Gone with the Wind (novel) novel has become a reference point for subsequent writers of the South, both black and white. Scholars at American universities refer to, interpret, and study it in their writings. The novel has been absorbed into American popular culture. Mitchell received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for the book in 1937. It was adapted into a 1939 American film. "Gone with the Wind" is the only novel by Mitchell published during her lifetime. Mitchell used color symbolism, especially the colors red and green, which frequently are associated with Scarlett O'Hara. Mitchell identified the primary theme as survival. She left the ending
The Wind Done Gone builders, "Twelve Slaves Strong as Trees". The estate of Margaret Mitchell sued Randall and her publishing company, Houghton Mifflin, on the grounds that "The Wind Done Gone" was too similar to "Gone with the Wind", thus infringing its copyright. The case attracted numerous comments from leading scholars, authors, and activists, regarding what Mitchell's attitudes would have been and how much "The Wind Done Gone" copies from its predecessor. After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit vacated an injunction against publishing the book in "Suntrust v. Houghton Mifflin" (2001), the case was settled in 2002 when Houghton Mifflin