Gone with the Wind (1936) by Margaret Mitchell is a controversial classic that promotes the Lost Cause myth of an idyllic antebellum South where both enslaved Black people and plantation owners were happy with their way of life until evil Yankees destroyed it. This chapter flips that myth on its head.

Shortly before Lula prepares for her oration in the town square, Bella and Isaac are planning a presentation of their own. Isaac thinks of all the people in town who are frightened of change. He reflects on how the good old days weren’t so good: “This glorious antebellum South they yearned for never featured any of the ugly realities of the past—body odor, hookworm, rape, cesspools, death, disease, and whippings” (149). Isaac also recalls the first time he read about the multitude of Black people who were fathered by white plantation owners. After having his DNA checked, he learned that he is a descendant of Augustus Wainwright. He intends to reveal that fact to the town tonight.

The Sound and the Fury (1929) is a William Faulkner novel that describes the downfall of an aristocratic Southern family. It is also a line from Shakespeare’s