rhett, but he side steps and she tumbles backwards down the stairs. She is seriously ill for the first time in her life, having lost her child and broken her ribs. Rhett is remorseful, believing he has killed her. Sobbing and drunk, Rhett buries his head in Melanie's lap and confesses he had been a jealouscad.Scarlett, who is thin and pale, goes to Tara taking Wade and Ella with her, to regain her strength and vitality from "the green cotton fields of home."[70] When she returns a healthy woman to Atlanta, she sells the mills to Ashley. She finds Rhett's attitude has noticeably changed. He is sober, kinder, polite and seemingly disinterested. Though she misses the old Rhett at times, Scarlett is content to leave well enough alone.Now Bonnie is four years old in 1873. A spirited and willful child, she has her father wrapped around her finger and giving into her every demand. Even Scarlett is jealous of the attention she gets from him. Rhett rides his horse around town with Bonnie in front of him, but the household mammy, "Mammy," insists it is not fitting for a girl to ride a horse with her dress flying up. Rhett heeds Mammy's words and buys Bonnie a Shetland pony, whom she names "Mr. Butler," and teaches her to ride sidesaddle. Then Rhett pays a boy named Wash twenty-five cents to teach Mr. Butler to jump over wood bars. When Mr. Butler is able to get his fat legs over a one foot high bar, Rhett puts Bonnie on the pony, and soon Mr. Butler is leaping bars and Aunt Melly's rose bushes.Wearing her blue velvet riding habit with a red feather in her black hat, Bonnie pleads with her father to raise the bar to one and a half feet. He gives in and raises the bar, warning her not to come crying to him if she falls. Bonnie yells to her Mother, "Watch me take this one!"[71] The pony gallops towards the wood bar, but trips over it splintering the wood. Mr. Butler tumbles to the ground then scrambles to his feet and trots off with an empty saddle. Little Miss "Bonnie Blue" Butler is dead.In the dark days and months following Bonnie's death, Rhett is often drunk and disheveled, while Scarlett, though deeply grieved also, seems to hold up under the strain. With the untimely death of Melanie Wilkes a short time later, Rhett decides he only wants the calm dignity of the genial South he once knew in his youth and he leaves Atlanta to find it. Meanwhile, Scarlett dreams of love that has eluded her for so long. However, she still has Tara and is determined to win Rhett back, and "tomorrow is another day.此书名取自恩斯特·道森的诗《sum qualís eram bonae sub regno Cynarae》第三段第一句: "我忘却的太多了,Cynara!随风而去."(原文:I have forgot much, Cynara! gone with the wind).书名的也同样在小说中出现:当思嘉丽为躲避北方军对亚特兰大的轰击,逃回她家族的农场,塔拉.有一个瞬间,她想到:"塔拉还在吗?抑或是它已经随着席卷佐治亚州的风暴而去了呢?"(Was Tara still standing? Or was Tara also gone with the wind which had swept through Georgia?"1861年4月,美国南北两方的关系已经非常紧张。
gone_with_the_wind
Tomorrow is another day!
Thank
You!
爱情是电影永恒的题材,正如片名一样,《乱世佳人》(Gone With The Wind)暗示着18世纪中叶美国南方文化的随风而去,暗示着新的时代的 来临。这不是一部纯粹的爱情影片,我更愿称它为史诗片,动荡的年代,对 爱情的狂热追求,主人公在困难与挫折前所表现出的勇气与奋斗不息的精神 着实感动了人们 。《乱世佳人》生动地再现了南部种植园经济由兴盛到崩溃、 奴隶主生活由骄奢淫逸到穷途末路、奴隶制经济为资本主义经济所取代的社 会变革。以“乱世佳人”斯嘉丽为主线,描写了几对青年的爱情纠葛。女主 角斯嘉丽年轻貌美,但她的所作所为显示了没落奴隶主阶级的某些本质特征: 残酷、贪婪、自信,为了自己和庄园的利益可以把爱情和婚姻作为交易。但 同时斯嘉丽又是勇敢、坚强,对爱情有着火一样的狂野。我想这正是吸引瑞 德的地方。而男主角瑞德,则是放荡不羁、玩世不恭,豪迈却时而透露着绅 士风度。不同于平常爱情的爱情,注定会让人难忘。一个像风一样飘乎不定 没有根的男人却深爱着一个自信残酷贪婪的女人,只有如此才能证实爱情的 伟大 。两个相像的人,都是生活中的强者,却还想做感情中的强者,这是行 不通的。爱不需要蛮横,也是不能蛮横的。瓜熟蒂落,水到渠成,如同生命 一般自然,飘来飘去的才是爱情。永恒的爱情蕴藏于宏大的战争中,《乱世 佳人》也着实成了世界影迷心中永远的纪念和美好的回忆 。
斯坦纳在谱曲
《乱世佳人》经典对白欣赏
I wish I could be more like you. 我要像你一样就好了。 Whatever comes, I'll love you, just as I do now. Until I die. 无论发生什么事,我都会像现在一样爱你,直到永远 In spite of you and me and the whole silly world going to pieces around us, I love you. 哪怕是世界末日我都会爱着你。 Now I find myself in a world which for me is worse than death. A world in which there is no place for me. 现在我发现自己活在一个比死还要痛苦的世界,一个无我容身之 处的世界。
GONE WITH WIND 英语演讲.ppt
Introduction
• Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's. Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard. Set in the 19th century American South, the film stars Clark Gable, Vivien , Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, and Hattie McDaniel, among others, and tells a story of the American Civil War and Reconstruction era from a white Southern point of view.
获得奖项 • 本片在第十二届奥斯卡金像奖(1939)中荣获八项大奖: • 最佳女主角奖(Best Actress)..............费雯·丽(Vivien Leigh) • 最佳女配角奖(Best Supporting Actress)......哈蒂·麦克丹尼尔 (Hattie McDaniel) • 最佳影片奖(Best Picture《乱世佳人》(Gone With the Wind) • 最佳导演奖(Best Director)维克多·弗莱明(Victor Fleming) • 最佳编剧奖(Best Screenplay)悉尼·霍华德 (Sidney Howard) • 最佳艺术指导(Best Art Direction)...............Lyle R. Wheeler • 最佳摄影奖(Best Cinematography)............Ernest Haller & Ray Rennahan • 最佳剪辑奖(Best Film Editing)....................Hal C. Kern & James E. Newcom
Gone with the Wind《飘》或,乱世佳人英语简介
Gone with the WindGone with the Wind, an American novel by Margaret Mitchell, waspublished in 1936 and won the Pulitzer Prize in1937. The novel is one of themost popular of all time, and an American film adaptation of the same namereleased in 1939 became the highest-grossing film in the history of Hollywoodand received a record-breaking number of Academy Awards.Mitchell's work relates the story of a rebellious Georgia woman named ScarlettO'Hara and her travails with friends, family and lovers in the midst of theantebellum South, the American Civil War, and the Reconstruction period. Italso tells the story of the love that blossoms between Scarlett O'Hara andRhett Butler.The title is taken from the first line of the third stanza of the poem Non sumqualís eram bonae sub regno Cynarae by Ernest Dowson:"I have forgot much,Cynara! gone with the wind." Alternatively, the line also appears in the novel.When Scarlett escapes Atlanta's bombing by the forces of the north, she fleesback to her family's plantation, Tara. At one point, she wonders "Was Tara stillstanding? Or was Tara also gone with the wind which had swept throughGeorgia?"a metaphor for the South's viewpoint on the statehood ofKansas.Nevertheless, the book includes a vid description of the fall of Atlanta in1864and the devastation of war (some of it absent from the 1939 film), and shows aconsiderable amount of historical research. Mitchell's sweeping narrative ofwar and loss helped the book win the Pulitzer Prize on May 3,1937.An episode in the book suggests the early Ku Klux Klan, though without givingthe name:in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, Scarlett is assualted byrecently-emancipated Blacks, whereupon her male friends make a retaliatorynight-time raid on the Blacks' encampment. This raid is presentedsympathetically as being necessary and justified, while the law-enforcementofficers trying to catch the perpetrators are depicted as opressive Northernoccupiers. Although the Klan is not mentioned in that scene, Scarlett laterlearns that Ashley Wilkes and others who were involved in the raid arembers of the Klan. Many such local anti-Black vigilante groups dideventually join the Klan in the late 1860's, as Mitchell must have been awarefrom her historical reasearch.Alexandra Ripley wrote the novel Scarlett, in 1991, as the authorized sequel toMitchell's novel.In 2000, the copyright holders attempted to suppress publication of AliceRandall's The Wind Done Gone, a book that retold the story from the point ofview of the slaves. A federal appeals court denied the plaintiffs an injunctionagainst publication in Suntrust v. Houghton Mifflin(2001), on the basis that thebook was parody protected by the First Amendment. The parties subsequentlysettled out of court to allow the book to be publishedHistorical Sources for the CharactersWhile Margaret Mitchell used to say that her Gone with the Wind characterswere not based on real people, modern researchers have found similarities tosome of the people in Mitchell's own life as well as to individuals she knew orshe heard of. Rhett Butler is thought to be based on Mitchell's first husband,Red Upshaw, who she married in 1922, but divorced after it was revealed thathe was a bootlegger.Another at least pàrtial character source for Scarlett O'Hara mighthave been Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, the mother of US presidentTheodoreRoosevelt.Rooseveltbiographer,DavidMcCullough,discoveredthatMitchellco nductedaninterviewwithoneofMartha'sclosestfriendsandbridesmaid, Evelyn King Williams, at age 87, while a reporter forTheAtlantaJournal.Inthatinterview,Martha'sphysicalappearance,beauty,grace and intelligence were described in great detail. The similaritiesbetween Martha, who was also called Mittie, and Sc。
(乱世佳人)Gone_with_the_Wind_英文介绍及赏析
ARGARET ITCHELL WAS BORNlawyer and the president of the Atlanta Historical Society, and her mother was a suffragette (a woman in support of extending the right to vote, especially to women) and an advoc ate of women’s rights in general. Mitchell grew up listening to stories about Atlanta during the Civil War, stories often told by people who had lived through the war. Mitchell attended Smith College, a women’s college in Northampton, Massachusetts. In 1919, she returned to Atlanta and began to live a lifestyle considered wild by the standards of the 1920s. After a disastrous first marriage, Mitchell began a career as a journalist and married an advertising executive named John Robert Marsh. In 1926, encouraged by her husband, Mitchell began to write the novel that would become Gone with the Wind. She went through nine complete drafts of the thousand-page work, setting an epic romance against the Civil War background she knew so well. In the first ei ght drafts, the protagonist was called Prissy Hamilton, not Scarlett O’Hara (as the character was renamed in the final draft).Gone with the Wind differs from most Civil War novels by glorifying the South and demonizing the North. Other popular novels about the Civil War, such as Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage, are told from a Northern perspective and tend to exalt the North’s values. Mitchell’s novel is unique also for its portrayal of a strong-willed, independent woman, Scarlett O’Hara, who shares many characteristics with Mitchell herself. Mitchell frequently defied convention, divorcing her first husband and pursuing a career in journalism despite the disapproval of society.Gone with the Wind was published in 1936, ten years after Mitchell began writing it. A smash success upon publication, Gone with the Wind became—and remains even now—one of the best-selling novels of all time. It received the 1937 Pulitzer Prize. In the late 1930s a film version of the novel was planned, and David O. S elznick’s nationwide search for an actress to play Scarlett O’Hara captivated the nation’s attention. The resulting film starred Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable as Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler, and it quickly became one of the most popular motion pictures of all time.Mitchell was less than thrilled by the sweeping popularity of her work. She found the spotlight uncomfortable and grew exhausted and ill. Gone with the Wind is her only novel, though she continued to write nonfiction. Mitchell volunteered extensively during World War II and seemed to regain her strength. In 1949 a car struck and killed Mitchell while she was crossing Peachtree Street in Atlanta.Many critics question the literary merit and outdated racial stances of Gone with the Wind. Some consider the novel fluffy, partly because women of Mitchell’s time rarely received credit for serious literary fiction and partly because the novel features a romance along with its historical plot. Both blacks and whites have harshly criticized Mitchell’s sympathetic depiction of slavery and the Ku Klux Klan and her racist depiction of blacks. The novel is most valuable ifread with an understanding of three historical contexts: our own, Mitchell’s, and Scarlett’s.Plot OverviewI T IS THE SPRING OF 1861.Scarlett O’Hara, a pretty Southern belle, lives on Tara, a large plantation in Georgia. She concerns herself only with her numerous suitors and her desire to marry Ashley Wilkes. One day she hears that Ashley is engaged to Melanie Hamilton, his frail, plain cousin from Atlanta. At a barbecue at the Wilkes plantation the next day, Scarlett confesses her feelings to Ashley. He tells her that he does love her but that he is marrying Melanie because she is similar to him, whereas he and Scarlett are very different. Scarlett slaps Ashley and he leaves the room. Suddenly Scarlett realizes that she is not alone. Rhett Butler, a scandalous but dashing adventurer, has been watching the whole scene, and he compliments Scarlett on being unladylike.The Civil War begins. Charles Hamilton, Melanie’s timid, dull brother, proposes to Scarlett. She spitefully agrees to marry him, hoping to hurt Ashley. Over the course of two months, Scarlett and Charles marry, Charles joins the army and dies of the measles, and Scarlett learns that she is pregnant. After Scarlett gives birth to a son, Wade, she becomes bored and unhappy. She makes a long trip to Atlanta to stay with Melanie and Melanie’s aun t, Pittypat. The busy city agrees with Scarlett’s temperament, and she begins to see a great deal of Rhett. Rhett infuriates Scarlett with his bluntness and mockery, but he also encourages her to flout the severely restrictive social requirements for mourning Southern widows. As the war progresses, food and clothing run scarce in Atlanta. Scarlett and Melanie fear for Ashley’s safety. After the bloody battle of Gettysburg, Ashley is captured and sent to prison, and the Yankee army begins bearing down on Atlanta. Scarlett desperately wants to return home to Tara, but she has promised Ashley she will stay with the pregnant Melanie, who could give birth at any time.On the night the Yankees capture Atlanta and set it afire, Melanie gives birth to her son, Beau. Rhett helps Scarlett and Melanie escape the Yankees, escorting them through the burning streets of the city, but he abandons them outside Atlanta so he can join the Confederate Army. Scarlett drives the cart all night and day through a dangerous forest full of deserters and soldiers, at last reaching Tara. She arrives to find that her mother, Ellen, is dead; her father, Gerald, has lost his mind; and the Yankee army has looted the plantation, leaving no food or cotton. Scavenging for subsistence, a furious Scarlett vows never to go hungry again.Scarlett takes charge of rebuilding Tara. She murders a Yankee thief and puts out a fire set by a spiteful Yankee soldier. At last the war ends, word comes that Ashley is free and on his way home, and a stream of returning soldiers begins pouring through Tara. One such soldier, a one-legged homeless Confederate named Will Benteen, stays on and helps Scarlett with the plantation. One day, Will brings terrible news: Jonas Wilkerson, a former employee at Tara and current government official, has raised the taxes on Tara, hoping to drive theO’Haras out so that he mig ht buy the plantation. Distraught, Scarlett hurries toAtlanta to seduce Rhett Butler so that he will give her the three hundred dollars she needs for taxes. Rhett has emerged from the war a fabulously wealthy man, dripping with earnings from his blockade-running operation and from food speculation. However, Rhett is in a Yankee jail and cannot help Scarlett. Scarlett sees her sister’s beau, Frank Kennedy, who now owns a general store, and forges a plan. Determined to save Tara, she betrays her sister and marries Frank, pays the taxes on Tara, and devotes herself to making Frank’s business more profitable.After Rhett blackmails his way out of prison, he lends Scarlett enough moneyto buy a sawmill. To the displeasure of Atlanta society, Scarlett becomes a shrewd businesswoman. Gerald dies, and Scarlett returns to Tara for the funeral. There, she persuades Ashley and Melanie to move to Atlanta and accept a share in her lumber business. Shortly thereafter, Scarlett gives birth to Frank’s child, Ella Lorena.A free black man and his white male companion attack Scarlett on her way home from the sawmill one day. That night, the Ku Klux Klan avenges the attack on Scarlett, and Frank ends up dead. Rhett proposes to Scarlett and she quickly accepts. After a long, luxurious honeymoon in New Orleans, Scarlett and Rhett return to Atlanta, where Scarlett builds a garish mansion and socializes with wealthy Yankees. Scarlett becomes pregnant again and has another child, Bonnie Blue Butler. Rhett dotes on the girl and begins a successful campaign to win back the good graces of the prominent Atlanta citizens in order to keep Bonnie from being an outcast like Scarlett.Scarlett and Rhett’s marriage begins happily, but Rhett becomes increasingly bitter and indifferent toward her. Scarlett’s feelings for Ashley have diminished into a warm, sympathetic friendship, but Ashley’s jea lous sister, India, finds them in a friendly embrace and spreads the rumor that they are having an affair. To Scarlett’s surprise, Melanie takes Scarlett’s side and refuses to believe the rumors.After Bonnie is killed in a horse-riding accident, Rhett nearly loses his mind, and his marriage with Scarlett worsens. Not long after the funeral, Melanie has a miscarriage and falls very ill. Distraught, Scarlett hurries to see her. Melanie makes Scarlett promise to look after Ashley and Beau. Scarlett realizes that she loves and depends on Melanie and that Ashley has been only a fantasy for her. She concludes that she truly loves Rhett. After Melanie dies, Scarlett hurries to tell Rhett of her revelation. Rhett, however, says that he has lost his love for Scarlett, and he leaves her. Grief-stricken and alone, Scarlett makes up her mind to go back to Tara to recover her strength in the comforting arms of her childhood nurse and slave, Mammy, and to think of a way to win Rhett back. Character ListScarlett O’Hara - The novel’s protagonist. Scarlett is a pretty, coquettish Southern belle who grows up on the Georgia plantation of Tara in the years before the Civil War. Selfish, shrewd, and vain, Scarlett inherits the strong will of her father, Gerald, but also desires to please her well-bred, genteel mother, Ellen. When hardships plague Scarlett, she shoulders the troubles of her family andfriends. Scarlett’s simultaneous desire for the Southern gentleman Ashley andthe opportunistic New Southerner Rhett Butler parallels the South’s struggle to cling to tradition and still survive in the new era.Scarlett O’Hara (In-Depth Analysis)Rhett Butler - Scarlett’s third husband, and a dashing, dangerous adventurer and scoundrel. Expelled from West Point and disowned by his prominent Charleston family, Rhett becomes an opportunistic blockade-runner during the war, emerging as one of the only rich Southern men in Atlanta after the war. Rhett proves himself a loving father and, at times, a caring husband. Though he loves Scarlett, his pride prevents him from showing her his love, and it even leads him to brutality. Candid, humorous, and contemptuous of silly social codes, Rhett exposes hypocrisy wherever he goes. He represents postwar society, a pragmatic, fast-paced world in which the strong thrive and the weak perish.Rhett Butler (In-Depth Analysis)Ashley Wilkes - The handsome, chivalrous, and honorable heir to the Twelve Oaks plantation near Tara. Ashley bewitches Scarlett through most of the novel. After the war, Ashley becomes resigned and sad, and he regrets not marrying Scarlett. Committed to his honor and Southern tradition, he cannot adjust to the postwar South. Ashley represents the values and nostalgia of the Old South.Ashley Wilkes (In-Depth Analysis)Melanie Hamilton Wilkes - The frail, good-hearted wife of Ashley Wilkes. Melanie provokes Scarlett’s jealous hatred throughout most of the novel. After the two women suffer together through the Civil War, however, a strong bond forms between them. Eventually, Scarlett understands that Melanie’s unflagging love and support has been a source of strength for her. Like Ashley, Melanie embodies the values of the Old South, but in contrast to Ashley’s futile dreaming, Melanie faces the world with quiet but powerful inner strength.Gerald O’Hara - Scarlett’s father. Gerald is a passionately loyal Confederate who immigrated to America from Ireland as a young man. His strong will, tendency to drink, and selfishness echo in Sca rlett’s nature. Scarlett also inherits Gerald’s love for the South and for his plantation, Tara.Ellen O’Hara - Scarlett’s mother, and a descendent of the aristocratic Robillard family. Ellen marries Gerald and devotes herself to running Tara after her father forbids her love affair with Philippe, her cousin. Refined and compassionate, strong and firm, Ellen serves as an impossible ideal for the willful Scarlett. Even after Ellen’s death, Scarlett struggles with the competing desires to please her mother and please herselfMammy - Scarlett’s childhood nurse. Mammy is an old, heavyset slave who was also nurse to Scarlett’s mother, Ellen. Loyal and well-versed in Southern etiquette, Mammy keeps Scarlett in line. After Ellen’s death, Mammy becomesfor Scarlett one of the only living reminders of the Old South.Frank Kennedy - Scarlett’s weak-willed but kind second husband. Frank is described as an ―old maid in britches.‖ Scarlett steals him away from her sister Suellen so that he will pay the taxes necessary to save Tara.Charles Hamilton - Melanie’s brother and Scarlett’s first husband. Charles is a timid and bland boy for whom Scarlett feels no love. Charles’s death early in the war confines Scarlett to the role of widow. Scarlett finds the social expectations surrounding widowhood—that she wear a black veil, for example, and refrain from laughter and pleasure—overly restrictive.Aunt Pittypat Hamilton - Melanie and Charles Hamilton’s aunt. Aunt Pittypat is a flighty old maid who faints from shock several times a day. Scarlett lives with Aunt Pittypat for much of her stay in Atlanta.Bonnie Blue Butler - Scarlett’s third and last child. Bonnie is the daughter of Rhett Butler. Spoiled and strong-willed like her mother, Bonnie elicits utter devotion from Rhett and eventually replaces Scarlett as the center of Rhett’s attention.Suellen O’Hara - Scarlett’s younger sister. Suellen is a selfish, petty girl who marries Will Benteen after Scarlett steals Frank from her.Carreen O’Hara - Scarlett’s youngest sister. Carreen is a good-natured girl who turns to religion after the war and joins a convent.India Wilkes - Ashley’s cold and jealous sister. India never forgives Scarlett for stealing Stuart Tarleton from her during their youth. At one point India catches Scarlett embracing Ashley and gossips about the sight, causing a great debate among all of Atlanta society.Big Sam - The gigantic slave and foreman of the field hands at Tara. Big Sam saves Scarlett from her attacker in Shantytown.Pork - Gerald O’Hara’s first slave. Pork is loyal and devoted to the O’Haras. Prissy - The daughter of Dilcey, a slave at Twelve Oaks. Prissy is a foolish, lazy young slave prone to telling lies. The late discovery of Prissy’s lie that she knows how to assist at childb irth compels Scarlett to deliver Melanie’s baby herself, which is one of Scarlett’s first significant acts of self-sufficiency.Emmie Slattery - A young woman whose poor white family lives in the swamp bottom near Tara. Emmie is considered ―white trash,‖and Scarlett’s class-conscious, genteel society dislikes Emmie, as does the narrator.Jonas Wilkerson - The Yankee overseer of Tara whom Gerald fires for impregnating Emmie Slattery. Jonas works for the Freedmen’s Bureau after the war and marries Emmie. He raises taxes on Tara to try to force out the O’Haras, prompting Scarlett’s marriage to Frank Kennedy.Belle Watling - An Atlanta prostitute with whom Rhett Butler has along-term affair. She wins the gratitude of the Atlanta Ku Klux Klan by providing them with an alibi for a murder.Will Benteen - A one-legged Confederate soldier who becomes a fixture at Tara after the war despite his lack of family or wealth. Will makes Tara a marginally profitable farm. His competence allows Scarlett to move to Atlanta and leave him in charge.Wade Hampton Hamilton - Scarlett’s oldest child. The son of Charles Hamilton, Wade inherits his father’s timid and bland disposition.Ella Lorena Kennedy - Scarlett’s second child. Ella Lorena is the ugly, silly daughter of Frank Kennedy.Analysis of Major CharactersScarlett O’HaraThe protagonist of Gone with the Wind, Scarlett is a dark-haired, green-eyed Georgia belle who struggles through the hardships of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Scarlett exhibits more of her fat her’s hard-headedness than her mother’s refined Southern manners. Although initially she tries to behave prettily, her instincts rise up against social restrictions. Determination defines Scarlett and drives her to achieve everything she desires by any means necessary. This determination first manifests itself in her narcissistic and sometimes backstabbing efforts to excite the admiration of every young man in the neighborhood. Later, under threat of starvation and even death, she is determined to survive and does so by picking cotton, running her entire plantation, forging a successful business, and even killing a man.Scarlett also aims to win Ashley Wilkes, and her failure to do so guides the plot of the novel. Ashley’s marriage to Melanie Hamilton and re jection of Scarlett drive nearly all of Scarlett’s important subsequent decisions. Scarlett marries Charles Hamilton to hurt Ashley, stays by Melanie’s side through the war because she promises Ashley she will, and loses her true love, Rhett Butler, because of her persistent desire to win Ashley. Scarlett possesses remarkable talent for business and leadership. She recovers her father’s plantation, Tara, after the war leaves it decimated, and she achieves great success with her sawmill in Atlanta. Despite her sharp intelligence, however, she has almost no ability to understand the motivations and feelings of herself or others. Scarlett lives her life rationally: she decides what constitutes success, finds the most effective means to succeed, and does not consider concepts like honor and kindness. She often professes to see no other choices than the ones she makes.Scarlett’s development precisely mirrors the development of the South. She changes from spoiled teenager to hard-working widow to wealthy opportunist, reflecting the South’s change from leisure society to besieged nation to compromised survivor. Scarlett embodies both Old and New South. She clings to Ashley, who symbolizes the idealized lost world of chivalry and manners, but she adapts wonderfully to the harsh and opportunistic world of the New South, ultimately clinging to dangerous Rhett, who, like Scarlett, symbolizes the combination of old and new.Rhett ButlerDark, dashing, and scandalous, Rhett Butler brings excitement to Scarlett’s life and encourages her impulse to change and succeed. Thrown out of both West Point and his aristocratic Charleston family for dishonorable behavior, Rhett, like Scarlett, goes after what he wants and refuses to take ‘no’ for an answer. He earns his fortune throug h professional gambling, wartime blockade-running, and food speculation, behavior that earns him the contempt and even hatred of what he terms the Old Guard—the old Southern aristocracy. Rhett sees through hypocrisy and self-delusion, horrifying people by cutting down their egos and illusions with agility and pleasure.Whereas Ashley cannot face reality and change, Rhett thrives on both. Because of his opportunism, Rhett symbolizes the New South. However, as the novel progresses, we see that Rhett does care about the Old South. At two critical points in the novel, Rhett abandons Scarlett to commit himself to the Old South. First, he leaves Scarlett in hostile territory and joins the Confederate army. Second, at the end of the novel he leaves Scarlett and goes in search of remnants of the Old South. This sentimentality complicates Rhett’s character and reveals that he is partially motivated by emotion. Ultimately, Rhett symbolizes pragmatism, the practical acceptance of the reality that the South must face in order to survive in a changed world. He understands that the U.S. government has overhauled the Southern economy and that the old way of life is gone forever. He adapts to the situation masterfully, but he does not fully abandon the idealized Southern past. Rhett falls in love with Scarlett, but, despite their eventual marriage, their relationship never succeeds because of Scarlett’s obsession with Ashley and Rhett’s reluctance to express his feelings. Because Rhett knows that Scarlett scorns men she can win easily, Rhett refuses to show her she was won him. He mocks her, argues with her, and eventually resorts to cruelty and indifference in order to win her. But his fondness for her is evident in his support of her, as he encourages her to shun social customs and gives her money to start her own business.Ashley WilkesBlond, dreamy, and honorable, Ashley Wilkes is the foil to Rhett’s dark, realistic opportunism. Ashley courts Scarlett but marries Melanie Hamilton, thus setting in motion Scarlett’s centra l conflict. Ashley is the perfect prewar Southern gentleman: he excels at hunting and riding, takes pleasure in the arts, and comes from an excellent family. Scarlett’s idealization of Ashley slowly fades as time goes on, and she finally sees that the Ashley she loves is not a real man but a man embellished and adorned by her imagination. Ashley admits to his love for Scarlett, but as a gentleman he ignores this love in order to marry Melanie, the more socially appropriate match for him. He excels at battle despite his doubts about the Southern cause. As the novel progresses, though, Ashley displays signs of weakness and incompetence. After the war he is worthless on the plantation and cannot adjust to the new world. Whereas Rhett and Scarlett survive by sacrificing their commitment to tradition, Ashley cannot or will not allow himself to thrive in a changed society. He sinks even lower as he sacrifices his honor—the only thing he still values in himself—by accepting charity from Scarlett in the form of a share in her mill and by kissing her twice.Ashley represents the Old South and Southern nostalgia for the prewar days. He epitomizes the old lifestyle and cannot function in the New South that emerges during and after the war. Scarlett clings to him like many Southerners cling to dreams of their old lives, but her eventual recognition of Ashley’s weakness and incompetence enables her to see that dreaming of a lost world makes one weak.Themes, Motifs & SymbolsThemesThemes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.The Transformation of Southern CultureGone with the Wind is both a romance and a meditation on the changes that swept the American South in the 1860s. The novel begins in 1861, in the days before the Civil War, and ends in 1871, after the Democrats regain power in Georgia. The South changes completely during the intervening years, and Mitchell’s novel illustrates the struggles of the Southern people who live through the Civil War era.The novel opens in prewar Georgia, where tradition, chivalry, and pride thrive. As the Civil War begins, the setting shifts to Atlanta, where the war causes the breakdown of traditional gender roles and power structures. When the South loses the war and the slaves are freed, putting a stop to the Southern way of life, the internal conflict intensifies. White men fear black men, Southerners hate profiteering or domineering Northerners, and impoverished aristocrats resent the newly rich. Mitchell’s main characters embody the conflicting impulses of the South. Ashley stands for the Old South; nostalgic and unable to change, he weakens and fades. Rhett, on the other hand, opportunistic and realistic, thrives by planting one foot in the Old South and one foot in the New, sometimes even defending the Yankees.Overcoming Adversity with WillpowerScarlett manages to overcome adversity through brute strength of will. She emerges as a feminist heroine because she relies on herself alone and survives the Civil War and Reconstruction unaided. She rebuilds Tara after the Yankee invasion and works her way up in the new political order, taking care of helpless family members and friends along the way. Mitchell suggests that overcoming adversity sometimes requires ruthlessness. Scarlett becomes a cruel businesswoman and a domineering wife, willingly coarsening herself in order to succeed. Other characters succeed by exercising willpower, among them Old Miss Fontaine, who watched Indians scalp her entire family as a child and then gritted her teeth and worked to raise her own family and run a plantation. Rhett Butler also wills his way to success, although he covers up his bullheaded willpower with a layer of ease and carelessness.The Importance of LandIn Chapter II, Gerald tells Scarlett that ―[l]and is the only thing in the world that amounts to anything.‖ At critical junctures Scarlett usually remembers that land, specifically Tara, is the only thing that matters to her. When Scarlett escapes to Tara from Atlanta during the war, she lies sick and weak in the garden at neighboring Twelve Oaks and the earth feels ―soft and comfortable as a pillow‖ against her cheek. After feeling the comfort of the land, she resolves to look forward and continue the struggle with newfound vigor. Scarlett prizes land even over love. When Ashley rejects Scarlett’s proposed affair, he gives her a clump of Tara’s dirt and reminds her that she loves Tara more than she loves him. Feeling the dirt in her hand, Scarlett realizes that Ashley is right. At the end of the novel, when all else is lost, Scarlett thinks of Tara and finds strength and comfort in its enduring presence.MotifsMotifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.Female Intelligence and CapabilityDespite the severe gender inequality of their time, women in Gone with the Wind show strength and intelligence that equals or bests the strength and intelligence of men. Scarlett is cunning, and manipulates men with ease. She runs Tara when her father falls ill, and eventually realizes that she has a better head for business than most men. She becomes a very successful mill owner, running every aspect of the business and putting her weak, incompetent husband to shame. Melanie, although she is a subdued figure, exhibits increasing strength as the novel progresses, and she eventually emerges as the novel’s strongest female character. She provides much of Scarlett’s strength, although Scarlett realizes this only at the end of the novel. Melanie also protects Ashley from the world he cannot face. Despite her humble means, she single-handedly facilitates the restoration of Atlanta society. Old Miss Fontaine and Ellen also demonstrate strength and intelligence. Both women act as head of the family, and the narrator describes Ellen as the true mind and strength behind Tara.Alcohol AbuseAlcohol abuse occurs throughout the novel, as Gerald, Scarlett, and Rhett all rely heavily on drinking. Characters use alcohol to cope with stress, but when they abuse alcohol, disaster ensues. Drinking is partly responsible for Gerald’s death: he rides his horse while drunk, misses a jump, and is thrown to his death. Mitchell suggests that Scarlett cheapens herself unnecessarily by drinking. Gerald disapproves of her drinking, which begins only after she escapes Atlanta, because ladies never drink liquor in polite Southern society. Scarlett continues to drink at Tara whenever she feels overworked or troubled, and she brings her habit to Atlanta when she moves back. Rhet t’s drinking reveals his insecurity, a disaster for Rhett since he is obsessed with mastery and self-sufficiency. Rhett begins to drink heavily as his relationship with Scarlett deteriorates, and he drinks even more when their daughter, Bonnie, dies.ProstitutionProstitution threatens and embarrasses the characters, but it alsointrigues them. Scarlett first sees a prostitute in Atlanta and is instantly fascinated. The woman she sees is Belle Watling, and the fascination she feels persists throughout the novel. Belle is an exaggerated version of Scarlett, which perhaps explains Scarlett’s interest in her. Both women ignore social mandates, manipulate and seduce men, and trade sex for money. Scarlett offers to prostitute herself to Rhett in order to get money for taxes, putting herself in Belle’s moral camp. If Scarlett can be read as a high-class prostitute, Belle can be read as alow-class aristocrat. Belle has the ideal aristocrat’s impulse to help the needy; she saves Atlanta’s Ku Klux Klan members fr om prosecution by providing an alibi for them. Mitchell depicts Belle as human and generous and perhaps morally superior to the ruthless Scarlett she resembles.Symbols。
