Haunui Royal
asked:
Why is it ok to romanticise slavery ? We know the unspeakable cruelty and brutality and inhumanity it entailed. If you did the same to German Nazis and the Jews in the second world war there would be an outcry. They are comparable.
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Gone with the Wind,
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Eric
Does it though? It has characters that romanticize the plantation aristocracy of a bygone era, but there's little in the book that makes a modern reader think, "slavery, see, that was a great idea." It does acknowledge humanity within the southern aristocracy and achieves it in part by giving a biased account unrepresentative of the horrors of antebellum slavery, yes, this is true. I personally think a novel that gives insight into the humanity of people who it's hard to imagine had any is useful in more ways than just giving humanity to some culture that doesn't deserve it: by seeing how flawed humans rationalized their crimes so as to avoid facing the ugliness upon which they depend, we gain insight into ourselves, today. After all the world is imperfect and we rationalize whatever contribution we make to its flaws. Mitchell knows she wrote a book for the very Yankees that are demonized and other-ized within the novel to enjoy. She challenges us to walk a mile in the shoes we have other-ized. As horrific as nazi Germany was, a book that does the same for the Nazis could also be a worthwhile read. Understanding a toxic ideology is not the same thing as endorsing it.
Yenta Knows
It isn't ok to romanticize slavery. This book is dangerous because it mixes a good story and engaging characters with the most blatant, unconscious racism possible. Readers --especially young readers -- swallow the romanticizing of slavery along with the rest of the story. I know about the danger to young readers because I was one.
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Feb 15, 2022 04:05PM