How Does Gone With The Wind Change

The old south was a place not a like today. Plantations, slavery, confederacy, all of these things are not around in today’s world. In the new south, the women have all the control, taking over their father’s plantations and having to make money, themselves just to survive. The women had it tough back then. In Margaret Mitchell’s novel Gone With the Wind, the characters show through their lives how the South drastically changes along with them. Providing a comparison with the South. Mitchell uses the transformation of the characters Scarlett O’Hara, Rhett Butler, and Ashley Wilkes to depict the drastic change the occurs throughout the South. She does this by using theme, point of view, and character. In the novel, they depict everyone …show more content…
She demonstrates all the hardships that happened during these times. As Scarlett goes from spoiled, to hard working, to wealthy. She grew up by being thrown into reality. Scarlett needed change but fought it just as the South fought the war. As Ashley, goes from being a spoiled boy as well, to fighting in a battle where he sees awful events take place. He ends at being useless in the New South, as he cannot do hard work and does not know how to run a plantation. He is weak and incompetent by the end. Rhett on the other hand is Ashley’s foil as he is distasteful towards women and seems to be in life for the fun of it. As he changes he goes from spoiled boy to gambling and other illegal activities. In the end, he thrives on the new south, becoming quite wealthy and living quite comfortably. His character thrives on reality and change, as Ashley’s does not. The south changes too from a place of carefree and partying, to a nation struck by war where the women do not know if they will ever see their loved ones again. To in the end the women become stronger being able to stand up for themselves and live. In the novel Gone with the Wind, the characters change with the South. Margaret Mitchell uses these characters as a tool to demonstrate how the South changed from pre-war, war, to