Online Book Club: GWTW #3

So. . . yeah. . .it’s been a busy week. I haven’t had much downtime. . . .

And I really didn’t quite get this week’s selection read. . . I really don’t have an excuse to stand on. I realize this, but just had to get that out of my system.

I had all these great plans to make you some funny video to go along with this week’s discussion, but you know what?

Oh, you do know. Yeah, that’s right, just repeat all the excuses above.

Anyway the reading plan and the discussion marches on!

Since we last left Scarlett, she’s traveled to Atlanta to stay awhile with Aunt Pittypat and Melanie Hamilton Wilkes, Ashley’s new bride. Scarlett is a new mother, new widow, and 17 years old. And somehow, Atlanta kind of brings Scarlett back to life.

I’d like to center the discussion today on that one area: Atlanta and Scarlett. I don’t know why I never got this connection before—since it’s mentioned explicitly in the novel—but Scarlett and Atlanta are a lot alike. They’re young, vibrant, bustling, and challenging the norms of what it means to be Southern. In the novel, Margaret Mitchell even describes both as “brash” and vibrant. How do you think Scarlett is like the young city of Atlanta? How is she different? Why do you think Mitchell chose this metaphor? How does this play into the novel’s overarching theme of a changing society/way of life?

Answer these and pose questions of your own in the comments section.

Next week:

10/20: Chapters 17-25 discussion

I’ll spur your comments on with this scene from the 1939 Gone With the Wind movie, which depicts an important scene we read this week: