Gone with the Wind: In Word Clouds

Here's a silly little something that we put together and thought you might enjoy: Gone with the Wind as depicted in word clouds. We've broken the novel down in five charts, each one corresponding to five formal parts of MM's novel and representing the most frequently used words in that section of the book. Check it out: 

Part One 

(Beginning of novel through Scarlett's move to Atlanta)

Part Two

(The early Atlanta war years through spring 1864)

Part Three

(The Atlanta campaign and siege through Ashley's return to Tara)

Part Four 

(The Kennedy era through Scarlett's wedding to Rhett)

Part Five 

(Rhett and Scarlett's honeymoon through the end of the book)

So what do you think? To me at least, it's both very cool and sad to the the progression away from "Scarlett, Scarlett, Scarlett, Scarlett" as the most prominent words in the first four parts, to "Scarlett" and "Rhett" as words of equal prominence in the last part. A visual reminder that our heroine did eventually catch on, but much too late...

Gone with the Wind: A Love Story Fit for Royalty

I'm not sure if you've heard anything about it or not, but rumor has it that there was a small wedding held in England today. I'm speaking, of course, about the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. But even truly royal couples such as Wills and Kate can find inspiration in one of the greatest love stories of all time--Gone with the Wind. 

You see, many years before Prince William and his bride were getting married in front of an audience of two billion people, they were just two university sweethearts who enjoyed doing normal, everyday things together: like going to the local pub with friends, cooking dinners in their flat...and dressing up as Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara, as they did for a costume party during their senior year at the University of St. Andrews.

We briefly mentioned this charming tidbit about the royal duo on our Facebook page on the occasion of their engagement and, now just in time for their wedding day, we've got some new details on this cute story for you: 

"Now when someone suspicious showed up, [William and Kate's] friends nonchalantly ringed the couple to form a human shield... They used the same ruse at the May Ball and a couple of weeks later when they showed up at a costume party dressed as Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara. "Will wore a mustache and looked very dashing," a partygoer recalled, "and Kate was swanning about saying, 'Fiddle-dee-dee.' I was hoping he'd say, 'Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn,' but I doubt if he really knew that much about Gone with the Wind to begin with."

--excerpted from William and Kate, by Christopher Anderson

Isn't it kind of fun to think about the future King and Queen of England dressing up as Rhett and Scarlett? We think so. Anyways, congrats to you William and Kate--not only did you look fabulous today, but you've got great taste in love stories!

Decorate for the Holidays with Scarlett and Rhett Winterberry Holly

"My, Captain Butler, don't you look dashing today!"

"'Rhett Butler' Meets 'Scarlett O'Hara' and the Results are Explosive." What's this? An entry in our contest for funniest and most succinct summary of Gone with the Wind? No, actually.  

This headline comes from a gardening article which reveals a charming little piece to warm our Windie hearts: there are two strands of winterberry holly named Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler. And, naturally, this brazen combination is tailor made for each other and produces quite stunningly red holly berries. So, dear gardeners, you can now truly bring Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler home for the holidays! Isn't that thrilling?  

A Dress That Makes a Statement

Most people love the red dress Walter Plunkett had Scarlett wear at Ashley's birthday party. Others prefer Margaret Mitchell's take and go with the green low-cut dress from the book. But here we are to tell you that both Mitchell and Plunkett were actually wrong! How We Do Run On has the definite answer. Here's Scarlett should have worn to Ashley's birthday party if she wanted to really make a statement:

The Smuttiest Character in Canon

Ah, smut. The word gets bandied about regularly within the GWTW universe. As you can probably tell from the last, um, two days, we cover very serious and hard-hitting matters here. And today we're bringing you the definitive answer to a gnawing question: who is, in fact, the smuttiest character in canon? The answer may surprise you. It's waiting for you on the other side of the jump.