Margaret Mitchell was born on November 8, 1900 in the very Atlanta, in which the main events of the novel take place. Father Margaret was a lawyer, and her mother a true lady who actively participated in the life of the city, was a member of many charitable societies, promoted the first ideas of feminism. It was the mother who became the prototype of the image of a real lady, it was she who gave an idea of the qualities that a real woman of that time should have.
Margaret was hardly an exemplary girl. Red hair, fervent disposition led to the fact that the girl experienced many unpleasant incidents in her childhood. For example, one day she watched as her brother rides a mustang in the courtyard of the house. Margaret chilled and retreated to the fireplace, her eyes fixed on the enchanting sight. The hem of the dress on it caught fire, after which the girl had to be treated for a long time and even longer to wear trousers instead of dresses. Then it was not permissible for a girl of any age, but Margaret for life remembered the freedom that comfortable men's clothes give.
Classes at school as did not carry Margaret. She did not like mathematics and adhered to other tastes in literature than was accepted. Only the strict but convincing words of the mother about the need for education forced the girl to continue studying at school with all the diligence she was capable of. Only instead of decent Shakespeare, Nietzsche and Dickens, the girl read with rapture romance novels. It was this unique taste that caused the creation of the first stories as early as the age of nine.
After graduation, Margaret very much regretted that she was not born a man and can not choose a profession after her heart. But even the strict mores of that time did not prevent her from becoming a journalist, despite the fact that at that time it was exclusively a man's profession. She worked in the Atlant Journal, where she began the first serious attempts to write. Once she wrote a whole manifesto of feminists, accompanied by a picture in which Margaret appeared in front of the public in men's clothes and a cowboy hat. A scandal broke out, and Margaret's grandmother even burned this issue of the newspaper.
The tendency to shock the public was manifested in everything. Even married Margaret did not go out as was customary. Instead of a modest bouquet of lilies, the bride carried a huge bouquet of red roses. After such an act, even the newspapers shouted that Atlanta had never seen such a thing. This marriage was doomed to failure. Margaret's husband, Barren, drank a lot, was unrestrained in manners, or rather did not have them at all. Therefore, the family collapsed after 10 months from the day of the wedding. This was the first divorce in the Mitchell family, and again a scandal over the whole of Atlanta - in the early 20th century, divorce was considered a disgrace.
After the divorce, Margueret returned to work, where she wrote about two hundred articles, having won the recognition of readers and a loud nickname "golden pen." The second time Margaret married in 1925, 2 years after the divorce. A new husband became a longtime admirer of a girl who, for love's sake, gave up a promising job in Washington. John Marsh and Margaret were married, after which she left journalism for good and engaged in creative work.
So it happened that a great novel was born, thanks to chance. As a child, Margaret fell from her horse and severely damaged her ankle. In adulthood, it turned into an arthrosis, which chained her to bed for almost a year. After reading a ton of romance novels, Margaret came to the idea that she could write better. She recreated on paper the stories of the war in which her relatives and stories about her family lived. Bad state of health could not but affect the novel - it abounds in tragic details. Even to write his Margaret began from the end - from the moment when Rhett and Scarlett parted. It was completed only in 1033. Margaret treated him frivolously and simply hid it among the household paper. Two years later the fate of the novel was decided - in Atlanta appeared a representative large publishing house "Macmillan", to which Margaret and carried the manuscript.
The book was published in 1936 on June 30, and immediately made a sensation. Many respected critics have recognized him as the best product of recent years, almost classically. At the same time Margueret outraged the success of the main character Scarlett from the readers. In her interviews, she admitted that she was upset that this fallen woman had become an example for imitation. But, however that may be, the novel became a bestseller and brought its creator Pulitzer Prize.
Margaret Mitchell lived very modestly, refused many interviews, refused to film the film about her life, but did not object to the adaptation of her novel. This brought her even greater popularity, but did not even make her appear at the premiere. Health did not allow her to fully enjoy life, and in 1949 a tragic accident broke her off. It happened on August 11, when Margaret and her husband went to the cinema, where Margaret was hit by a taxi. After 5 days, she died, and did not recover from the injuries.
No one knows if a bigger scandal and masterpieces would have been created if the writer had lived a long life. But the legacy that she left to the world made her name almost eternal. One single brilliant novel put an ordinary woman on a par with the great classics.