“She had seen Southern men, soft voiced and dangerous in the days before the war, reckless and hard in the last despairing days of the fighting. But in the faces of the two men who stared at each other across the candle flame so short a while ago there had been something that was different, something that heartened her but frightened her — fury which could find no words, determination which would stop at nothing. For the first time, she felt a kinship with the people about her, felt one with them in their fears, their bitterness, their determination. No, it wasn’t to be borne! The South was too beautiful a place to be let go without a struggle, too loved to be trampled by Yankees who hated Southerners enough to enjoy grinding them into the dirt, too dear a homeland to be turned over to ignorant people drunk with whisky and freedom. As she thought of Tony’s sudden entrance and swift exit, she felt herself akin to him, for she remembered the old story how her father had left Ireland, left hastily and by night, after a murder which was no murder to him or to his family. Gerald’s blood was in her, violent blood. She remembered her hot joy in shooting the marauding Yankee. Violent blood was in them all, perilously close to the surface, lurking just beneath the kindly courteous exteriors. All of them, all the men she knew, even the drowsy-eyed Ashley and fidgety old Frank, were like that underneath — murderous, violent if the need arose. Even Rhett, conscienceless scamp that he was, had killed a man for being “uppity to a lady.”
Quote by Margaret Mitchell
Work
Margaret Mitchell's 'Gone with the Wind' is a sweeping historical romance that follows the adventures of Scarlett O'Hara, a headstrong and ambitious woman living in the American South. The story spans the tumultuous years of the Civil War and the subsequent Reconstruction era, capturing the social and political changes that reshape the lives of its characters. Known for its vivid portrayal of the antebellum South and its characters, the novel has become a staple of American literature. more
Author
Margaret Mitchell, an American author born on November 8, 1900, and died on August 16, 1949, is best known for her novel 'Gone with the Wind'. This historical novel, set against the backdrop of the American Civil War and Reconstruction, has won the hearts of readers worldwide. more
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“The worst killing is that which kills the joy we get from life.”