Portrayal Of Women, Soldiers & Blacks
There were many different issues that helped the North and South move towards Civil War. Different social, political and economic views all compounded to make war between the two inevitable. Slavery and the secession of the States were the final emotional issues that boiled over into all out war. America was transforming itself into a national power, with national markets, a national economy and an emphasis on industrialization. This transformation would result in a unified country that had the stability to move forward to become a world leader and experience phenomenal economic, political and social success. However, the creation of this unification did not come without the birthing pains of war, nor the destruction forever of a way of life in the South. Margaret Mitchell’s novel Gone With The Wind and the film produced from it by David O. Selznick of the same title, offer an accurate portrayal of the historical background and roles of women, blacks and soldiers during this momentous era in American history.
The role of women is very accurately portrayed in the novel and film. Mitchell was a young girl who heard first-hand many accounts of life during the Civil War, from relatives, friends, blacks and soldiers who had lived through the period. Her portrayals of women are accurate and in depth in detail. White women were the “candy” of the South, in the sense that they existed as identities in their relationship to men and society. Women were polite, courteous, pampered, lovely to look at and genteel in opinion and manner at all times. Rhett likes Scarlett because she is so unlike the typical Southern woman, “When I first met you, I thought: There is a girl in a million. She isn’t like these other silly little fools who believe everything their mammas tell them and act on it, no matter how they feel. And conceal all their feelings and desires and little heartbreaks beh...