Gone with the Wind – Week 4

Well what a flurry Atlanta is in! Scarlett has finally done it, and pushed the city to far! With her marriage to Rhett Butler fresh gossip for the city, they set off for their honeymoon. Scarlett is convinced that he does not love her, and she keeps thinking about Ashley, and the could have beens. After their luxurious trip filled with new clothes, parties and jewels, they return to Atlanta to rebuild their lives. Scarlett is insistant on having the nicest house, the best furniture and more. She is determined to bring Atlanta back to her feet. However, she has managed to push the “old” families farther and farther away. She is a new woman, owning a business and bullying people to get money and whatever business she can out of them. Gone are the teachings of her mother, instead filled with half-truths and stinging words. The Southern Lady is gone, replaced by the Scalawag business practices that the new government has ushered into the south.

Melanie continues to be a force in her life, but Scarlett has taken advantage of their friendship for far to long, although Melanie is to nice to do anything about it.  She will continue to see the best in people and refuse to believe whatever truths or gossip is brought to her about Scarlett. All she thinks of is the kindnesses done to her family by Scarlett, and her loyalty remains.

With the new marriage, comes a new baby. Bonnie Butler has her father wrapped around her little fingers from the beginning, and adding more children to the mix does not help make Scarlett a better mother. In fact, she becomes harder and more difficult to get along with. As the years progress and time passes, Bonnie continues to be as headstrong and willful as both her mother and father, yet managing to charm the entire city of Atlanta in the process. Rhett Butler cannot say no to his little girl, and when she insists on a horse and being allowed to do jumps, he cannot say no. He has no idea that this will be the undoing of his happiness. With the tragic death of Bonnie in a jumping accident, he begins to move past his life with Scarlett and look toward the future. When Melanie finally dies after suffering a miscarriage, Scarlett realizes that she is in fact in love with Rhett and runs home to tell him, only to be turned away.  He told her once, he was not the marrying kind…

This week we are reading Chapters 48-63

Questions:

1. Scarlett is still feeling the effects from the war, and the nightmares of being hungry and cold are constantly with her. She has determined that she will never feel this way again. However, could she have done more to help those around her who were suffering while she was living in elegance?
2. Who would have thought Rhett Butler could be a devoted parent!? Do you think the initial descriptions in the book could have painted him as a sympathetic character, or were we led to believe that he was just out for himself the entire time?
3. As we close out the book, we see Scarlett being rebuffed by Rhett and losing some of the security that she held. If she had been more “grown up” in her mind, could things have turned out differently for them?