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The Wind Done Gone: A Novel by Alice Randall
Book Summary InformationAuthor: Alice Randall Edition: Paperback Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2002-04-08 ISBN: 0618219064 Number of pages: 224 Publisher: Mariner Books
Book Reviews of The Wind Done Gone: A NovelBook Review: closet racists Summary: 3 Stars
i came on amazon to read some reviews and i was shocked by some of the blatant ignorance and obliviousness i've seen here, particularly from the man from lousiana. people need to acknowledge how rampant the rape of slave women was. it does not matter if the slave woman was a classically "pretty" woman (according to some) like sally hemmings. black women of ALL shapes, sizes, hues, and hair textures were singled out for rape by their masters, overseers, and slave catchers. why did they do it? because they could. did they have to be attracted to the women? not really, because it was free and available sex, without any chastisement or responsibility. i have a simple question for the gentleman from louisana: if a man is so low of character as to have slaves, treat people as chattel, and think of them as property to do with as he wished, what makes you think he would have a problem breaking the "miscegnation law"? (besides, who was actually going onto every plantation and enforcing the law? come on) hello, the man is already a slave owner, why not have sex with his slaves? they're his property, he can beat them to death, mate them with other slaves, sell them on an auction block...why not rape them? have you no idea how prevalent sexual abuse against women is in this world? 3 out of every 4 women is sexually abused as a child. imagine the statistics 150 years ago, when women generally had no rights and no say in anything that happened in their lives. if white women were completely subjugated, imagine black women...they were considered 3/5 of a person. they had no rights, no legal recourse, no protection. they had to grin and bear it. i'm sure that at one time or another a black american slave woman faced sexual abuse in some way, shape or form during her lifetime. there is no way to absolve a slave owner of any wrongdoing, because they were slave owners. they were in the wrong and there was nothing right about them. thats it.( if that bothers you or anybody else, so be it. but anyone who would have people, their children, and their children's children as property are nefarious.) if you want to be completely historically sound, maybe you should read more about how slaves lived. slaves generally lived their lives taking care of their masters. they did everything for them. of course they would talk about them, gossip about them, and somewhat shape their lives around their masters while trying to carve out a seperate identity for themselves. slaves could not openly express their aggresion or hatred for their masters or white people, so they did passive aggressive things, such as breaking equipment, feigning sickness, and yes, killing babies. can you blame them? innocent babies? hardly, when in a few years those "babies" would be old enough to order grown men and women beaten, sold, or killed. let me bust another myth for you. just because a black woman is your mammy damn sure doesn't mean she loves you. or even likes you. or can even stand seeing your face. i refuse to believe a slave can love their master. it's called survival. if you ACT like you love the child/children you're caring for, the family will trust you, and you might get better treatment. mammy didn't love scarlett, she tolerated her, and tried to do her best to survive. alice walker speaks on the "mammy loving everybody" phenomenon in "the color purple" quite eloquently. this goes for the other "happy" slaves at tara as well. its called uncle tomming, look it up. its a way of conducting yourself (survival) when white people are in the vicinity. i love gone with the wind, even though as a black woman, it's a slap in the face to all my sensibilites. as racist, one-sided, and antiquated as the story is, i am a hopeless romantic, and the story is a very romantic one. but i couldn't help watching the movie and wondering if those little black slave girls fanning the white women taking a nap wanted to let their fans drop and "accidently" hit one of the ladies on the head. or if they wanted to look around, make sure everyone was sleeping, and go try on the pretty dresses of the white ladies they were taking care of. if mammy ever wanted to brush her own hair with scarlett's brush, or if she'd break a rib pulling scarlett's corset so she wouldn't have to do it for a while, because she was tired. that's what this book explores. that's what this book's purpose is , bringing the "darkies" in the background, to the forefront. i, for one, am glad it exists, and that people have to deal with the other side.
Summary of The Wind Done Gone: A NovelIn this daring and provocative literary parody which has captured the interest and imagination of a nation, Alice Randall explodes the world created in GONE WITH THE WIND, a work that more than any other has defined our image of the antebellum South. Taking sharp aim at the romanticized, whitewashed mythology perpetrated by this southern classic, Randall has ingeniously conceived a multilayered, emotionally complex tale of her own - that of Cynara, the mulatto half-sister, who, beautiful and brown and born into slavery, manages to break away from the damaging world of the Old South to emerge into full life as a daughter, a lover, a mother, a victor. THE WIND DONE GONE is a passionate love story, a wrenching portrait of a tangled mother-daughter relationship, and a book that "celebrates a people's emancipation not only from bondage but also from history and myth, custom and stereotype" (San Antonio Express-News).
Historical Books
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