Contest entry- Gone with the Wind

I recently found a local contest put on by the library in one of my neighboring towns.  Coming in Sep. is Banned Books Week, a week where they focus on literary freedom.  They have asked local artists to create small (5*7) pieces that, if chosen, can be printed on small cards with facts about the books they are depicting on the back.  I love to read and write, but I was surprised when I looked at the list of banned and challenged books, how many I had read.  The one that caught my eye, though, was Gone With the Wind. 

I can understand, I suppose, why this book was challenged.  Besides being a marvelous piece of fiction, it tells the story of the Civil War from a southern point of view, complete with slavery and even the KKK.  Tough issues even today.  However, when asked about the book, Margaret Mitchell had this to say- "If the novel has a theme it is that of survival. What makes some people able to come through catastrophes and others, apparently just as able, strong and brave, go under? It happens in every upheaval. Some people survive; others don't. What qualities are in those who fight their way through triumphantly that are lacking in those who go under...? I only know that the survivors used to call that quality 'gumption.' So I wrote about the people who had gumption and the people who didn't."

 

 Near the middle of the story comes a real turning point, not just for the main characters, but for their society and culture as well.  The Burning of Atlanta.  On the night of Sep. 1, 1864, as the Confederates were evacuating they set Atlanta's military installations and ammunition on fire so that the advancing Union army would not be able to replenish their own supplies with theirs.  This scene is pivotal to the story, and I believe it is not only literal but symbolic as well- the South is on fire, it is dying at this point.  Who has the gumption to come through the flames?  Who will rise from the ashes even stronger, and who will wither and die? 

This is the scene I chose to depict, in only the second oil painting I have ever attempted.  I decided that I needed to practice different techniques- this I painted all at once, while the all the paint was still wet.  It's tricky to keep the colors separate when you do that, but I wasn't going for realism so much as I wanted to show the darkness and violence that the characters of Gone With the Wind had to pass through. 

I don't know if it will be chosen.  But it was good practice.  :)