Gone with the Wind is a novel written by American author Margaret Mitchell. It was first published in 1936. The story takes place in Clayton County and Atlanta, both in the state of Georgia, during the American Civil War and the Reconstruction Era. It follows the life of Scarlett O'Hara, the oldest daughter of a wealthy plantation owner. After the war, Scarlett faces many challenges as she tries to find a way to become wealthy again following Sherman's destructive "March to the Sea." The book is a historical novel that includes a story about a person growing up and learning important life lessons. The title comes from a poem titled Non Sum Qualis eram Bonae Sub Regno Cynarae by Ernest Dowson.

The book was very popular when it was first published. It was the top-selling fiction book in the United States in 1936 and 1937. A survey from 2014 showed that Gone with the Wind was the second most favorite book among American readers, after the Bible. More than 30 million copies of the book have been printed worldwide.

The novel has been a topic of debate among writers from the South, both Black and White. Scholars at American universities often study, write about, and discuss the book in their research. It has become an important part of American popular culture.

In 1937, Margaret Mitchell was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Gone with the Wind. The book was also made into a film in 1939 with the same name. The film is considered one of the greatest movies ever made and won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 12th Academy Awards ceremony. Gone with the Wind is the only book written by Mitchell that was published during her lifetime.

Plot

It is April 15, 1861, the day before a rebellion in which seven southern states declare their independence from the United States (called "the Union") because they want to keep the practice of slavery, which was important to their economy. In the state of Georgia, the wealthy Irish immigrant Gerald O'Hara owns a plantation named "Tara" with his family.

Scarlett, the oldest of Gerald’s three daughters, is upset to learn that Ashley Wilkes, a man she secretly loves and a neighbor, is planning to marry his cousin Melanie Hamilton. The next day, the Wilkes family holds a large party at their home, "Twelve Oaks," where Scarlett notices Rhett Butler, a man known for his charm and flirtatious behavior. During the event, Scarlett tries to win Ashley’s attention by flirting with other men, including Melanie’s brother, Charles Hamilton. She later tells Ashley she loves him, but he says he only sees her as a friend and plans to marry Melanie. Scarlett is hurt and insults Ashley, accusing him of being afraid to admit his feelings. Rhett overhears their conversation and later tells Scarlett he heard everything. Scarlett feels embarrassed.

War begins soon after, and men are called to fight. Scarlett, feeling angry and vengeful, agrees to marry Charles Hamilton. They marry, and two weeks later, Charles goes to war and dies of measles within two months. Scarlett gives birth to their son, Wade Hampton Hamilton. As a widow, she must wear black dresses, a veil in public, and avoid speaking to young men. Scarlett secretly mourns the loss of her youth, not the husband she barely knew.

Scarlett’s mother thinks Scarlett’s sadness is due to grief and suggests she live with Melanie, who is in Atlanta with her aunt, "Pittypat." In Atlanta, Scarlett feels more energetic and joins groups helping the Confederate Army, though she does it mainly to avoid gossip. She believes her work might help Ashley, who she still loves.

Scarlett is shocked when she meets Rhett at a public event. Rhett, who makes money by smuggling goods during the war, sees through Scarlett’s "mourning" disguise and bids a lot of money to dance with her. Scarlett dances joyfully, even though she is supposed to be in mourning. Melanie, now Scarlett’s sister-in-law, saves Scarlett’s reputation by saying she supports the Confederate cause. Scarlett continues to act carelessly, flirting and dating while still wearing mourning clothes, all while Melanie protects her.

At Christmas in 1863, Ashley returns from the army on leave. Scarlett struggles to control her feelings for him, still believing he secretly loves her. She is heartbroken when Melanie becomes pregnant with Ashley’s child.

The Confederacy is losing the war, and by September 1864, Atlanta is under attack from three sides. The city becomes dangerous as injured soldiers arrive, and doctors are busy helping them. Melanie goes into labor with only Scarlett and an enslaved woman named Prissy to help. The Confederate Army burns Atlanta before fleeing to the Union Army. Melanie gives birth to a boy named Beau during the chaos.

Scarlett asks Rhett to take her, Wade, Melanie, Beau, and Prissy to Tara. Rhett laughs, saying the Union Army may have burned Tara already. He steals a weak horse and a wagon to leave Atlanta but later abandons Scarlett to rejoin the army. Scarlett drives the wagon to Tara, which survived the fires. However, the situation is dire: Scarlett’s mother is dead, her father is mentally ill, her sisters are sick with typhoid, the enslaved workers have left, the cotton is burned, and there is no food.

Scarlett works in the fields to survive, facing hunger, animals, and Union soldiers who steal or destroy what little they find. At one point, she kills a Union soldier who invades her home and buries him in the garden. Later, Confederate soldiers returning from the war stop at Tara for food and rest. Ashley returns from the war with a broken view of the world. He and Scarlett share a kiss, but he says he will leave with his family because he cannot trust himself around her. Scarlett refuses to let them go and promises not to pursue him again.

Life at Tara slowly improves, but the government imposes heavy taxes on the plantation. Scarlett knows only Rhett has enough money to help her. She wears her only pretty dress, made from Tara’s velvet curtains, and finds Rhett in a jail in Atlanta. He is being held for murder and may be executed. Though Scarlett tries to win him over, he refuses to help, realizing her kindness is a trick to get his money.

Frustrated, Scarlett meets Frank Kennedy, a middle-aged storeowner engaged to her sister, Suellen. She lies to Frank, saying Suellen changed her mind about marrying him. Frank agrees to marry Scarlett, and she uses his money to pay the taxes. Scarlett takes control of Frank’s store, finding many people owe him money. She also buys a sawmill with a loan from Rhett, which causes controversy. Scarlett becomes pregnant, temporarily slowing her work. She asks Ashley to manage the mill, and he reluctantly agrees. Melanie becomes a respected figure in Atlanta, and Scarlett gives birth to a daughter named Ella Lorena.

Georgia is under strict military control, and life is more dangerous. Scarlett keeps Frank’s pistol hidden in the buggy for protection. Her trips to the sawmill take her past a shanty town where criminals live. One evening, on her way home, she is approached by two men.

Characters

• Katie Scarlett Hamilton Kennedy Butler née O'Hara: Scarlett is the oldest daughter of the O'Hara family. Her strong Irish personality often conflicts with the French-style manners taught by her mother. She marries Charles Hamilton, Frank Kennedy, and Rhett Butler in that order, even though she wishes she had married Ashley Wilkes instead. She secretly dislikes Melanie Wilkes, Ashley’s wife, who has always been kind to her. Scarlett has three children, one from each husband: Wade Hampton Hamilton (son of Charles Hamilton), Ella Lorena Kennedy (daughter of Frank Kennedy), and Eugenie Victoria "Bonnie Blue" Butler (daughter of Rhett Butler). During an argument with Rhett, she loses a baby during pregnancy after falling down the stairs. She does not realize how much Rhett loves her or that she might love him.

• Captain Rhett K. Butler: Scarlett’s admirer and third husband. He is often criticized for his bold behavior but is also admired for his charm. He claims he does not want to marry but proposes to Scarlett to be his lover. After Frank Kennedy’s death, he marries Scarlett, saying he will not let her go to someone else because he believes she will not need money again. At the end of the story, he tells Scarlett, “I loved you, but I couldn’t let you know it. You’re so harsh to those who love you.” The author named the character after the Rhett family of South Carolina.

• Major George Ashley Wilkes: Ashley is a noble and educated man. He marries his cousin, Melanie, because he believes “like must marry like” for happiness. He joins the Confederate Army, though he says he would have freed the enslaved people his father owned if the war had not ended it first. He survives the Civil War and sees its terrible aftermath. Scarlett sees him as the ideal man, even though she is married three times. She loves him but does not fully understand him.

• Melanie Wilkes née Hamilton: Ashley’s wife and cousin. Melanie is a kind and gentle Southern woman. She is very caring and loves everyone around her. As the story progresses, she becomes weaker due to childbirth and hard work at Tara. She dies after losing a baby. Rhett Butler says, “She never had any strength. She’s never had anything but heart.”

• Ellen O'Hara née Robillard: Scarlett’s mother. Of French descent, Ellen married Gerald O'Hara, who was much older than her, after her true love, Philippe Robillard, died in a fight. Ellen is Scarlett’s model of a “great lady.” She manages the household and helps enslaved people and poor whites. She dies from typhoid in August 1864 after caring for Emmie Slattery.

• Gerald O'Hara: Scarlett’s Irish father. A skilled horseman, Gerald enjoys riding while drunk, which eventually causes his death. After Ellen’s death, his mind becomes confused.

• Susan Elinor “Suellen” Benteen née O'Hara: Scarlett’s younger sister, born in 1846. Scarlett dislikes her because she finds her annoying and selfish. Suellen gets sick with typhoid during the Atlanta siege. After the war, Scarlett marries Suellen’s former boyfriend, Frank Kennedy. Later, Suellen marries Will Benteen and has a child named Susie.

• Caroline Irene “Carreen” O'Hara: Scarlett’s youngest sister, born in 1848. She also gets sick with typhoid during the Atlanta siege. She is in love with Brent Tarleton, who dies in the war. Heartbroken, she joins a convent.

• Gerald O'Hara Junior: The three sons of Ellen and Gerald who died as infants. They are buried 100 yards from the house. Each was named after their father. Their headstones read “Gerald O'Hara, Jr.”

• Charles Hamilton: Melanie Wilkes’ brother and Scarlett’s first husband. Charles is shy and kind. He fathers Wade Hampton but dies of pneumonia caused by measles before reaching the battlefield.

• Wade Hampton Hamilton: Scarlett and Charles’s son, born in early 1862. He is named after his father’s commanding officer. He is shy and scared after the burning of Atlanta. Scarlett tells him to “be a little man.” He wants to go to Harvard and become a lawyer, but Scarlett prefers him to attend the University of Georgia. He loves his St. Bernard dog and his aunt Melanie. He plays mostly with his cousin Beau because other boys avoid him because of Scarlett’s reputation.

• Frank Kennedy: Suellen O'Hara’s former fiancé and Scarlett’s second husband. Frank is older and unattractive but runs a successful store after the war. Scarlett marries him for his money to save Tara. He does not understand her struggles after the war and is not as ruthless in business as she is. He is secretly involved in the Ku Klux Klan. He is shot while trying to protect Scarlett’s honor after an attack.

• Ella Lorena Kennedy: Scarlett and Frank’s daughter, named after her grandmother, Ellen, and given a fashionable name for Southern girls. Most people think she is not smart or pretty, except Frank. She is afraid of animals and does not get along well with her brother Wade or her cousin Susie.

• Eugenie Victoria “Bonnie Blue” Butler: Scarlett and Rhett’s daughter, who looks and acts like her Irish grandfather, Gerald. She is named after French queens but is known by her nickname after Melanie says her eyes are “as blue as the Bonnie Blue Flag.” Rhett loves her and stops drinking because she dislikes the smell of alcohol. Scarlett loves Bonnie the most because she is braver than Wade and smarter than Ella. Bonnie dies after falling from a high fence on her pony. Her death causes Rhett to leave Scarlett at the end of the story.

I made Tara up, just as I made up every character in the book. But nobody will believe me.

• Mammy: Scarlett’s nurse. Scarlett’s grandmother enslaved her. Mammy raises Ellen O'Hara and later her daughters and grandchildren. She is the head of the plantation and takes her work and the O’Hara family’s reputation very seriously. She is outspoken and scolds the girls for bad behavior.

• Pork: Gerald O'Hara’s valet and the first person he enslaved. Gerald won Pork in a poker game. After Gerald’s death, Scarlett gives him Gerald’s pocket watch. She offers to engrave it, but Pork refuses.

• Dilcey: Pork’s wife, an enslaved woman of mixed Native American and African descent.

Biographical background and publication

Margaret (Peggy) Mitchell was born in 1900 in Atlanta, Georgia. She lived her entire life as a Southerner and a writer. She grew up listening to stories about the American Civil War and the Reconstruction from her Irish-American grandmother, Annie Fitzgerald Stephens. Annie had lived on the family plantation called Rural Home and experienced the hardships of that time. Margaret’s mother, Maybelle Stephens Mitchell, was strong and smart. She was a suffragist who worked to help women gain the right to vote.

As a young woman, Margaret fell in love with an army officer. He was killed during World War I, and she remembered him for the rest of her life. After spending a year studying at Smith College, Margaret returned to Atlanta when her mother died from the 1918 pandemic flu. She later married, but her first husband was abusive and sold illegal alcohol. She began working as a feature writer for the Atlanta Journal, even though women of her social class usually did not work. After divorcing her first husband, she married John Marsh, a man who shared her love for writing and literature. John had been the best man at her first wedding.

In 1926, Margaret started writing Gone with the Wind to pass the time while recovering from an injury caused by a car accident. In April 1935, Harold Latham, an editor at Macmillan who was looking for new fiction books, read her manuscript and believed it could become a bestseller. After agreeing to publish the book, Mitchell spent six more months checking historical details and rewriting the opening chapter several times. She and her husband, John Marsh, who was a copy editor by profession, worked together to finalize the novel. Margaret wrote the book’s ending first and then wrote the events that led to it. Gone with the Wind was published in June 1936.

Title

The author carefully chose the title Gone with the Wind for the novel, using its final line. Other names considered for the book were Bugles Sang True, Not in Our Stars, and Tote the Weary Load. The title the author finally selected comes from the first line of the third stanza of the poem "Non Sum Qualis Eram Bonae sub Regno Cynarae" by Ernest Dowson.

In the story, Scarlett O'Hara says the phrase "gone with the wind" when she questions whether her home on a plantation called "Tara" still exists or if it has been destroyed by the wind that passed through Georgia. Generally, the title represents the end of a way of life in the South before the Civil War. When connected to Dowson's poem about "Cynara," the phrase "gone with the wind" refers to the loss of a romantic relationship. The poem describes the sadness of someone who has lost feelings for their former love, Cynara. The name "Cynara" is derived from the Greek word for artichoke and symbolizes a lost love.

It is also possible that the author was influenced by the link between the phrase "Gone with the Wind" and Tara, which appears in a line from James Joyce's Ulysses in the chapter "Aeolus."

Structure

Margaret Mitchell wrote Gone with the Wind in order of time, showing how the main character, Scarlett O'Hara, grew from a teenager into an adult. The story takes place from 1861 to 1873, during which Scarlett ages from 16 to 28. This type of story is called a Bildungsroman, which focuses on the moral and psychological growth of the main character from youth to adulthood. Scarlett's development is influenced by the events happening around her. Mitchell used a clear, step-by-step story that moves forward without jumping around. The novel is known for being easy to read and enjoy. The story has many interesting and vivid characters.

Gone with the Wind is often grouped with historical romance novels. However, Pamela Regis has said it is better classified as a historical novel because it does not have all the features of a romance story. The novel has been described as an early example of the erotic historical genre because it is believed to contain some adult content.

Plot elements

Slavery in Gone with the Wind is part of the story’s background, but the main focus is on other themes. Southern plantation fiction, also called Anti-Tom literature, was popular in the mid-1800s and ended with Gone with the Wind. These stories were written from the viewpoint of enslavers and often showed enslaved people as calm and happy.

The characters in the novel are divided into two groups based on class: the white planter class, like Scarlett and Ashley, and the black house servant class. Enslaved people in the story, such as Mammy, Pork, Prissy, and Uncle Peter, are shown as loyal house servants. In the novel’s caste system, house servants are considered the highest group. They choose to stay with their enslavers even after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and the Thirteenth Amendment of 1865, which legally freed enslaved people. Scarlett describes the servants who stayed at Tara: "There were qualities of loyalty and tirelessness and love in them that no strain could break, no money could buy."

Enslaved field workers, who are shown as the lower group in Mitchell’s caste system, are taken away by Confederate soldiers to dig ditches and never return to the plantation. The novel mentions that some field workers were "loyal" and "refused to avail themselves of the new freedom," but no field workers are shown staying on the plantation after emancipation.

In 1847, William Wells Brown, an escaped enslaved man, wrote about the differences between house servants and field workers in his memoir:

"Way back in the dark days of the Early Sixties, regrettable tho it was – men fought, bled, and died for the freedom of the negro – her freedom! – and she stood by and did her duty to the last ditch –

It was and is her life to serve, and she has done it well.

While shot and shell thundered to release the shackles of slavery from her body and her soul – she loved, fought for, and protected – Us who held her in bondage, her 'Marster' and her 'Missus!'"

Although Gone with the Wind is over 1,000 pages long, the character of Mammy never considers what her life might be like away from Tara. She says, "Ah is free, Miss Scarlett. You kain sen' me nowhar Ah doan wanter go," but she remains loyal to "Miss Ellen's chile." (The novel does not give Mammy another name.)

In 1918, an article titled "The Old Black Mammy" in The Confederate Veteran discussed how Southern literature often romanticized the mammy character. Micki McElya, in her book Clinging to Mammy, suggests the image of the faithful enslaved person, like Mammy, stayed in Southern stories because white Americans wanted to imagine a world where African Americans were not angry about slavery.

The anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852, is briefly mentioned in Gone with the Wind as being accepted by the Yankees as "revelation second only to the Bible." Both Uncle Tom's Cabin and Gone with the Wind have influenced lasting stereotypes about enslaved Black people in the 1800s. Gone with the Wind has become a reference for later writers about the South, both Black and white.

The southern belle is an example of a young woman from the upper class in the American South before the Civil War. Southern belles were seen as physically attractive and socially skilled, following strict rules about how women should act. Scarlett O'Hara, the novel’s heroine, is a classic southern belle, though she is charming rather than beautiful.

Scarlett’s mother, Ellen O'Hara, represents the ideal southern belle. In an article titled "A Study in Scarlett" from The New Yorker, Claudia Roth Pierpont wrote about Scarlett’s character. However, Scarlett does not always follow the rules expected of southern belles. In The Southern Belle in the American Novel, Kathryn Lee Seidel wrote about how Scarlett’s traits, such as being dishonest, clever, and stubborn, help her survive in the post-war South. Scarlett’s goal is to earn enough money to survive and rebuild Tara and her self-esteem. Though Scarlett was born around 1845, she is shown in a way that appeals to modern readers because of her determination and refusal to give up.

Marriage was the main goal for southern belles, as a woman’s status depended on her husband. Social and educational activities were focused on preparing for marriage. Even after the Civil War and the loss of many men, young women were still expected to marry. By law and Southern tradition, household leaders were adult, white men, and all white women and African Americans were believed to need protection because they were seen as lacking the ability to reason or control themselves.

The Atlanta Historical Society has created exhibits about Gone with the Wind, including one titled "Disputed Territories: Gone with the Wind and Southern Myths." The exhibit asked, "Was Scarlett a Lady?" and found that most women of the time did not work in business, like Scarlett did during Reconstruction when she ran a sawmill. White women usually worked as teachers or seamstresses and generally avoided jobs outside the home.

During the Civil War, Southern women played an important role as volunteer nurses in makeshift hospitals.

Themes

In Gone with the Wind, the author, Margaret Mitchell, uses colors to represent ideas and emotions, and these meanings can be understood in different ways. The main colors connected to the character Scarlett are red, green, and many shades of these colors.

The novel also addresses difficult questions about race. In one scene, Scarlett suggests that a Yankee woman should choose a Black nurse for her children, but the woman is upset because she wanted an Irish nurse named Bridget. David O'Connell, a scholar who wrote about the Irish influence in the book, explains that the novel treats African Americans and Irish Americans similarly in some ways. However, he also notes that the story includes harsh words and unfair stereotypes about the Irish, and Scarlett is not exempt from this. Geraldine Higgins, an Irish scholar, points out that a character named Jonas Wilkerson calls Scarlett "a highflying, bogtrotting Irish" person. Higgins explains that the Irish American O'Haras, like Scarlett, were enslavers who owned African Americans, which means the Irish and African American characters are not treated the same way in the story's social structure.

Critical reception

In the summer of 1936, as the United States was recovering from the Great Depression, Margaret Mitchell’s novel Gone with the Wind sold about 1 million copies by the end of December. The book became a bestseller when reviews appeared in national magazines. Herschel Brickell, a critic for the New York Evening Post, praised Mitchell for writing in a way that ignored many complicated techniques used by other novelists.

Ralph Thompson, a reviewer for The New York Times, criticized the novel’s length in June 1936. Some reviewers compared the book to Vanity Fair by William Thackeray and War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Mitchell said Charles Dickens inspired her and called Gone with the Wind a "Victorian" type of novel.

Helen Keller read the Braille edition of the book, which had 12 volumes. She remembered fondly her childhood in the South but also felt sadness about the region’s history. Keller’s father had enslaved people and fought as a Confederate captain, but she later supported the NAACP and the ACLU.

The book was popular in Nazi Germany. Within two days of its publication there in 1937, it sold 12,000 copies. By 1941, it had sold 276,000 copies. William L. Shirer noted in 1939 that the novel was one of the most popular in Germany and received mostly positive reviews. Sales remained high until 1942, when books by American authors were banned.

Gone with the Wind has been criticized for showing African Americans in the 19th-century South in a way that is stereotypical and negative. One passage describes former enslaved people during Reconstruction as acting "like monkeys or small children" who destroy things out of ignorance or mischief. Jabari Asim, author of The N Word, noted that Mitchell avoided blaming Black people’s behavior during Reconstruction solely on "mean niggers," a term she said was rare even during slavery.

The novel has also been criticized for promoting plantation values and romanticizing white supremacy in the antebellum South. Marianne Walker, a biographer of Margaret Mitchell, said critics who attack the book for these reasons may not have read it fully. She pointed out that the 1939 film version, which Mitchell did not help create, gave a false image of the Old South.

James Loewen, author of Lies My Teacher Told Me, called the novel "profoundly racist and profoundly wrong." In 2020, after the murder of George Floyd and protests about racism, the book faced intense criticism for its alleged racist and white supremacist themes.

Because of these criticisms, the novel has been challenged many times. It was successfully banned in Anaheim, California, in 1978, and an attempt to remove it from schools in Waukegan, Illinois, in 1984 failed. Critics also say Mitchell downplayed the violent actions of the Ku Klux Klan and their mistreatment of freedmen. Pat Conroy, in a later edition of the novel, described Mitchell’s portrayal of the Klan as similar to its depiction in The Birth of a Nation, appearing harmless like a social club.

Historian Richard N. Current noted that the novel contains many historical inaccuracies. In 1937, Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Gone with the Wind. A 2008 poll ranked the book as the second favorite among American readers, after the Bible. It remains on lists of best-selling books. As of 2010, over 30 million copies had been printed worldwide. More than 24 editions of the novel have been published in China. In 2003, the book was listed at number 21 on the BBC’s The Big Read poll of the UK’s "best-loved novel."

Gone with the Wind has often been the subject of controversy. In 1978, it was banned from English classes in the Anaheim Union High School District. In 1984, an alderman in Waukegan, Illinois, tried to remove the book from school reading lists because of its use of the racial slur "nigger." He also objected to other books, including The Nigger of the 'Narcissus', Uncle Tom's Cabin, and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, for the same reason.

Adaptations

Gone with the Wind has been adapted for stage and screen in many ways:

• The novel was adapted into the classic 1939 film, which won Academy Awards. The film was considered one of the greatest Hollywood movies when it was released. It features actors Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, and Olivia de Havilland.

• The book was adapted into a musical called Scarlett. It first opened in Tokyo in 1970. Earlier, in 1966, it was produced as a nine-hour play without music. In 1972, a shorter version with four hours of performance opened in London. This version later opened in Los Angeles in 1973 and in Dallas in 1976.

• A Japanese musical adaptation of the novel, Kaze to Tomo ni Sarinu, was produced by the Takarazuka Revue. It was performed by the all-female Moon Troupe in 1977. The most recent performance of this musical was in January 2014, with Todoroki Yuu playing Rhett Butler and Ryu Masaki playing Scarlett O'Hara.

• A complete audiobook version of the novel, narrated by Liza Ross, was released in 1998. It won the UK Talkies Awards. This version was re-released in 2025.

• A French musical adaptation, Autant en emporte le vent, was produced by Gérard Presgurvic in 2003.

• The book was adapted into a British musical titled Gone with the Wind. It opened in the U.K. at the New London Theatre in the West End in 2008.

• A full-length three-act ballet version, with music based on the works of Antonín Dvořák and choreography by Lilla Pártay, premiered in 2007. It was performed by the Hungarian National Ballet and later revived in their 2013 season.

• A new stage adaptation by Niki Landau premiered in January 2013 at the Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg, Canada.

In popular culture

Gone with the Wind has appeared in many places and forms in popular culture:

• A 1945 cartoon by World War II cartoonist Bill Mauldin shows an American soldier lying on the ground with Margaret Mitchell's book that has been damaged by bullets. The caption reads: "Dear, Dear Miss Mitchell, You will probably think this is an awful funny letter to get from a soldier, but I was carrying your big book, Gone with the Wind, under my shirt and a …"

• The novelist Vladimir Nabokov considered Gone with the Wind to be a "cheap novel," and in his book Bend Sinister, a book meant to resemble it is used as toilet paper.

• In the season 3 episode of I Love Lucy, "Lucy Writes a Novel," which aired on April 5, 1954, "Lucy" (Lucille Ball) reads about a housewife who makes a fortune writing a novel in her spare time. Lucy writes a novel, which she titles Real Gone with the Wind.

• Gone with the Wind is the book that S. E. Hinton's runaway teenage characters, Ponyboy and Johnny, read while hiding from the law in the young adult novel The Outsiders (1967).

• A film parody titled Went with the Wind! aired in a 1976 episode of The Carol Burnett Show. Burnett as Starlett descends a long staircase wearing a green curtain complete with hanging rod. The outfit, designed by Bob Mackie, is displayed at the Smithsonian Institution.

• Come Back With the Wind is a parody novel of Gone with the Wind by British comic writer Les Dawson, published in 1990. The story is set in a fictitious 20th century civil war between the North and the South of Britain. The main characters are Carla O'Mara and Red Butler, substituted for Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler from the original story. (ISBN 9780450559068)

• Mad magazine created a parody of the novel Groan with the Wind (1991), in which Ashley was renamed Ashtray and Rhett became Rhetch. It ends with Rhetch and Ashtray running off together.

• A pictorial parody in which the enslaved people are white and the protagonists are black appeared in a 1995 issue of Vanity Fair titled "Scarlett 'n the Hood."

• In a MADtv comedy sketch (2007), "Slave Girl #8" introduces three alternative endings to the film. In one ending, Scarlett pursues Rhett wearing a jet pack.

On June 30, 1986, the 50th anniversary of the day Gone with the Wind went on sale, the U.S. Post Office issued a 1-cent stamp showing an image of Margaret Mitchell. The stamp was designed by Ronald Adair and was part of the U.S. Postal Service's Great Americans series.

On September 10, 1998, the U.S. Post Office issued a 32-cent stamp as part of its Celebrate the Century series, recalling various important events in the 20th century. The stamp, designed by Howard Paine, displays the book with its original dust jacket, a white Magnolia blossom, and a hilt placed against a background of green velvet.

To commemorate the 75th anniversary (2011) of the publication of Gone with the Wind in 1936, Scribner published a paperback edition featuring the book's original jacket art.

The Windies are very enthusiastic Gone with the Wind fans who follow all the latest news and events surrounding the book and film. They gather periodically in costumes from the film or dressed as Margaret Mitchell. Atlanta, Georgia, is their meeting place.

Legacy

The novel is popular around the world because it explores common themes that many people can relate to, such as war, love, death, racial conflict, class, gender, and generation, especially for women. In North Korea, readers connect with the theme of survival, which they describe as "the most compelling message of the novel." After Margaret Mitchell passed away, her personal collection of nearly 70 foreign language translations of her novel was donated to the Atlanta Public Library.

One lasting effect of Gone with the Wind is that it has shaped how people remember the history of the Old South and how the American Civil War and Reconstruction changed it. The film version of the novel made this effect even stronger. The image of a plantation became deeply memorable to the public. Additionally, the story’s portrayal of the war and its aftermath has influenced how the world views the city of Atlanta for many generations.

David W. Blight wrote:

Characters from the South were shown as noble and heroic people living in a romantic society that ignored the practical advice given by Rhett Butler and did not fully understand the dangers of going to war.

Some readers watched the film before reading the novel. One difference between the film and the novel is the staircase scene, where Rhett carries Scarlett up the stairs. In the film, Scarlett weakly resists and does not scream as Rhett begins climbing. In the novel, "he hurt her and she cried out, muffled and frightened."

Earlier in the novel, in a planned attack at Shantytown (Chapter 44), Scarlett is attacked by a Black man who tears open her dress while a white man holds the horse’s bridle. She is saved by another Black man, Big Sam. In the film, she is attacked by a white man while a Black man holds the horse’s bridle.

In July 2012, the Library of Congress started a multiyear "Celebration of the Book" with an exhibition called Books That Shaped America and a list of 88 books by American authors that have influenced American lives. Gone with the Wind was included in this list. James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, said:

Books considered to be the Great American Novel include Moby-Dick, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby, The Grapes of Wrath, The Catcher in the Rye, Invisible Man, and To Kill a Mockingbird.

On August 16, 2012, the Archdiocese of Atlanta announced it had received a 50% share in the trademarks and literary rights to Gone With the Wind from the estate of Margaret Mitchell’s deceased nephew, Joseph Mitchell. Margaret Mitchell had left the Catholic Church. However, one of Mitchell’s biographers, Darden Asbury Pyron, noted that Margaret Mitchell had "an intense relationship" with her mother, who was a Roman Catholic.

Publication history

After Margaret Mitchell died, some of her papers and documents about writing Gone with the Wind were burned. However, many items, including early versions of chapters, were saved. The final four chapters of the book are kept at the Pequot Library in Southport, Connecticut.

The first printing of 10,000 copies included the date "Published May, 1936." When the book was chosen as the Book-of-the-Month Club’s selection for July, the release was delayed until June 30. The second printing of 25,000 copies (and later printings) had the date "Published June, 1936." A third printing of 15,000 copies was made in June 1936. Additionally, 50,000 copies were printed for the Book-of-the-Month Club’s July selection. The book was officially released to the public in the United States on June 30, 1936.

Margaret Mitchell did not write a sequel to Gone with the Wind. However, her estate allowed Alexandra Ripley to write a sequel titled Scarlett. This book was later turned into a television mini-series in 1994. A second sequel, Rhett Butler’s People by Donald McCaig, was also approved by Mitchell’s estate. This book tells the story from Rhett Butler’s perspective. In 2010, Mitchell’s estate gave permission for McCaig to write a prequel called Ruth’s Journey, which follows the life of Mammy, renamed "Ruth" in the book. Ruth’s Journey was published in 2014.

The owners of the copyright for Gone with the Wind tried to stop the publication of The Wind Done Gone by Alice Randall. This book retells the story from the perspective of enslaved people. A federal appeals court ruled that the book was a parody and protected by the First Amendment, so the owners could not block its publication. The case was settled out of court, and The Wind Done Gone became a New York Times Best Seller.

An unauthorized sequel titled The Winds of Tara by Katherine Pinotti was prevented from being published in the United States. However, the book was later released in Australia, where it avoided U.S. copyright restrictions.

Outside of legal issues, fan fiction on the internet has become a popular way for people to write sequels, parodies, and rewritten versions of Gone with the Wind.

Many unauthorized sequels to Gone with the Wind have been published in Russia, often using the pseudonym Yuliya Hilpatrik. This name hides a group of writers. The New York Times reports that most of these books have a "Slavic" style.

In Hungary, several sequels were published under the pseudonyms Audrey D. Milland or Audrey Dee Milland. These books were written by four different authors, who were listed as translators in the colophon to make the books appear as translations from English. This practice was common in the 1990s but is now against the law. The first book continues the story from where Ripley’s Scarlett ended. Another focuses on Scarlett’s daughter, Cat. Other books include a trilogy about Scarlett’s grandmother, Solange, and a three-part series about a supposed illegitimate daughter of Carreen.

Gone with the Wind entered the public domain in Australia and Canada in 1999, 50 years after Margaret Mitchell’s death. In the European Union, the book became part of the public domain on January 1, 2020, 70 years after the author’s death. In the United States, the book will remain under copyright until January 1, 2032, due to an extension of copyright law.