Symbolic Meaning of Atlanta City Essay

Total Length: 1075 words ( 4 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 6

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) The transformation of the persona is a reflexion of the very transformation of society. Atlanta is the big scene hosting these developments.

As a symbol of the south, Atlanta represents the life philosophy in which the color of the skin is directly connected with the construction of the social persona. All the lack people were slaves and treated as if they worth less than the white ones. In this regard Scarlet is a relevant example. Several times she thinks to herself that black people are unworthy: "How stupid negroes were! They never thought of anything unless they were told. " (Mitchell, 89) or "How dared they laugh, the black apes!...She'd like to have them all whipped until the blood ran down...What devils the Yankees were to set them free!" (Mitchell, 120)

There was a clear division of society in the old south, with the blacks being denied of their human rights while the whites generally enjoyed richness and comfort. The situation was extremely unjust and went against the principles according to which all the human being are equal and benefit from the same rights and liberties.
In the destruction of the south and its representative Atlanta we see an attempt of destroying the mentality according to which the value of a person is given by the color of his skin.

The social pressures were so big that change was inevitable. Therefore the only possible denouement was the destruction of the men and territories which embodied the past values. From this point-of-view Atlanta becomes the symbol of the past. However, since the action of the book does not stop at the city's destruction and abandonment to the will of the Union army, the city can be symbolically viewed as a setting for transformation, for development. The deaths and the destruction involved underline the difficulty and pain implied by profound change.

All in all it is safe to say that the setting in "Gone with the wind" has a very powerful symbolic dimension. Associated with the events described by the writer, Atlanta is a symbol of the past, but also of the transformation that America underwent at the times of the Civil war......

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https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/symbolic-meaning-atlanta-city-8044