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''Gone with the Wind'', an American Novel by Margaret Mitchell , was published in 1936 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937 . PLOT INTRODUCTION 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 blossoms between Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler . Explanation of the novel's title The title is taken from the first line of the third stanza of the poem ''Non sum qualís eram bonae sub regno Cynarae'' by , Tara . At one point, she wonders "Was Tara still standing? Or was Tara also gone with the wind which had swept through Georgia?" PLOT SUMMARY Part One ''Chapters I to VII'' From Tara to Ashley's birthday Barbecue where his engagement to Melanie is announced and Fort Sumter spurs the beginnings of the American Civil War . Part Two ''Chapters VIII to XVI'' From Tara to Scarlett's early years of the war in Atlanta with Aunt Pitty and Melanie. Part Three ''Chapters XVII to XXX'' Scarlett's escape just before September 1864's Surrender Of Atlanta back to Tara and the hardships there. Part Four ''Chapters XXXI to XLVII'' Post-bellum, Carpetbagger taxes force Scarlett to return to Atlanta where she ends up married to Frank. Part Five ''Chapters XLVIII to LXIII'' Her marriage to Rhett Butler and realization that she never could love Ashley. CHARACTERS IN "GONE WITH THE WIND"
LITERARY SIGNIFICANCE & CRITICISM Critics and historians regard the book as having a strong ideological commitment to the cause of the for the South's viewpoint on the Statehood Of Kansas . ALLUSIONS/REFERENCES FROM OTHER WORKS Alexandra Ripley wrote the novel '' Scarlett '', in 1991 , as the authorized sequel to Mitchell's novel. In 2000 , the copyright holders attempted to suppress publication of Alice Randall 's '' The Wind Done Gone '', a book that retold the story from the point of view of the slaves. A federal appeals court denied the plaintiffs an Injunction against publication in '' Suntrust V. Houghton Mifflin '' (2001), on the basis that the book was Parody protected by the First Amendment . The parties subsequently settled out of court to allow the book to be published. ALLUSIONS/REFERENCES TO ACTUAL HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY AND CURRENT SCIENCE Nevertheless, the book includes a vivid description of the fall of Atlanta in 1864 and the devastation of war (some of it absent from the 1939 film), and shows a considerable amount of historical research. Mitchell's sweeping narrative of war and loss helped the book win the Pulitzer Prize on May 3 , 1937 . An episode in the book suggests the early groups did eventually join the Klan in the late 1860's, as Mitchell must have been aware from her historical reasearch. While Margaret Mitchell used to say that her ''Gone with the Wind'' characters were not based on real people, modern researchers have found similarities to some of the people in Mitchell's own life as well as to individuals she knew or she 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 that he was a Bootlegger . (It should also be noted here that it is also thought he was modeled after Sir Godfrey Barnsley of Adairsville, Georgia. After a stay at the plantation called The Woodlands, and later Barnsley Gardens, Mitchell may have gotten the inspiration for the dashing miscreant.) Another at least partial character source for Scarlett O'Hara might have been Martha Bulloch Roosevelt , the mother of US president Theodore Roosevelt . Roosevelt biographer, David McCullough , discovered that Mitchell conducted an interview with one of Martha's closest friends and bridesmaid, Evelyn King Williams, at age 87, while a reporter for '' The Atlanta Journal ''. In that interview, Martha's physical appearance, beauty, grace and intelligence were described in great detail. The similarities between Martha, who was also called Mittie, and Scarlett are striking. EXTERNAL LINKS
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