Essay about Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind

Dunning, John W. Burgess, and their students (Foner, xi). Perceived as the primary interpretation of the Reconstruction, the school believed that, proceeding the Civil War, the South was eager to assist the emancipated slaves during their process of integrating into their new societal status in the South. Because President Johnson’s efforts to unify the South were opposed by the Radical Republican Party, Radical Reconstructionism solidified the already present and negative connotation of the Reconstruction. Within the Dunning school’s understanding, Foner illustrates an era of corruption brought about by the money-hungry Northern “carpetbaggers” and Southern “scalawags”, and the uneducated African Americans, incapable of freedom (Foner, xii). With the restoration of white supremacy at its front, the era of a dark Reconstruction prevailed into the Progressive era of the

In the South, reconstruction efforts by Northerners and Southerners alike were challenging because of attacks by racially biased groups. A group called the Ku Klux Klan led these efforts. The Ku Klux Klan attacked both blacks who were trying to gain political power, or whites who were helping them or were helping with the general reconstruction effort. Many soldiers and Northerners who were helping the efforts (dubbed carpetbaggers), were wary of helping the efforts if it was going to be that risky. (A) This political cartoon illustrates this, because it shows a

Carpetbaggers were so named because “they seemingly carried all of their possessions in luggage known as "carpetbags," their mission was to conquer the South politically, much as the North did with its military. At one point half of all the southern governors were northern Republicans. There was a great deal of disdain among many in the South for those that cast their votes for these Republicans, and Democratic opponents derogatorily called them scalawags” (Bowles, 2011).

Nobody likes the war and it is really a difficult topic to write on it. Louisa May Alcott expressed her personal experience with a dying war soldier in such a beautiful way that it extract the sympathy and emotions of the audience and readers. In her excerpt “Hospital Sketches”, she writes about a young, brave and bachelor soldier named John, who participated in the civil war in 1863. She encountered him in an army hospital, while working there as a nurse. He was brought there with the fatal injuries. Using her writer’s experience, she presents an emotional retelling of an story, which advances an argument. She gets her readers emotionally involved in this narrative. By using diction, imagery, selection of details and her rhetorical

The American Civil war is considered to be one of the most defining moments in American history. It is the war that shaped the social, political and economic structure with a broader prospect of unifying the states and hence leading to this ideal nation of unified states as it is today. In the book “Confederates in the Attic”, the author Tony Horwitz gives an account of his year long exploration through the places where the U.S. Civil War was fought. He took his childhood interest in the Civil War to a new level by traveling around the South in search of Civil War relics, battle fields, and most importantly stories. The title “Confederates in the Attic”: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War carries two meanings in Tony Horwitz’s

The Civil War caused a shift in the ways that many Americans thought about slavery and race. Chandra Manning’s What this Cruel War Was Over helps readers understand how soldiers viewed slavery during the Civil War. The book is a narrative, which follows the life of Union soldier who is from Massachusetts. Chandra Manning used letters, diaries and regimental newspapers to gain an understanding of soldiers’ views of slavery. The main character, Charles Brewster has never encountered slaves. However, he believes that Negroes are inferior. He does not meet slaves until he enters the war in the southern states of Maryland and Virginia. Charles Brewster views the slaves first as contraband. He believes the slaves are a burden and should be sent back to their owners because of the fugitive slave laws. Union soldiers focus shifted before the end of the war. They believed slavery was cruel and inhumane, expressing strong desire to liberate the slaves. As the war progresses, soldiers view slaves and slavery in a different light. This paper, by referring to the themes and characters presented in Chandra Manning’s What this Cruel War Was Over, analyzes how the issue of slavery and race shifted in the eyes of white Union soldiers’ during Civil War times.

When a young author from New York City decides to take a trip to the southern city of Savannah, he finds himself falling in love with the town and ends up renting an apartment. He encounters many different characters, including Danny Hansford and Jim Williams, that gives the reader a good look into the aura of Savannah. The main conflict in the book occurs when a murder happens in an old mansion located in the town. The book follows the progression of the trial and the outcome following the court’s decision.

Comparing Hope Leslie or Early Times in Massachusetts and The Scarlett Letter is interesting because at first glance both novels don’t appear to have much in common aside from having a female protagonist and taking place within Puritan society of early America. (keep but not as first sentence). However, despite obvious differences between both novels such as the character presentation of the female protagonists in Hope Leslie who range from the free-spirited Hope Leslie, obedient Puritan Esther, and character of Magawisca as a noble but proud Native American contrasts with the Hester Prynne’s presentation as a shamed but deeply contemplative woman in The Scarlett Letter. The different purposes all these characters each serve in their respective stories begins to show commonality in that Hope Leslie’s Hope, Esther, and Magawisca and The Scarlett Letter’s Hester Prynne all have to overcome the adversity and social expectations with Puritan society so they can follow their hearts and do what they feel is right by relying on their wit, intelligence, and inner strength. By examining how both Hope Leslie and Hester Prynne overcome the challenges they face in their respective Puritain socities it will be easier to observe how these novels presentation of their female protagonist illustrates the gender politics of each text.

Carpetbaggers were widely revered to in the South as “larva of the North, vulture adventurers”(Dickerson), though this was widely propaganda created by the South to trash Northern aid during Reconstruction. The majority of carpetbaggers were actually Union soldiers who stayed in the South to help the newly returning states achieve statehood and help freed slaves get on their feet. When it came to freedmen, carpetbagger largely ran the Freedmen’s Bureau, pushing for more reforms and growth of black education of blacks could start learning and earning for themselves. Southern propaganda discredited many of the Northeners trying to help in the South and cause many in need not to trust them because they were just “low-class and opportunistic newcomers seeking to get rich on their misfortune” (History.com Staff Carpetbaggers). This was far from reality for the majority of the Northerners that came to the South, for most came to help the newly freed slaves take advantage of their newly found freedom to make leaps and bounds in the economy. Compared to the modern day, carpetbaggers are no more than socialist welfare workers trying to make America a better place by helping elevate the poor past the poverty line and into success and fortune. Despite widespread hatred towards Northern aid to freed slaves, carpetbaggers were able to surpass their stereotype of

Authors of fiction often write about the human condition as a way to connect with a broad range of readers. Unlike factual textbooks, fiction gives characters feeling and emotion, allowing us to see the story behind the basic details. In many cases, readers gain a new perspective on a period of time by examining a fiction novel. In Kindred, by Octavia Butler, the near death experiences of Rufus Weylin transports a 20th century African American woman named Dana to the ante bellum South to experience exactly what it’s like to be a slave. Through her day-to-day life on the Weylin plantation, the reader begins to understand just how complex slavery is and how it affects both the slaves and the plantation owners; thus, giving new

Gathering from diaries, newspapers, letters, memoirs, and biographies, Faust depicts specific effects of the American Civil War on southern women, the antebellum social hierarchy of the Confederacy, and the overall upheaval of lives

change how people saw the "Old South". This movie quickly became a smash hit and went on to become the #1 movie of all time and still holds the title, as we were reminded of at the Oscars last year. The movie was "Gone with the Wind". It was directed by Victor Fleming, and based off of the book written by Margaret Mitchell. This movie was made to portray one of the most difficult times in American History, and it shows the struggle America went through during the

The aftermath of the Civil War shook the nation. A new way of life was beginning for the people of America. A way of life that was beautiful and free to some and absolutely devastating to the rest. The country had changed and nobody did a better job at documenting this change than the authors. The authors used this new world to explore new and unique stories as well as capturing what it was actually like living in the post-Civil War times. This paper will examine post-Civil War Literature and its importance to documenting this period in history.

The movie “Gone with the Wind” is about a rich southern girl named Scarlett O’Hara and her life hardships set during the time-period of the Civil War. In the story, Scarlett is forced to watch helplessly as her family’s wealth and lives fade as the confederacy loses the Civil War. Even though, the movie is mainly centered on the dilemmas of Scarlett’s love life, there are many historical accuracies that immerse the viewer in the southern mindset as well as the timeframe. The portrayal of class structures and the confederate attitudes before the Civil War are both accurate and engaging details that the movie successfully implements. In the film, these examples are displayed mainly through the dialogue and setting.

Mitchell, Angelyn. “Not Enough of the Past: Feminist Revisions of Slavery in Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred.” The Journal of the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, vol. 26, no. 3, 2001, pp. 51-75