Finished Gone with the Wind (spoilers if you haven't read the book and want to)

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I finished "Gone with the Wind" a little over a week ago and I absolutely loved the book. I think the underlying theme was that Scarlett never appreciated or loved what she had until she lost it. She spent so much time being jealous of Melanie and hating her because she had Ashley and Scarlett wanted Ashley only to realize that Melanie was the only real friend she ever had. She only wanted Ashley because she couldn't have him. Rhett loved her the entire time albeit he didn't show it because he knew how Scarlett was and that she would hold it over him. Scarlett was a much more complicated character in the book than on screen because a movie just can't possibly portray characters as well as a book. Scarlett was selfish and entitled in some ways but she was a very strong woman. She was amazing with money and did what it took to take care of the people she felt she had to take care of even though she didn't really love half of the people she took care of. She really didn't like her sisters but took care of them. She claimed to hate Melanie but continued to take care of her. Scarlett could be cold and insensitive and it's sad it took losing Melanie to make her realize everything she had. She lost her daughter first and as much as she loved her daughter it wasn't enough. It's just interesting to me how one character can be so terrible and yet you still feel love and compassion and can't help but like her. Despite her many flaws Scarlett still had something in her that made her redeemable. It was her and Rhett's similarities that ultimately tore them apart. Neither one wanted to show their hand. Neither one wanted to admit how much they cared for each other because that would be showing vulnerability and both had been hurt by that in the past. I think the part in the book that really bothered me was when Bonnie died and Scarlett said if it had to be one of her children that died why couldn't it be Ella the child she had with Frank and as a parent I guess that just kind of hit but knowing Scarlett wasn't maternal it also made sense. Scarlett loved Bonnie the best of her children. She hated that Bonnie preferred Rhett she also hated that Wade preferred Melanie but she had no clue how to be a mother. She took care of them because she felt like that was her obligation but she never really loved them the way a mother should love her child. The book definitely went more into depth than the movie possibly could have. You learn exactly how Ellen ended up with Gerald. Then they talked quite a bit about the KKK and I guess when I watched the movie I never thought to put two and two together to realize that was the "political meeting" they were referring to when Frank died. I don't know why that didn't hit me. I feel like there were a lot of things in the book that made more sense than just watching the movie. It talked about Rhett's background along with everyone else's background giving more understanding to the story as a whole. There are scenes in the movie that either didn't happen or were reworked or quotes that were put into different scenes than they happened in the book. It was just interesting to compare and see how different the movie actually is from the book. I mean the movie didn't do horribly at getting the gist of the relationship between Rhett and Scarlett but there was still so much missing. In the movie, it looked like there was almost no fault with Rhett and it was all Scarlett simply taking him for granted. In the book, Rhett was way more complicated. He did love Scarlett but never really told her until the end when he was leaving her. He said it a couple of times to her in the book but usually in a joking manner and not in a way that was serious. He did things for her and showed her he cared in some ways but he was seldom serious with her and made her believe he married her for some sort of amusement. He could be downright cruel to her at times. I mean most of the fault still was with Scarlett but Rhett was far from perfect. I think had Rhett been a little more serious and gave Scarlett more of a chance than he did she probably would have loved him the way he wanted her to. She started to realize she didn't love Ashley before Melanie died. She also had moments throughout the book where she appreciated Melanie before she died. Scarlett was a very complicated character which is what made it possible to love and hate her at the same time. I have to give Margaret Mitchell some serious credit for making complex characters. It's only sad that she never wrote another book. I kind of wish she would have written a second part to the book. "Scarlett" exists but it wasn't written by her and from my understanding, she never intended for there to be a sequel to the book.