Chapter 4 of Gone With the Wind brings us back to Scarlett's present day. It takes places after Scarlett has presided over supper in her mother's place, and over the course of these pages Mitchell introduces a number of characters who will become minor (but fairly important) characters later on in the book. The first of these is Prissy, Pork's daughter (or step-daughter) whom Gerald has just purchased from Ashely Wilkes' father. Prissy's parents are Pork and Dilcey, two of the most competent and noble characters in the book (black or white), and Scarlett automatically assumes that Prissy will be of use. I thought Prissy was merely a throw-away character the first time I read GWTW, but of course she becomes integral to the plot during the later Siege of Atlanta. Mitchell is very, very good at providing her characters with memorable introductions, and even Prissy comes onto the scene in a grand fashion here. After all, Gerald didn't have to buy Dilcey or Prissy, but does so as a favor to Pork; consequently, when she later materializes onto center stage during Scarlett's initial Atlanta period, the reader is automatically comfortable with the character and just as gullible as everybody else when Prissy says she knows all there is to know about "birthin' babies."
The next characters to enter the scene are the Slattery's, the working class (Mitchell uses another term, but I'm sticking with 'working class') family that lives on swampy land situated directly between the Wilkes' plantation and Tara. Scarlett barely knows the Slattery's, and most of her knowledge of the family comes from gossip. Ellen has been out helping a younger Slattery daughter (probably about Scarlett's age) give birth to a still-born child. At this point, Scarlett is too young and too naive to relate to Poor Miss Slattery and her out-of-wedlock child, but I think it's interesting to consider at this point how various pregnancies eventually affect every aspect of Scarlett's ultimate destiny.
1.) Melanie: 1864. If Melanie hadn't been pregnant with Ashley's baby during the fall of 1864, both women probably would have high-tailed it to somewhere less dangerous. But Melanie is pregnant, and having a hard time, and is too fragile to travel, so Scarlett is stuck there in Atlanta. Helping.
2.) Scarlett: 187? Scarlett's miscarriage is the true turning point in a novel full of turning points and red herrings and stutter-stop climaxes.
3.) Melanie: 1873. The final, sad act of the story takes place strictly because of Melanie's risky 2nd pregnancy.
Anyway, Scarlett barely even notices the Slattery pregnancy except as an occasion to smirk and feel superior to those on the opposite end of the socio-economic spectrum. She's so selfish!
The remainder of this novel is all about Scarlett plotting about how to capture Ashley. Interestingly enough, all of her scheming occurs during prayer time, which is genius because it demonstrates both Scarlett's willful spirit and love of Ashley and tells the reader that Scarlett is a young woman with absolutely no interest in religion. She's very good a lip service and saying the right prayers at the right moments, but she doesn't believe in what she's doing. Scarlett herself compares life to a mathematical formula (if she does thus-and-so, then other people will do thus-and-so), and while she isn't a traditional academic, Scarlett is the neighborhood genius when it comes to the equations that produce interest and dedication from prospective male suitors.
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