Quote:
Originally Posted by hildea
But the worst part is a lenghty infodump in chapter 37 about conditions in the south after the war. It mentions KKK by its full name, and claims that it was founded by "tragic necessity" to protect white women from former slaves. There's also a lot about how Black people were happier as slaves. I was about to quote some examples, but can't stomach it.
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I remember reading an analysis about Mitchell’s endorsement of the Klan that discussed how, after going moribund in the 19th century, the Klan was revived in the early 20th century and its targets were broadened to include immigrants, Catholics and Jews. In invoking the Klan and its original “noble” motivations, she was trying to divorce itself from its current incarnation, since she had been raised Catholic. She was uncomfortable with the notion that she had gone from a “protected” category to a target.
It absolutely doesn’t excuse the prevalent racism in the book, but I think GwtW is most interesting as an expression of attitudes in the 1920s, when Mitchell was writing it. Not only did that involve racism, but also elements of ethnicism and, obviously, nascent feminism.
I must add, as an aside, that I loved GwtW as an adolescent, but I couldn’t read it now for the reason you mention.