Why is Gone with the Wind (the book) so repugnantly racist?

[Lone Wolf]

I don't think we are supposed to regard Scarlett as a role model...

 

[Birdjaguar]

Why on earth do you think a book glorifying the south can be anything but repugnantly racist?

A good story is a good story and typically they are filled with characters who are a mix of good and bad. Should a story about ancient Rome not be read because the Romans treated their slaves poorly? Ivanhoe is all about prejudice against Jews, should we not allow people to read it?

Good stories are about people who struggle in difficult situations. A well chosen setting enhances the story. GWTW was not a book about racism, it is a book about people who lived in a time of slavery and war.

 

[Yeekim]

but if you could go back in time I doubt if you'd have found any slaves who didn't want their freedom, or who didn't want to be treated as equals by the white people of the time.

I'm pretty sure you could have found them.
Almost anything can be instilled in people.

Ivanhoe is all about prejudice against Jews, should we not allow people to read it?

Is it? Imho both Jewish characters, while heavily stereotyped, were both portrayed quite favorably. They are "good" while a great number of Christians are definitely "bad".

 

[Dragonlord]

Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.

I don't think we are supposed to regard Scarlett as a role model...

This. Basically, she's an empty-headed piece of fluff.

I have to admit I also don't really see what is supposed to be so great about GWTW - neither the book nor the film. I read the book and viewed the film exactly once each, and that was more than enough.

As to MM's racism...umm, well, yes. And so? What do you expect from a 1930s Georgian?

 

[Dragonlord]

A good story is a good story and typically they are filled with characters who are a mix of good and bad. Should a story about ancient Rome not be read because the Romans treated their slaves poorly? Ivanhoe is all about prejudice against Jews, should we not allow people to read it?

Good stories are about people who struggle in difficult situations. A well chosen setting enhances the story. GWTW was not a book about racism, it is a book about people who lived in a time of slavery and war.

I agree with your argument, but Ivanhoe isn't the best example, IMO. Walter Scott portrays the Jews in the story, Ebenezer and Rebecca, IIRC, quite sympathetically. I've always seen his writing more as a concealed criticism of anti-semitism.

 

[Snorrius]

The r-word is thrown around rather too much these days, but that doesn't mean Margaret Mitchell wasn't a vicious little racist. It's one thing for a book's characters to refer to negroes as "darkies", but we expect better from the author herself.

In the earlier Soviet Union there were common activity when young (and old) communist were judging old writers and thinkers (including from very olden times) for their non-communist views. It seems that some modern Americans are falling at the same fallacy pit.

You may not know but first president of USA was also «racist» and had slaves. It is because it was the other times, and mainstream views and customs are subject to change with a time, you can not demand from already people to conform to your views which will be viewed as flawed anyway after several centuries or even decades later.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Scarlett does have her redeeming qualities, few that they may be (her strength, willpower and almost limitless internal resources, that she, however, seldom uses for anything good. Her zenith is when she helped herself, and, by extension, her friends and family though all the war hardships, unfortunately, she doesn it all in the middle of the book and soon everything goes downhill again in terms of her morality). I also confess to sympathising with her love for her home from which she draws much of her inner strength.

Sure, she's a very dislikable person in general, but since I didn't feel any indication in the text that the reader is supposed to like her, I didn't mind it.

 

[Yeekim]

In the earlier Soviet Union there were common activity when young (and old) communist were judging old writers and thinkers (including from very olden times) for their non-communist views. It seems that some modern Americans are falling at the same fallacy pit.

Earlier? I believe this aspect made itself into every book review well into 70-s at least...

 

[Snorrius]

Earlier? I believe this aspect made itself into every book review well into 70-s at least...

Well, yeah, in form of forewords it was a constant practice till the end, but it was less «sincere» I think...

 

[Kraznaya]

It was written for traitors by traitors.

 

[Dida]

Originally Posted by Snorrius View Post
In the earlier Soviet Union there were common activity when young (and old) communist were judging old writers and thinkers (including from very olden times) for their non-communist views. It seems that some modern Americans are falling at the same fallacy pit.

Let's not forget while GWTW depicts the South in pre-civil war days, it was written in the 1930s when the civil rights movement was well under way. Nobody judges the book by the standard we have today, but it should nevertheless be judged by the standard as existed in the 1930s, not in the 1860's.

I honestly think some people believe GWTW was first published not long after the period in which it was set. I also get the impression that many people are unaware of what a long history organisations like the NAACP have. Yes, people were campaigning against racism even in the olden days.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Some people were indeed campaigning against racism in the 30s. Most white southerners certainly weren't.

You do realize that Gone With the Wind won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1937, and the movie won 10 Academy Awards in 1940. It was the highest grossing film of all time for over 20 years.

 

[Snorrius]

I honestly think some people believe GWTW was first published not long after the period in which it was set. I also get the impression that many people are unaware of what a long history organisations like the NAACP have. Yes, people were campaigning against racism even in the olden days.

While there were some people "campaigning against racism even in the olden days" being racist (by modern standards) towards blacks was pretty normal back in 1930s. I will not be surprised if she also was atrocious opposer to homosexuals. Strange, but is there at least one of those in her books? What a discrimination! How could she!

 

[Lone Wolf]

is there at least one of those in her books?

GWTW is her only book, actually.

 

[luiz]

A book can be excellent while also spousing wrong ideas... what's so shocking about this? I am not saying GwtW is excellent, it is not my favourite kind of book by a long shot, but its racism is completely irrelevant to the merits of the book. Even if it was more racist than one would expect from its time and location (which I don't think is true), that would still mean nothing as far as literary merit goes.

 

[Snorrius]

GWTW is her only book, actually.

Well, it lowers her chances to make herself politically correct...

 

[Lone Wolf]

its racism is completely irrelevant to the merits of the book.

I like GWTW, but I disagree. Its racism is a clear flaw in the book.

There needs to be a debate in the Arts forum about it. Here's it now.

 

[Patroklos]

A slave who came back south after visiting Boston with a Union officer complains about being expected to sit at the dinner table with the white people, who obviously didn't know that the black people were inferior and should eat in the kitchen. This was probably her view when she wrote it, but if you could go back in time I doubt if you'd have found any slaves who didn't want their freedom, or who didn't want to be treated as equals by the white people of the time.

Human dependancy is not a new concept. I don't think you would have any problem finding masses of slaves who thought that.

 

[Naskra]

When I read GWTW, all the darkies were kind, gentle, loyal, and trustworthy. The villians were all white folk.