Posted on 06/25/2006 9:55:57 AM PDT by EveningStar
Confined to her bed in Atlanta by a broken ankle and arthritis, she was given a stack of blank paper by her husband, who said, "Write a book." Did she ever.
The novel's first title became its last words, "Tomorrow is another day," and at first she named the protagonist Pansy. But Pansy became Scarlett, and the title of the book published 70 years ago this week became "Gone With the Wind."
You might think that John Steinbeck, not Margaret Mitchell, was the emblematic novelist of the 1930s, and that the publishing event in American fiction in that difficult decade was his "Grapes of Wrath." Published in 1939, it captured the Depression experience that many Americans had, and that many more lived in fear of. Steinbeck's novel became a great movie, and by now 14 million copies of the book have been sold...
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
Gone With the Wind was one of the best books I've ever read. Strongly recommend it to all of you!
Frankly EveningStar, I don't give a damn!
Why don't you read it from their own mouths.
Click on the link below and pick some interviews of slaves from Georgia at random.
Then tell me what you think.
I've read some of those interviews in the past...the people being interviewed were mostly children when slavery ended. In some cases they may have been afraid to say what they really thought to the interviewer. No doubt there were many slaveholders who believed they were treating their slaves well, and there were many acts of kindness (which would explain owners feeling that their slaves were ungrateful if they ran away) but at best it meant adults being treated as children and having the rewards of their labor stolen from them.
Who was going to abuse them for telling the truth? Yankees?
Just ignore the facts when thy don't agree with your brainwashing.'Susie says that Mr. and Mrs. Freeman were "sho" good to their slaves but surely did control them. .. When asked if Mr. Freeman whipped the slaves very much, Susie said he did not and that if he had been a mean master that "all the [redacted] wouldn't a wanted to stay on with him after freedom".'
Susie Johnson, Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938, Vol. IV Pt. 2 (Georgia), pp. 343-344'"Uncle" Rastus states that the Jones's were good to their slaves ... The Negro children and white children played together and the life of a slave was usually happy and care free. At Christmas time, the slaves were always remebered by their masters with gifts. ... In both North Carolina and Georgia, it was a custom of Mr. Jones to give each deserving, adult Negro slave an acre or two of land to work for himself and reap any profits derived therefrom.'
Rastus Jones, Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938, Vol. IV Pt. 2 (Georgia), pp. 356-357'Marse Joe Glover was a good man and never whupped his [redacted] much. His wife, our Miss Julia, was all right too - dat she was ... Jails? Yes ma'am, dare was sev'ral little houses dat helt 'bout two or three folks what dey called jails. White folks used to git locked in 'em but I never did see no [redacted] in one of dem little jailhouses. I never seed no [redacted] sold, but I did see 'em in wagon gwine to Mississippi to be sold. I never seed no slave in chains.'
Elisha Doc Garey, Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938, Vol. IV Pt. 2 (Georgia), pp. 4-5'Aunt Edie says that she was kindly treated by her masters. She says they took interest in the spiritual welfare of their slaves and that they were called in for prayer meeting regularly.'
Aunt Edie Dennis, Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938, Vol. IV Pt. 2 (Georgia), p. 21'My white folks was rich and fed us good. Dey raised lots of hogs and give us plenty of bread and meat wid milk and butter and all sorts of vegetables. Master had one big garden and dere warn't nobody had more good vegetables den he fed to his slaves. De cookin' was done in open fireplaces and most all de victuals was biled of fried. Us had all de 'possums, squirrels, rabbits, and fish us wanted cause our master let de mens go huntin' and fishin' lots. ... Marse Danile Miller, he was kinder good to Mammy, and Miss Susan was good to us too.'
Alice Green, Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938, Vol. IV Pt. 2 (Georgia), p. 40'Col. Willis was a very kind man, who would not tolerate cruel treatment of any of his slaves by overseers. ... Col. Willis always allowed his slaves to keep whatever money they earned. ... Slaves did not lack medical treatment and were given the best of attention by the owner's family doctor.'
Isiah Green, Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938, Vol. IV Pt. 2 (Georgia), p. 51, 53
A small town in southern Arkansas is representative of well, a small town in southern Arkansas. It hardly speaks for the entire South, and certainly not for Arkansas. You can't take one of those little small towns that are near the Louisiana border, and then use them to make inferences about Little Rock.
All I am going to say is, public school integration was more peaceful where I live then it ever was in Boston. And you really simplify all the issues regarding federal/state conflicts that were occurring during this time. Also, as far as the Republicans are concerned, when Southerners join us, they don't join us because we are the party of Lincoln, if anything, as Senator Lott said, they join us because if Jefferson Davis was alive today, he'd be a Republican. Just know that we won races in Georgia and South Carolina in 2002 and Mississippi in 2003 based on preservation of the flag.
Also notice how when a Republican dared to call the flag a divisive symbol, he had his political career effectively ended in South Carolina. The Democrats only get white support in my state in areas where there is a low number of blacks, and if you look at the history, these were the poor white areas that remained loyal to the Union. Whether you like it or not, the parties switched, and they did so something between 1964 and 1992
For these older blacks, white people were white people for the most part. How would you know that this story wasn't going to get back to your employer, or the person you were renting your land from? The 1930's was not exactly the best time to lose your jobs, never mind other consequences that could befall someone who violated the social code of segregation by saying or doing the wrong thing.
Sign on to the Union? You mean when they are allowed to join the Union only with the permission of the other states, don't you? And if permission of the other states is needed to join why not to leave as well?
But there is a considerable body of evidence supporting the fact that the south did.
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King Kong came out in
'33, Disney's Snow White
was in '36.
I think those two films
and how everyone loved them
say more about us
than Steinbeck's novel.
It's the whole sense-of-life thing,
enjoyment of life.
Even enduring
hardships of the depression
people loved these films.
The Slave Narratives should be taken at face value and accepted as an accurate description of life under slavery. There is no reason to believe that the narrators were telling the interviewers what they wanted to hear. Many narratives (there are over 3000) tell stories that indicate that for those particular people slavery wasn't that bad. The had kind masters, were treated decently, and weren't sold. There are also a great many narratives that show that slaves led a hard life of work and little else. There are many narratives that describe a brutal life. It's very much a mixed bag.
Kudos to you sir.
In times of stress ... men [and women] turn to humour, and beauty, and fantasy, and romance, and things filled with hope for a brighter future ... for relief.Chronicles of hard times are more important to people who have not "enjoyed" those hard times. GWTW would not have been popular during Reconstruction. Its time had not come. Time had to pass and memories fade before GWTW would have a receptive audience.
Think of all the charmingly upbeat musicals that came out of the hard years of WWI and WWII. They were a tonic for the times in which they were written. They were truly inspired.
Think also of the fact that nothing like that has been produced during a long period of prosperity. Adversity is a catalyst for creativity.
Are you black? Are you speaking from a black perspective?justshutupandtakeit, I spent formative years in a small town in south[ern] Arkansas. Other than Gov. Faubus closing down LR Central High School ... which flooded other schools all over the state with an overflow of LRCH students who did not want to lose a school year, I cannot think of overt racist things going on.
As a hard cold fact, there has been more racism since integration of the schools than there ever was before.
I have run into your sort before. You and your sort have such a hateful and perverted world view that even when someone is kind, generous and benevolent, you seek ulterior motives and denigrate the good acts by shrieking accusations like sanctimonious ... paternalistic ... and others less flattering. You have painted a portrait of a world that exists only in your own mind.
That's exactly the excuse given because the accounts to do not fit with liberal preconceived notions.
Now don't get me wrong as I am a small "l" libertarian and no one should ever be able own another, of course. But let's face it....they were never "unemployed" and had food, shelter, and medical care. I dare say they were better off than unemployed workers in the North or the rioters in New York City slums at the time. And some DID get wages and bought their way to freedom...and some purchased slaves.
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" was the Fahrenheit 911 of it's day.
But go ahead....dismiss what the people who were actually there say.
Hmmmm....slaves with guns and outnumbering whites by a huge margin.
Where were all the Nat Turners?
Hell....where was the anger?
Scarlett and Melanie combine to form the Southern woman.
&&
I can agree with that. (I am almost a Southern woman; I live in Maryland.) Most Southern women that I have met are tough but still ladylike and thoughtful; they work hard and are so gracious. While Scarlett O'Hara is a hard-working survivor, she is also self-centered and conniving.
I know quite a few Melanies and, fortunately, fewer Scarletts. Sorry you have had such bad experiences with women.
LOLAs soon as I can stop laughing ... I will post my response ... LOL
Sorry, Bigg Red ... I have not had any experiences with women at all, much less bad experiences with women . As any fool can plainly see, I am one of those fair creatures ... and men have never likened me to Scarlett O'Hara even though more than one has considered me a Steel Magnolia.
As any fool can plainly see, I am one of those fair creatures....
&&
Sorry, sister, but I can't see you; there must be a glitch in the web cam.
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