Gone with the Wind

Tajuk

Tajuk novel ini diambil dari ayat pertama rangkap ketiga dalam puisi Ernest Dowson, Non sum qualís eram bonae sub regno Cynarae:
Frasa tajuk ini juga muncul dalam novel: Ketika Scarlett melarikan diri daripada pengeboman Atlanta oleh angkatan bersenjata Utara, dia lari balik ke Ladang Tara, ladang keluarganya. Pada satu ketika, dia tertanya-tanya, "Adakah Tara masih wujud? Atau adakah Tara juga lalu bersama angin yang melanda Georgia?" [halaman 390].

Ringkasan jalan cerita

Karya Mitchell menceritakan Scarlett O'Hara, seorang wanita Georgia yang suka berlawan, dan hubungan-hubungannya yang susah dengan keluarga, kawan-kawan, dan kendak-kendak di tengah-tengah tempoh Amerika Syarikat Selatan sebelum peperangan, Perang Saudara Amerika, serta Pembinaan semula. Karya ini juga menceritakan percintaan yang mekar antara Scarlett O'Hara dan Rhett Butler.

Bahagian Pertama

Bab I - VII: Dari masa Scarlet pergi ke Dua Belas Oak sehingga pertunangan Ashley.

Bahagian Kedua

Bab VIII - XVI: Dari masa Scarlett di Tara sehingga tahun-tahun awal peperangan di Atlanta dengan Mak Saudara Pitty dan Melanie.

Bahagian Ketiga

Bab XVII - XXX: Pelarian diri Scarlet balik ke Tara sejurus sebelum Penyerahan Atlanta pada September 1864 dan hidup yang penuh dengan kesusahan di sana.

Bahagian Keempat

Bab XXXI - XLVII: Cukai-cukai petualang selepas peperangan memaksakan Scarlett kembali ke Atlanta dan di sana, dia berkahwin dengan Frank.

Bahagian Kelima

Bab XLVIII - LXIII: Perkahwinan Scarlett dengan Rhett Butler dan kesedaran bahawa dia tidak mungkin mencintai Ashley. Malangnya, kesedaran ini datang terlalu lewat kerana Rhett meninggalkannya dan tidak lagi mencintainya.

Politik

Para pengkritik dan ahli sejarah menganggap buku ini sebagai mempunyai komitmen ideologi yang kuat terhadap perjuangan Negeri-negeri Gabungan Amerika, serta pandangan romantik terhadap budaya Selatan sebelum Perang Saudara Amerika. Buku ini juga memberi pemerihalan yang jelas terhadap kejatuhan Atlanta pada tahun 1864 serta pemusnahan perang (sesetengahya tidak terdapat dalam filem 1939), dan menunjukkan penyelidikan sejarah yang mendalam. Bagaimanapun, hampir kesemua sumber Mitchell adalah daripada para penulis dan ahli sejarah Selatan. Naratif Mitchell yang meluas tentang perang dan kerugian membantu buku ini memenangi Hadiah Pulitzer pada 3 Mei 1937.
Satu episod dalam buku ini membincangkan Ku Klux Klan pada masa awalnya: in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, Scarlett is assaulted by recently-emancipated Blacks, whereupon her male friends make a retaliatory night-time raid on the Blacks' encampment. This raid is presented sympathetically as being necessary and justified, while the law-enforcement officers trying to catch the perpetrators are depicted as oppressive Northern occupiers.
Although the Klan is not mentioned in that scene, Scarlett later learns that Ashley Wilkes and others who were involved in the raid are members of the Klan. Many such local anti-Black vigilante groups did eventually join the Klan in the late 1860s, as Mitchell must have been aware from her historical research. However, it is mentioned that Scarlett finds the Klan abominable and believes the men should all just stay at home (though this is motivated mostly by a selfish desire to both be petted for her ordeal and to give the hated Yankees no more reason to tighten martial law, which is bad for her businesses). Rhett is also mentioned to be no great lover of the Klan, though he says at one point that if it is necessary he will join in an effort to integrate well into society. The novel never explicitly states whether or not this drastic step was necessary in his view. The local chapter later breaks up under the pressure from Rhett and Ashley.

Ilham

Several components of Gone with the Wind have parallels with Margaret Mitchell's own life, suggesting her experiences provided some inspiration for the story. Mitchell's understanding of life and hardship during the Civil War, for example, came from elderly relatives and neighbors passing war stories to her generation. While Margaret Mitchell used to say that her Gone with the Wind characters were not based on real people, modern researchers have found similarities to some of the people in Mitchell's own life as well as to individuals she knew or she heard of. Rhett Butler is thought to be based on Mitchell's first husband, Red Upshaw, whom she married in 1922, but divorced after it was revealed that he was a bootlegger. (It should also be noted here that it is also thought he was modeled after Sir Godfrey Barnsley of Adairsville, Georgia. After a stay at the plantation called The Woodlands, and later Barnsley Gardens, Mitchell may have gotten the inspiration for the dashing miscreant.) The story is set in Clayton County, south of the City of Atlanta.
Another at least partial character source for Scarlett O'Hara might have been Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, the mother of US president Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt biographer, David McCullough, discovered that Mitchell conducted an interview with one of Martha's closest friends and bridesmaid, Evelyn King Williams, at age 87, while a reporter for The Atlanta Journal. In that interview, Martha's physical appearance, beauty, grace and intelligence were described in great detail. The similarities between Martha, who was also called Mittie, and Scarlett are striking.

Susulan

Alexandra Ripley menulis novel Scarlett pada tahun 1991 sebagai susulan yang sah untuk novel Mitchell.
Pengarang Pat Conroy juga diajak untuk menulis susulan, tetapi projek itu akhirnya dihentikan.
Pada tahun 2000, para pemilik hak cipta Berlalu Bersama Angin  mencuba menghalang penerbitan karya Alice Randall, Angin Sudah Lalu (The Wind Done Gone), sebuah buku yang menceritakan semula karya Mitchell dari sudut pandangan hamba abdi. Bagaimanapun, Mahkamah Rayuan Persekutuan menolak permohonan plaintif untuk injunksi terhadap penerbitan buku itu dalam kes Suntrust lawan Houghton Mifflin (2001) kerana buku Randall merupakan parodi yang diperlindungkan oleh Pindaan Pertama. Kedua-dua pihak kemudian membuat penyelesaian di luar mahkamah untuk membenarkan buku itu diterbitkan.