Chapter 6 (Part 2).....

It's another snowy, rainy, cold, dreary day here in Chi-town, so instead of celebrating St. Patrick's Day/celebrating Scarlett's heritage, I'm indoors writing on this blog.  Yay Midwest!

So....Part 2 of Chapter 6 undoubtedly Mitchell's hinge for this section of the novel. It's the point where all of Scarlett's best laid plans come to naught, the spot where all her hopes and dreams of becoming Mrs. Ashley Wilkes turn to dust and blow away.  I'd like to say that Scarlett begins this section as a girl but ends it as a woman, but that would be grossly inaccurate--and far too pat a turnaround for Mitchell's sophisticated approach.  In any other book (and with any other characters) the Showdown in the Wilkes' library between Scarlett and Ashley (and eventually Rhett and Scarlett) would have caused the lead character to reconsider her actions. But Ashley's flat out rejection of Scarlett doesn't actually do anything but stiffen her spine and make her decide to get Ashley if it's the last thing she does.  Which is amazing, but...there you have it.

I read 50 Shades of Grey last summer (just like everybody else in America), and I hated every word in that book.  I hated the heroine for putting up with that crap (you know what crap I mean!), because "Scarlett O'Hara would never..."

Except you know what? I'm not so sure that she wouldn't.  Scarlett is smart and dominant, but there's some part of her that apparently enjoys being hurt--and makes her come back for more.  Ashley hurts her feelings in this section by denying his love for her but that just makes her like him more. And Rhett hurts her even more than that (up for debate, but yeah) 10 or so years later, and that sends her into a tizzy of desire.  So...maybe she isn't so different from Anastasia after all?

Alright, so Scarlett sneaks into the Wilkes library, a big room full of books where (she notes) "the seven-foot sofa, Ashley's favorite seat, reared its high back, like some huge sleeping animal." What a wonderful, wonderful little throwaway description! Made all the more wonderful, may I add, when you realize that Rhett Butler is hidden on the other side of the sofa, taking a nap.  He's such an animal that even the furniture he sleeps on is turned into something big and alive.  LOVELY!

This is one of the few scenes in the book that nearly made it whole into the movie.  Mitchell blocks the scene pretty well, and it's a nice little set piece that reads like something out of a play.  Except, and here's where GWTW is awesome, Rhett Butler KNOWS HE'S IN A PLAY.  He comes off the couch laughing at the scene that he's just overheard, and he even throws Scarlett a "bow of exaggerated politeness," as though he just realized he's been accidentally assigned the 2nd lead in Our American Cousin. If the first five chapters hadn't taught us that the life and times of Scarlett O'Hara are going to be totally different from everything we've ever read before, Rhett's behavior in this scene--and Scarlett's reaction to him (the famous:"Sir, you are no gentleman" and then his "And you, Miss, are no lady")--make it clear that this book is going to be different from everything else on the shelf.

The party guests are asleep during this scene, but the County gets word that the War has begun almost as soon as Scarlett leaves the library. All the men get excited (Rhett and Ashley being the exceptions, as usual) and run off in a million different directions to hurry up and go play soldier.  And Scarlett is so depressed she accepts a marriage proposal from Charles Hamilton for reasons even she barely understands ("he only squeezed her hand until he drove her rings into the flesh").  And...the plot is now solidly in motion.  The War has started, Scarlett is going to be married to Melanie's brother, and all the men she grew up with are dashing off to join the CSA.  Good luck guys!

(Not!)