So I think it's only appropriate that I write about Gone With the Wind. Like Scarlett, even though I say I'm not going to think about it until tomorrow, eventually tomorrow comes and I have to act. And I guess tomorrow has come with this class and with this blog.
But there's more to my decision than just a personal connection with Scarlett O'Hara. Gone With the Wind is one of my favorite literary works for plenty of reasons, but one of the most important is that it's real. I mean, it's a novel; it's not a true story. And it takes place more than a century ago, so it doesn't depict any current situation. Yet, despite its fiction, the characters are real. There are no black-and-white good guys and bad guys. Scarlett herself is a perfect shade of gray, yet an evolving, changing shade. She starts out young and naive and, throughout the novel, grows into a woman who has no choice but to take care of herself in the best way she can. She is neither a "good guy" nor a "bad guy." She's an actual human being. The same is true of the rest of the characters, even angelic Melanie. Mistakes are made. Character is formed. People grow older. This is life. And Margaret Mitchell has captured the essence of life in a novel so we can examine it safely from outside the glass wall of fiction.
I think Gone With the Wind is a wonderful choice! I am ashamed to say I haven't read it yet, but I saw the movie and it made me want to read it really badly. I love the idea of a real story. The world is not made up of robbers with masks carrying around burlap sacks with green dollar signs or heroic cowboys riding off into the sunset. The world is full of real people who make real, stupid decisions everyday who, yet, are trying to make a difference in the world. We are all doing our best. Gone With the Wind sounds like the perfect book to write about for this project about read people trying to communicate in the real world through an artificial medium. Good choice, and best of luck!
ReplyDeleteI am really interested to see the connections you make with Gone with the Wind. I personally have not read the book, but I watched the movie. The point about Gone with the Wind being about real people is a great tie to what blogging is meant to be. Blogging is a digital medium where real people can express their daily lives to anyone who is willing to read. A blog-author can be straightforward using their own language and not feel bound by some pre-determined format that restricts their creativity. I am excited to see where your paper goes.
ReplyDeleteAnother good way you could connect Gone with the Wind to the modern age is the complete change in her paradigm: the war forced her to realize the pettiness of her own porch and prettiness. The struggles she goes through to do this could mirror the struggles people go to as blogging etc. opens their eyes.
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