Classics for Beginners discussion

We are scheduled to begin discussing this book on July 1. This might be a good time to begin reading the book. But, no pressure. You can join the discussion at any time! Enjoy.

I'm planning to join in once I have finished the buddy read for The Pickwick Papers.
GWTW is one of my all-time favourites - I've read it many many times, but it has been quite a few years since the last re-read.

I started it earlier this week. I've never read this book before, and I am enjoying it so much that I'm already more than halfway through!

Is gone with the wind a one month or a three month?

Although I've seen the movie a number of times I have not read the book, I am surprised how much I am enjoying it...Despite knowing the plot, there is so much detail and character development that could not possibly be shown in a four hour film....I'm on chapter 8.

Rachel wrote: "Is gone with the wind a one month or a three month?"

This is a three month read. However, it is a very easy book to read. All the threads for the book have been created so everyone can read and comment at their own pace.

Dee wrote: "Although I've seen the movie a number of times I have not read the book, I am surprised how much I am enjoying it...Despite knowing the plot, there is so much detail and character development that ..."

Yes, I feel the book is much better than the movie. I am looking forward to rereading the book. I read it when I was sixteen and have always planned on rereading it.

☯Emily has reviews on Booklikes wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Is gone with the wind a one month or a three month?"

This is a three month read. However, it is a very easy book to read. All the threads for the book have been created so everyon..."

You're right, it has a flow to it and Margaret Mitchell's writing style made it a quick read for me.

Currently I have only read the first chapter, but I like her writing, it is like a natural flow so it makes sense and I love that she focus' only the way of life of the

(Sorry it posted be fore I was done ) southern states.

Joy wrote: "The audible version of this book is 49 hours. I marvel that anyone would call it a "quick read". Although it can't be too hard. I know I read it at a fairly young age after the movie was shown on t..."

It is a quick read for a book that is almost a 1,000 pages. It is much faster to read than War and Peace, for example.

Rachel wrote: "(Sorry it posted be fore I was done ) southern states."

It is the glorified view of the antebellum southern states from the viewpoint of the white plantation owner. It is not actual reality of the poor white or the black slave living during this horrific time period.

☯Emily has reviews on Booklikes wrote: "It is a quick read for a book that is almost a 1,000 pages. It is much faster to read than War and Peace, for example.



This.

It didn't seem like other lengthy books when I was reading it, took me a few days. I think it's the smooth flow and the characters.

☯Emily has reviews on Booklikes wrote: "Rachel wrote: "(Sorry it posted be fore I was done ) southern states."

It is the glorified view of the antebellum southern states from the viewpoint of the white plantation owner. It is not actua..."

I enjoy different viewpoints on events, find it interesting. It seems that last year I kept stumbling upon books told from different perspectives for the Nazis and WW2, which was also interesting.

It's because he was a protestant, although the rest of his family were catholic.

Hi, I'm joining you guys in this read.

I've read the first 2 chapters and I like her writing style. I know what you guys mean when you say it's a very fast paced read.

My book has 1020 pages so I figured I have to read an average of 10 pages a day so I can finish it in the 3 month period set for this book. But like Rachel said above, the reading flows naturally so I think I could finish this before the deadline. We'll see.

@Joy, how's the narrator? I want to read the book first, but I also want to listen to it in the future. This story is one that I feel can also be enjoyed in the audio format.

I have completed the first five chapters. I have three questions. Margaret Mitchell does not create a likeable character in Scarlet O'Hara. Does it bother you that the protagonist is thoroughly detestable?

Mitchell is extremely critical of the way women were regarded during this time of the Civil War. They had to be pretty and helpless and dumb before marriage, yet resourceful, hard working and sensible after marriage. The only option for women in the 1850-60's was marriage. When Scarlet is plotting how to get Ashley to marry her, she thought she had to be simpering, use coquetry or act empty-headed. Then there is this statement: "There was no one to tell Scarlet that her own personality, frighteningly vital though it was, was more attractive than any masquerade she might adopt. Had she been told, she would have been pleased but unbelieving. And the civilization of which she was a part would have been unbelieving too, for at no time, before or since, had so low a premium been placed on feminine naturalness." Mitchell leaves no doubt of how she feels about artificial and hypocritical actions of women.

One teacher I had for a literature class said to pay attention to recurring words in a book because those words have meaning. What do you think the recurring use of red means? In the first chapter, there is a paragraph that is filled with images of red. Examples include these: "the bloody glory of the sunset colored the fresh-cut furrows of red Georgia clay to even redder hues", "the moist hungry earth...showed pinkish on the sandy tops of furrows, vermilion and scarlet and maroon where shadows lay along the side of the trenches." Tara is brick "set in a wild red sea" "with pink-tipped waves breaking into surf." The area of Georgia where Scarlet lived "was a savagely red land, blood-colored after rains, brick dust in droughts." And, of course, you have the name of Scarlet herself.

My thoughts are based on previous reads because I haven't started my re-read yet.

Re your first question - it doesn't bother me at all. I don't like Scarlett, and I expect if I knew her in real life I would thoroughly detest her. What I do feel for her though is admiration. I admire her spirit, her self-sufficiency, and her independence.

Re your third comment about colour - I see red as a colour of passion and vitality - both adjectives I would use to describe Scarlett, her father, and Rhett.

Of course red is also the colour of blood and I wonder if using this colour to describe Tara and Georgia may be something to do with slavery? Later perhaps the blood of soldiers?

Re your second comment - I need to think about that a little more. I wonder if Mitchell's comment is not so much about the actions of individual women, but rather a commentary on what society thought of and expected from women - even when it goes against the grain of their nature - as it did for Scarlett.

Great questions - very thought provoking.

Great questions, Emily.

I find the question concerning the use of the color red the most interesting. Red is a very strong color. It can represent Love, Anger, Blood, Warning and even Death. It is the color of extremes and Katie Scarlett O'Hara is nothing if not extreme. But it is also the color of passion which describes her as well. In the end, red can be viewed as the color of the entire spectrum of life and that seems a fitting description of the book. I've read it twice now and it remains one of my favorites.

Honestly, I wouldn't give Scarlett the time of day. I don't think I liked her in the beginning, but I respect her by the end of the book.

Based on my previous read as well Scarlett was not that likeable but given the fact that she was a teenager which I didn't realize before I read the book and all of the things that she was able to achieve she had guts and spunk and I admire that

It's odd, because usually if I do hate a protagonist, it brings down my view of the book as a whole and it's rating, especially if it's told through first person. Strangely Gone with the Wind stayed a great book to me and, although I really disliked Scarlett, it didn't deter from my enjoyment/final rating.

I know a lot of people respect her at the end, but I still didn't. She is strong, I will give her that, and admire strength (wish I had more of my own!), but her flaws and ease at sacrificing morals did not make me respect her.

☯Emily has reviews on Booklikes wrote: "I have completed the first five chapters. I have three questions. Margaret Mitchell does not create a likeable character in Scarlet O'Hara. Does it bother you that the protagonist is thoroughly d..."

I never even noticed the thing about 'red.' Interesting point.

As for the women of the time, the mindset of women was pretty bad. I can't blame Mitchell's POV on that. At least the viewpoint Scarlett seems to have is honest, if nothing else.

I for one enjoy Scarlett, she recognizes her flaws,and her limits. I love the part about that she intends to be more like her mother when she gets older and marries Ashley. The same characteristics that we don't like in her are the same ones that get her through, the war and make her so much more than a survivor and not a victim... She wants the life she has I visioned for herself and is tenacious about perusing that life. Even though at the beginning she is a bit whinny.

I wonder if Scarlett would be different if she had been born in another era. One where her strength of character could be moulded and channeled rather than people trying to suppress it to make her into a 'lady'.

Further to Squire's comments about red meaning (among other things) death - I suppose I thought of this literally at first - with the deaths from the war and of characters. I wonder though whether it might not also symbolise the death of the way of their life in the south.

Arlene wrote: "Based on my previous read as well Scarlett was not that likeable but given the fact that she was a teenager which I didn't realize before I read the book and all of the things that she was able to..."

I was thinking the same thing, Arlene. Scarlett is a self absorbed teenager at the beginning of the book. I first read the book when I was sixteen and myself a self absorbed teenager. I remember liking Scarlett when I first read it. Now I am reading the book for the second time and I am much older, I am finding Scarlett to be obnoxious. I want to shake her and tell her to get over herself.

Emily asked if it bothers us to read about such a detestable protagonist. My answer is no. I am loving this book and I can not wait to see what Scarlett is up to next. Mitchell is such an excellent writer. I wish she had written more books.

Hi Laurie, I too wish that Mitchell had written more books. I really wish she would have written a sequel!

I'm done with the first part. It's my favorite part. Scarlett is so young and naive. She thinks she's a tough cookie that can rule the world! You have to love her! I think I might be in the minority that likes her from the get go. You can't blame Scarlett for being a typical obnoxious or detestable teenager. Her parents did a bad job in keeping her grounded. Although Gerald was very sincere with her in his talks, her mom, as much as she was a great woman didn't scold her, she gave her metaphors of advice and let her do whatever she wanted to. There was no timeout in those years I guess ha ha ha

I'm so glad of how far women have come over the years. It's so ironic to read of how women had to play dumb, had no public opinion, followed bogus unconventional rules (wear dark clothes after marrying and sit with the old ladies no matter how much you want to dance the night away to name one) and yet they were the ones CEO-ing the plantations and households. And during the war they were the ones practically running the show while the men went to the battlefield to get injured or killed. Power to Estrogen!!! LOL

I liked reading this one 15 years ago and I'm liking reading this one now.

Regarding the question about the color RED. I like how Margaret Mitchell reminds us of red throughout the novel. I think if this book was a color it obviously and absolutely would be red.

This comment is for those readers who like Scarlet. This is what she feels about you: "The library was in semidarkness... The dim room with towering walls completely filled with dark books depressed her. It was not the place which she would have chosen for a tryst such as she hoped this one would be. Large numbers of books always depressed her, as did people who like to read large numbers of books."

☯Emily has reviews on Booklikes wrote: "This comment is for those readers who like Scarlet. This is what she feels about you: "The library was in semidarkness... The dim room with towering walls completely filled with dark books depres..."

Hahaha!!! Still think she's awesome though!

☯Emily has reviews on Booklikes wrote: "This comment is for those readers who like Scarlet. This is what she feels about you: "The library was in semidarkness... The dim room with towering walls completely filled with dark books depres..."


LMAO Even if she doesn't like me, I like her. Her story is one of the best! :D

I've seen the movie 100s of times since I was a kid. This is my 1st time to read the book. FINALLY, getting around to it!! I started to read it while in school, but homework always gets in the way :P

I can't get over that she has a child already! I'm wondering, does she take care of him? Abandon him? ....does he die?

The early on backstory of Gerald is great. How he made his money and married Ellen. Also, why Ellen married him and why Scarlett admires her so much. Now I can understand his madness later on in the movie more. Also, it's very cool how Scarlett and Ellen started out a little similar. They both declared to be in love at a young age and married on impulse.

I read in a review somewhere .... GWTW is an overall comparison of how the South fell after slavery was abolished. The characters are the Southern way of life personified.

I adore Scarlett, she's got gonads! And she goes for what she wants during a time of passive women secretly running the world and giving their husbands credit for it. She also says that men don't realize how much intelligence it takes to act docile. It takes even more to predict the man's next thought and have the appropriate reaction ready for him. Life was all about women silently moving around men to ensure the world is running smoothly, and making their men look responsible for it. Ellen and Gerald are perfect examples of this. Scarlett wisely acknowledged that men don't know what they want. But after marriage, passive maidens have to be ready to take over running the household. It's such an amazing contrast.

Part 1 ends the war that men foolishly started. Scarlett says they shouldn't have started this war. (In the movie, she's as right as Rhett about the war being a mistake for Southerners.)