The first time I saw the film adaptation of a book I had read, I was shocked by the changes made to the story. Both "Gone with the Wind," the film, and "Gone with the Wind," the book, tell an epic story of life in Georgia during the Civil War and Reconstruction Era and the effect of the war on the lives of its citizens. a spoiled Southern belle, Scarlett O'Hara. But there are significant differences in characters, events, and perspectives that made me realize that a film adaptation will never be able to capture the details and background stories that are included in a novel. Personages. For those who have never read the book, the characters are defined by the actors who played them and not necessarily by the way they were described by the author. One benefit of reading a book is the ability to use your imagination to imagine characters and scenes. The first sentence of the book begins: “Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful.” However, the first scene of the film shows the beautiful Vivian Leigh as Scarlett. Scarlett was sixteen at the beginning of the book, but in the film she is described as older. In an effort to help the reader understand Scarlett's personality and determination, the book provides a lot of backstory about her family, which is not included in the film version. In addition to a difference in character portrayal, there were also characters that were completely left out of the film version. For example, in the book Scarlett had three children, but in the movie she only had one. The children are significant as they give the reader insight into Scarlett's terrible parenting skills and make her character even more unlikable. In the... middle of the paper... and in the film there is a white man. Also, there is no mention of the Ku Klux Klan in the film, but in the book Scarlett's second husband, Frank Kennedy, is a member of the Klan. Some of the sexual aspects of the book, such as Rhett's relationship with the prostitute Belle Whatling and the scene where a drunken Rhett takes Scarlett into the bedroom, were not as explicit in the film as they were in the book. I liked both films. and the book. Obviously there are aspects of the film that can't be duplicated in the book. For example, the soundtrack, written by Max Steiner, adds an element of drama and emotion that a book cannot capture. It's hard to visualize the enormity of war in a book, and the movie did a great job of that. However, like most avid readers, I will probably always appreciate the book version of the story more than the moment