The Wind Done Gone by Alice Randall

[meganbmoore]

The first time I read Gone With the Wind, I was too young to have much of an opinion of it other than utter mystification as to why anyone would fall in love with Scarlett, Rhett or Ashley. I’ve since reread it at an age better able to appreciate it, but I’m afraid the characters never improved for me. Gone With the Wind is about the lost glory of the South. The Wind Done Gone is about how it really wasn’t that glorious if you weren’t among the privileged.

Cynara, the protagonist of The Wind Done Gone, is the mulatto daughter of Mammy and Scarlett’s father, as well as the mistress of Rhett Butler. No character from Gone With the Wind is identified by name. Rhett is R, Ashley is Dreamy Gentleman, the O’Hara’s are Planter and Lady. And Scarlett is Other, and her beloved Tara is Cotton Farm.

Cynara’s commentary on the events of Gone With the Wind is both scathing and bitter, her intelligence allowing her to know full well that what separates her and Other is which woman gave birth to them. It’s not an appropriation of Mitchell’s work, but a reappropriation of the harsh reality that Mitchell made shiny and pretty.

Comments

[havocthecat]

I had to stop reading Gone With the Wind partway through. It was making me Extremely Displeased, and I'm not one to be into the "glory days" of the South. :(