Synaptic

This assignment was framed by two questions: What challenges exist to ensuring our freedom to read and to free expression? What solutions are possible? To explore these questions, this student focused on the frequently challenged novel Gone with the Wind. She traces a thoughtful arc from the novel’s original context to the present. Part of this assignment was to write in opinion-editorial style, including a compelling lead, effective evidence, engaging counterclaims, and a clear call to action. The student demonstrates these elements with sophistication and style.

-Dr. Beth McMahon

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America’s past is not a sight for sore eyes, but in fact, is one sight that can cause sore eyes. Our flag of stars and stripes has been stained with blood, torn by strife, and burnt by fury. Our landscape has been marked by the fallen brave plundered by injustices. I believe part of the reason why we Americans remain so proud of our country is that, because of the trials of past mistakes, we have become stronger as a nation.

The danger of losing this history, bitter as it may be, comes when schools attempt to remove the sensitive subjects from curriculum and libraries, as though administrators can erase or skip over select parts of America’s history. Each moment of our past, even the ones we cover in shame, has shaped our nation and it is vital to include all of them. However, it’s also important not to forget the moments of victory, unison, and celebration our nation has experienced either. Together, these moments make up the story that completes America’s past and creates strong citizens in modern-day society.

For young students and citizens of the United States, the time-gap between major world wars and depressions make these concepts difficult to understand and relate to; therefore, current students fail to see the significance of historical traumatic events and how they have come to shape our society. In order to fully understand the injustices, present during that time period, we must expose and educate on sensitive historical topics so that future generations do not suffer from ignorance and repetitional conflict.

However, large publishers, movie producers, and even educators have attempted to cover up some of America’s shamed historical happenings. Book bans are one way these leaders are pulling threads out of our tight-knit past. Gone with the Wind, an infamous novel by author Margeret Mitchell, has been hit with recent controversy over the sensitive historical subjects described throughout.

A story of a true southern belle with a hefty dose of independence, Gone with the Wind features the fierce young woman Scarlett O’Hara, daughter of Irish immigrants. Her family owned a cotton plantation during the pre-Civil War era, but as tension built and young America headed for its first internal rebuttal, Scarlett’s life turned upside down. After losing her first husband to war, her second to a drunken duel, and her third to an ugly divorce, Scarlett’s two estranged children are sent away while she chases her only true love from her past, Rhett Butler. This novel not only touches on heartbreak and heroism, but also includes the sickening details of slavery in the United States, the mad rampage and destructive habits of war, and the psychotic assignments carried out by the Ku Klux Klan. Mitchell writes of typhoid fever, miscarriages, death, heartbreak, rape, torture, slavery, hangings, and all the repulsive cruelties of life during the Civil War era. By covering years before, during, and after the War, Mitchell was able to fully present the way of life in southern America during the mid-1800’s.

Currently, the latest version of Margeret Mitchell’s classic novel contains newly added disclaimers. They state that the novel does not endorse the topics mentioned previously, and that Scarlett’s story is a “romanticization of a shocking era in our history”, and represents “unacceptable practices, racist and stereotypical depictions, and troubling themes”, according to Stewart Carr, journalist for Daily Mail media. Carr is right that the novel contains horrendous elements of injustices present during the Civil-War era, but he seems on more dubious grounds when he claims that the novel is full of troubling themes. On the other hand, it is important to keep in mind, this book is a work of fiction; however, the major historical events described are not.

Racism and immoral practices aren’t the only themes of this book. In fact, I would argue they simply should not be considered themes at all. The importance of hard work, the value of family, and women’s independence seem to be stronger themes in the novel. We see Scarlett shedding her black garments and refusing to mourn as a widow, taking over her deceased husband’s lumber business, and even defending her plantation after her mother’s passing and her father’s feverish delusions.

Carr goes on to mention that what spoils the story is “white supremacy”, (Carr). Although I agree with Carr’s claim that these topics are morally wrong, I want to point out that by reading about these injustices, we as a society are better able to understand what white supremacy is so that we can become educated to recognize it and can work to prevent it.

Shockingly, a recent survey by the Organization Teaching Tolerance, “noted that fewer than one-quarter… [of] participating high-school seniors knew that ‘protections for slavery were embedded in [America’s] founding documents’”, (qtd. in Cokeing). Without the fundamental knowledge that the abolition of slavery was an immense turning point in American history, students are simply unable to understand the hardships America went through to get to the point our nation is at today.

The same survey also presents the concerning fact that “fewer than four in 10 students surveyed… understood how slavery ‘shaped the fundamental beliefs of Americans about race and whiteness’ that have impacted American society since”, (qtd. In Cokeing). I agree that these concepts are vital to our schools’ curriculums, and therefore materials containing hard truths like these should not be banned or withheld from students.

Not only does this withholding limit the amount of understanding that students need in order to fully understand the sacrifices and struggles that built our, but it also strips the truth and the identity of the U.S. It literally alters the history of the United States of America, and in a way feeds falsehoods to younger generations.

The following question then presents itself: What are the benefits of teaching students so-called “hard history”? Cokeing presents the claim that “to focus only on these narrower avenues of …history, is a misrepresentation of the full story…The ability to go beyond [general historical events] is always important, but becomes vitally important in more tumultuous times”, (Cokeing). Those unfamiliar with this school of thought may be interested to know that each and every aspect of history must be taught in order to gain full understanding. When mentioning “tumultuous times”, she is referencing recent events like the death of George Floyd, Covid-19, and large Black Lives Matter movements in current society.

On that note, the recent remake of Gone with the Wind’s even more infamous movie and TV show has begun a quick descent in popularity. The film portrays the main character Scarlett, along with “Mammy”, the caretaker of the household and slave. The treatment and portrayal of Mammy’s character in the classic film and new TV series has caused both to be removed from HBO Max streaming services, “due to concerns over its racist depictions of black characters amid BLM protests” (O’Connor). Even Queen Latifah, who portrayed Hettie McDaniel’s character, Mammy, says “let it be gone,” (O’Connor). Now, here’s where the “hard history” concept comes in. Although I agree with O’Connor when he states that the treatment of African Americans at the time was cruel and views were racist, I still insist that it is important for people to understand what life was like during the Civil-War era.

Through TV shows, movies, and novels that cover these subjects, (like Gone with the Wind), people are able to recognize the immorality and monstrosities of racism. An HBO representative stated that Gone with the Wind is a “product of its time…depicts some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that have, unfortunately, been commonplace in American society” (O’Connor). Meaning, the company recognizes that although some depictions in the novel are disappointing, they are strikingly similar to what life was like in the early 1860’s.

Lastly, understanding history, even when it hurts, can benefit us as citizens. Author Kate Shuster says, “to achieve the noble aims of the nation’s architects, we the people have to eliminate racial injustice in the present”, (Shuster). In other words, in order to fulfill the rights, the founding fathers listed in the constitution, we still need to eliminate racism in today’s society. We must first understand the history behind this conflict before we can improve society today.

Shuster goes on to say that “we cannot do that until we come to terms with racial injustice in our past, beginning with slavery”, (Shuster). In other words, Shuster says that nothing can be changed for the better until we see the worse so we can remedy it. Consequently, as good citizens, we should not prevent younger generations from accessing this history, (even if it’s painful) so that future American citizens will grow up with the same discernment and again, improve society.

In conclusion, classic novels and books, like Gone with the Wind, should not be banned simply because they cover cringe-worthy, painful, and even repulsive times in America’s past. They should be presented as learning opportunities that grow and educate young citizens’ appreciation and understanding for their Nation today. We must continue to educate young citizens in order to benefit future society.

Don’t deprive America’s children of lessons that have already been learned, or they might have to learn them the hard way all over again.

Works Cited

Carr, Stewart. “Has Common Sense Gone with the Wind?: Classic Novel Now Comes with Trigger Warning.” Daily Mail, Apr 03, 2023, pp. 21. ProQuest, https://proxy.central.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/has-common-sense-gone-with-wind/docview/2793871345/se-2.

Cokeing, Liz. “The Importance of Teaching Hard History | ACIS.” ACIS Educational Tours, 24 February 2021, https://acis.com/blog/the-importance-of-teaching-hard-history/. Accessed 11 October 2023.

O’Connor, Roisin. Queen Latifah Weighs in on Gone with the Wind Controversy: ‘Let it be Gone’. Independent Digital News & Media, London, 2020. ProQuest, https://proxy.central.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/other-sources/queen-latifah-weighs-on-gone-with-wind/docview/2414571730/se-2.

Shuster, Kate. “Teaching Hard History.” Southern Poverty Law Center, 31 January 2018, https://www.splcenter.org/20180131/teaching-hard-history. Accessed 29 September 2023.