I loved my college roommates!
As a matter of fact, I loved them so much I gave them copies of GWTW for Xmas freshman year. One of my roommates thanked me profusely and then (quite probably) never read a word of her copy, but my other roommate tore right through the book without stopping. As a matter of fact, she read the whole thing in two days, which is quite a feat considering we were in the middle of finals and rushing around campus trying desperately to hustle a ride back to our respective cities/towns/farms.
I asked my roommate how she'd finished GWTW so quickly, and she came out with an answer:
"I skipped some of it."
"What?" I questioned, utterly incredulous that a woman my age, who I got along with and who loved women's fiction could have dared skipped parts of this sacred text. "What are you talking about? Which parts did you skip?"
"I dunno," my roommate shrugged. "Most of the stuff after she leaves at Atlanta, but before she marries her second husband. The farming and reconstruction stuff. It was just sort of boring to me."
As I said, I was shocked and concerned. After all, if my roommate could skip these all-important scenes, then what else was she skipping out on in her everyday life? Homework? Meals? Baths?
I was mad at my roomie for quite some time, but over that xmas break I watched GWTW the motion picture for the ump-teenth time, and I realized that the Hollywood version of GWTW skips most of this stuff, too. But we're not going to skip it, are we?
No, we most certainly are not.
Scarlett/Rhett's love story (hate story?) is definitely the backbone of the novel, but I would argue that it's the skin of the movie. MM's book is the epic journey of one Southern woman's life from 1861 to 1873, but while it includes elements of romance and lubby-dubby-moony stuff (which I adore, by the way), that's not really what GWTW is all about. The novel MM wrote is actually about the struggles of survival and it can be used as something of a how-to example for young women who are trying to make their way in the world. On the other hand, the movie is an epic movie in which a sassy southern lady loves the wrong man until it is too late for her to reconcile with the right one. I love the movie dearly, but it presents limited information about Scarlett and her situation because it wraps up her time at Tara into a few scenes when in reality her experience rebuilding her homestead takes a long time.
So, Scarlett wakes up the day after Rhett abandoned them all somewhere between Atlanta and Tara. The movie actually shows us a couple quick scenes of Scarlett hiding from soldiers, but in the book all of that information is presented as flashback. Scarlett briefly remembers the night before (hiding from the blues and grays, etc), but then she's all business and begins searching for water and food. The horse Rhett stole for her is still alive ("breathing heavily, sick eyes half closed, but alive"), so Scarlett and Prissy set off looking for nourishment. She finds some apples (is MM doing a tree of wisdom/garden of eden thing here? And if so, why haven't I noticed this before?), doles them out to Melly, Prissy and Wade, and then Scarlett shoulders the burden and heads home.
Now that Rhett has disappeared (present now only in Scarlett's cursed memories of last night's wild times) and the day has broken, Scarlett can now refocus on the chief tension in the story ever since Sherman has begun to invade Georgia. As a matter of fact, MM being MM, our author even gives us a sentence that encapsulates the emotions that are truly driving this part of the story.
"It would be hours before she knew if Tara still stood and if Ellen were there."
Throw out all thoughts of Ashley and Rhett and his krazy kisses, throw out everything Our Girl has ever obsessed over during the first third of the novel. Scarlett might be flightly and foolish and she might love the wrong man and she might despise Melly with all her power, but she is still able to see the situation for what it is. And it's a credit to her common sense and focus that she is able to forget all about all the stuff that has gone on in her life during the past few years, and is instead able to focus on what really matters: shelter, safety, and the love and support of her parents.
And then, of course, we come to one of the keystone passages in the novel, one that essentially re-states the sentence I bolded above, but which says the whole thing in a much more eloquent way:
"Was Tara still standing? Or was Tara also gone with the wind which had swept through Georgia?"
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Chapter 23 (Part III): Mmmmmmmm hmmmmmm!
"Get out," he ordered.
If I were going to divide this all important chapter of GWTW into three parts, I would have to say that the third and final plot twist begins when Rhett orders Scarlett out of the buggy. Nothing he has done or said over the course of the last several hours has been remotely romantic. Of course there's that whole "coming-to-Scarlett's-rescue-and-helping-her-and-her-dependents-ride-through-a-war" bit and that's pretty difficult to ignore when all is said and done, but Rhett is so casual about helping them leave Atlanta that it seems as though sex/romance/love is the furthest thing from his mind. It's a very big deal, but Rhett plays it like it's something he would have done anytime and for almost anybody, and it's not too difficult to imagine him sort of randomly coming to the aid of any of the Atlanta maids and matrons in their circle. As much as the Meades and Merriweathers hate Rhett and his scandalous ways, I can imagine him helping them to safety almost as easily and logically as I accept the idea of him materializing with a horse and guiding Scarlett and the gang out of danger.
But he definitely wouldn't have ordered any of the Meades or Merriweathers out of the cart, and he definitely wouldn't have picked them up (shout out to my favorite motif!) and pulled them away for a kiss. The first time reader of GWTW has absolutely no idea what to expect from Rhett Butler, but we know for sure that he has some sort of weird attraction to Scarlett. He likes her a lot, but does he love her? And if so, what the hell does he think love means?
We know what love means for Scarlett. At this point in the novel (and for 99% of the story) Scarlett's definition of true love can be found in her adoration of Ashley Wilkes. She thinks about Ashley constantly and hates his wife just because she's married to him and wants to run away with him--although she doesn't really know what she would do with him if she ever got him. (*wink wink, nudge, nudge*)
But as the words speed by here MM makes it clear to us that Rhett's attraction for Scarlett is something of a mirror opposite of Scarlett's love for Ashley. While Scarlett loves Ashley in a way that only a teenaged girl can love her crush and hasn't even actually imagined what being married to him would actually entail (beyond a few chaste kisses, of course), Rhett's physical desire for Scarlett is the engine behind whatever feelings of love he has for her in this section.
Over the course of the first part of the novel, Rhett does voice his appreciation for Scarlett's figure and good looks, but he does it in a sarcastic way that leaves doubt about his true feelings. But it's a fact that he has noticed Scarlett's attributes, and since he's an adult male he knows exactly what he wants to do with her.
Mmmmmm hmmmm.
Well, enough of my explanations and speculation. Let's go to the good book (in this case GWTW and not the KJB) to flush out the scene that I consider to be a turning point for the entire story. I think it's a good idea to take Rhett's statements and actions bit by bit in order to get a better idea of what exactly is happening here.
1.) "I'm not asking you to understand or forgive...for I shall never understand or forgive myself for this idiocy." Can we pause for a moment and just sit back and enjoy the balance of that gem of a sentence? Southern writers are the best, aren't they? They can get away with rhetorical flourishes that sound phony coming out of my own typewriter....er, I meant my own MacBook. I buy this lengthy soliloquy from Rhett, but it would have sounded totally ridiculous coming out of Jay Gatsby's mouth, right? But anyway, it's interesting to note that Rhett is almost addressing himself in the third person here, like he's having an out-of-body experience. It's one thing for him to expect that Scarlett won't understand or forgive him for leaving her, but if he thinks he's going to have serious doubts about joining the CSA then...don't do it, bro!
2.) "I am annoyed at myself to find that so much quixoticism still lingers in me." It's important to note here that Rhett say's he's "annoyed" to find quixoticism in his psyche, but he does not say that he's surprised. It's there. It annoys him that it's there, but for all his cynicism and all his practicality, there's evidently still some part of his personality--the part that hopes and dreams--that he can't repress. Fascinating, particularly given the way the last third of the novel shapes up.
3.) "I could not love thee, Dear, so much loved I not Honour more...for I do love you, Scarlett, in spite of what I said that night on the porch last month." Wait....so, okay. On the night when he asked Scarlett to be his mistress, he only asked her that because he's in love with her. Now later on when they're married I buy his explanation for pretending to be blase because he's known Scarlett for almost a decade by that point and he's seen her in action up close. By the time the 1870's roll around Rhett knows Scarlett is brutal and selfish and all of that, but in 1864 there was no way he could have known the way she was going to turn out. You know what, Rhett? I call BS. I love you man, but if you really love Scarlett you've got a funny way of showing it in the beginning portions of GWTW. I'd be confused by your motivations, actions, and reactions by this point, too. I don't blame our girl for rejection you. You're out of hand.
4.) "His voice went on in the darkness and she heard words, but they made no sense to her. Her mind was tiredly trying to take in the harsh truth that he was leaving her here to face the Yankees alone. Her mind said: "He's leaving me. He's leaving me."But no emotion stirred." Yes, Scarlett darlin'. That's called shock. Yes, he's really leaving you. Because he's suddenly nostalgic or suddenly crazy or suddenly addicted to adrenaline and cannon fire, or suddenly so in love with you that he can't bare the thought of helping you travel the last few miles to Tara. It ain't right and it ain't funny and it's all messed up, but he's leaving you. For real. I wish I could say that this is your bottom and that things are only going to get better from here, but that would be a terrible lie. Sorry girl.
5.) "You don't want to change your mind about what I said last month? There's nothing like danger and death to give an added fillip...you would be sending a soldier to his death with beautiful memories." Well, well, well, well....
Well, well, well, well, well!
I enjoy GWTW the movie almost as much as I love GWTW the book, but not quite. And in my opinion this is one of those places where the motion picture failed miserably. While it's true that kissing Rhett is the last thing on Scarlett's mind in this part of the story, he does kiss her.
Call it foreshadowing or whatever, since his advances are clearly unwanted, but Rhett kisses Scarlett in this scene and she likes it.
She really, really likes it.
In fact, she likes it so much she doesn't even realize she likes it. She's reduced to merely recounting the scene without really letting us know if she's enjoying playing tonsil hockey with RKB. There's a "warm tide of feeling," she's frightened, and she goes limp. And soon afterward she realizes that none of the other boys she's known have ever kissed her like this. Oooo la la! In the movie it's pretty clear that Scarlett doesn't want to kiss him almost as much as he wants to kiss her, but that's an incorrect depiction of what was actually occurring in this section of the book. VL plays it like kissing CG is totally gross (which it might have been, given the dentures and everything), but Scarlett definitely doesn't think it's gross, does she?
6.) "'Sweet,'" he whispered. "'Sweet.'" Again with the repetitive statements, right? Maybe I'll have to explore the idea in the future that one of Rhett's tells is that he repeats himself whenever he gets nervous or turned on? I don't know. Either way, isn't it wonderful how MM contrasts Scarlett's experience of the kiss (fire, terror, warm tides of feeling, going limp) with Rhett's? She thinks this is the sultriest make-out session of all time, but Rhett thinks it's "sweet?" If this is sweet for him, then who in the hell is he kissing regularly--and how is he kissing them? Scarlett views this whole experience to be as spicy and unhealthy and wild as a Chipotle burrito, but for Rhett it's sugary and wholesome like a lollipop? That's a nice bit of characterization, and much more effective and believable than a lengthy discussion of their lives, isn't it?
7.) "Rage and hate flowed into her and stiffened her spine and with one wrench she tore herself lose from his arms." In later parts of the book Scarlett's "rage and hate" often seems misdirected. After they marry she's pissed at Rhett because she doesn't understand him and/or because he's not Ashley, but right here her anger is right on point. What the hell is he thinking leaving them all there in the middle of the woods like that? They almost play all of this for laughs in the movie, but what's so funny about leaving Scarlett and poor Melly and the baby and Prissy and Wade all alone in the middle of a war? I would have slapped him into next week.
8.) "They were right! Everybody was right! You aren't a gentleman!" "My dear girl....how inadequate." GWTW has remarkable dialogue, and the conversations between Scarlett and Rhett have a wonderful rhythm. Usually. Even when they're pissed at each other there's a lot of give and take whenever they discuss the world. But not now. Scarlett's exclamations are on point, but Rhett....inadequate? Inadequate for what, exactly? Note that he doesn't say "inappropriate" or "bitchy" or "worthless," but instead he automatically says that her words are inadequate.
Inadequate (according to m-w.com):
If I were going to divide this all important chapter of GWTW into three parts, I would have to say that the third and final plot twist begins when Rhett orders Scarlett out of the buggy. Nothing he has done or said over the course of the last several hours has been remotely romantic. Of course there's that whole "coming-to-Scarlett's-rescue-and-helping-her-and-her-dependents-ride-through-a-war" bit and that's pretty difficult to ignore when all is said and done, but Rhett is so casual about helping them leave Atlanta that it seems as though sex/romance/love is the furthest thing from his mind. It's a very big deal, but Rhett plays it like it's something he would have done anytime and for almost anybody, and it's not too difficult to imagine him sort of randomly coming to the aid of any of the Atlanta maids and matrons in their circle. As much as the Meades and Merriweathers hate Rhett and his scandalous ways, I can imagine him helping them to safety almost as easily and logically as I accept the idea of him materializing with a horse and guiding Scarlett and the gang out of danger.
But he definitely wouldn't have ordered any of the Meades or Merriweathers out of the cart, and he definitely wouldn't have picked them up (shout out to my favorite motif!) and pulled them away for a kiss. The first time reader of GWTW has absolutely no idea what to expect from Rhett Butler, but we know for sure that he has some sort of weird attraction to Scarlett. He likes her a lot, but does he love her? And if so, what the hell does he think love means?
We know what love means for Scarlett. At this point in the novel (and for 99% of the story) Scarlett's definition of true love can be found in her adoration of Ashley Wilkes. She thinks about Ashley constantly and hates his wife just because she's married to him and wants to run away with him--although she doesn't really know what she would do with him if she ever got him. (*wink wink, nudge, nudge*)
But as the words speed by here MM makes it clear to us that Rhett's attraction for Scarlett is something of a mirror opposite of Scarlett's love for Ashley. While Scarlett loves Ashley in a way that only a teenaged girl can love her crush and hasn't even actually imagined what being married to him would actually entail (beyond a few chaste kisses, of course), Rhett's physical desire for Scarlett is the engine behind whatever feelings of love he has for her in this section.
Over the course of the first part of the novel, Rhett does voice his appreciation for Scarlett's figure and good looks, but he does it in a sarcastic way that leaves doubt about his true feelings. But it's a fact that he has noticed Scarlett's attributes, and since he's an adult male he knows exactly what he wants to do with her.
Mmmmmm hmmmm.
Well, enough of my explanations and speculation. Let's go to the good book (in this case GWTW and not the KJB) to flush out the scene that I consider to be a turning point for the entire story. I think it's a good idea to take Rhett's statements and actions bit by bit in order to get a better idea of what exactly is happening here.
1.) "I'm not asking you to understand or forgive...for I shall never understand or forgive myself for this idiocy." Can we pause for a moment and just sit back and enjoy the balance of that gem of a sentence? Southern writers are the best, aren't they? They can get away with rhetorical flourishes that sound phony coming out of my own typewriter....er, I meant my own MacBook. I buy this lengthy soliloquy from Rhett, but it would have sounded totally ridiculous coming out of Jay Gatsby's mouth, right? But anyway, it's interesting to note that Rhett is almost addressing himself in the third person here, like he's having an out-of-body experience. It's one thing for him to expect that Scarlett won't understand or forgive him for leaving her, but if he thinks he's going to have serious doubts about joining the CSA then...don't do it, bro!
2.) "I am annoyed at myself to find that so much quixoticism still lingers in me." It's important to note here that Rhett say's he's "annoyed" to find quixoticism in his psyche, but he does not say that he's surprised. It's there. It annoys him that it's there, but for all his cynicism and all his practicality, there's evidently still some part of his personality--the part that hopes and dreams--that he can't repress. Fascinating, particularly given the way the last third of the novel shapes up.
3.) "I could not love thee, Dear, so much loved I not Honour more...for I do love you, Scarlett, in spite of what I said that night on the porch last month." Wait....so, okay. On the night when he asked Scarlett to be his mistress, he only asked her that because he's in love with her. Now later on when they're married I buy his explanation for pretending to be blase because he's known Scarlett for almost a decade by that point and he's seen her in action up close. By the time the 1870's roll around Rhett knows Scarlett is brutal and selfish and all of that, but in 1864 there was no way he could have known the way she was going to turn out. You know what, Rhett? I call BS. I love you man, but if you really love Scarlett you've got a funny way of showing it in the beginning portions of GWTW. I'd be confused by your motivations, actions, and reactions by this point, too. I don't blame our girl for rejection you. You're out of hand.
4.) "His voice went on in the darkness and she heard words, but they made no sense to her. Her mind was tiredly trying to take in the harsh truth that he was leaving her here to face the Yankees alone. Her mind said: "He's leaving me. He's leaving me."But no emotion stirred." Yes, Scarlett darlin'. That's called shock. Yes, he's really leaving you. Because he's suddenly nostalgic or suddenly crazy or suddenly addicted to adrenaline and cannon fire, or suddenly so in love with you that he can't bare the thought of helping you travel the last few miles to Tara. It ain't right and it ain't funny and it's all messed up, but he's leaving you. For real. I wish I could say that this is your bottom and that things are only going to get better from here, but that would be a terrible lie. Sorry girl.
5.) "You don't want to change your mind about what I said last month? There's nothing like danger and death to give an added fillip...you would be sending a soldier to his death with beautiful memories." Well, well, well, well....
Well, well, well, well, well!
I enjoy GWTW the movie almost as much as I love GWTW the book, but not quite. And in my opinion this is one of those places where the motion picture failed miserably. While it's true that kissing Rhett is the last thing on Scarlett's mind in this part of the story, he does kiss her.
Call it foreshadowing or whatever, since his advances are clearly unwanted, but Rhett kisses Scarlett in this scene and she likes it.
She really, really likes it.
In fact, she likes it so much she doesn't even realize she likes it. She's reduced to merely recounting the scene without really letting us know if she's enjoying playing tonsil hockey with RKB. There's a "warm tide of feeling," she's frightened, and she goes limp. And soon afterward she realizes that none of the other boys she's known have ever kissed her like this. Oooo la la! In the movie it's pretty clear that Scarlett doesn't want to kiss him almost as much as he wants to kiss her, but that's an incorrect depiction of what was actually occurring in this section of the book. VL plays it like kissing CG is totally gross (which it might have been, given the dentures and everything), but Scarlett definitely doesn't think it's gross, does she?
6.) "'Sweet,'" he whispered. "'Sweet.'" Again with the repetitive statements, right? Maybe I'll have to explore the idea in the future that one of Rhett's tells is that he repeats himself whenever he gets nervous or turned on? I don't know. Either way, isn't it wonderful how MM contrasts Scarlett's experience of the kiss (fire, terror, warm tides of feeling, going limp) with Rhett's? She thinks this is the sultriest make-out session of all time, but Rhett thinks it's "sweet?" If this is sweet for him, then who in the hell is he kissing regularly--and how is he kissing them? Scarlett views this whole experience to be as spicy and unhealthy and wild as a Chipotle burrito, but for Rhett it's sugary and wholesome like a lollipop? That's a nice bit of characterization, and much more effective and believable than a lengthy discussion of their lives, isn't it?
7.) "Rage and hate flowed into her and stiffened her spine and with one wrench she tore herself lose from his arms." In later parts of the book Scarlett's "rage and hate" often seems misdirected. After they marry she's pissed at Rhett because she doesn't understand him and/or because he's not Ashley, but right here her anger is right on point. What the hell is he thinking leaving them all there in the middle of the woods like that? They almost play all of this for laughs in the movie, but what's so funny about leaving Scarlett and poor Melly and the baby and Prissy and Wade all alone in the middle of a war? I would have slapped him into next week.
8.) "They were right! Everybody was right! You aren't a gentleman!" "My dear girl....how inadequate." GWTW has remarkable dialogue, and the conversations between Scarlett and Rhett have a wonderful rhythm. Usually. Even when they're pissed at each other there's a lot of give and take whenever they discuss the world. But not now. Scarlett's exclamations are on point, but Rhett....inadequate? Inadequate for what, exactly? Note that he doesn't say "inappropriate" or "bitchy" or "worthless," but instead he automatically says that her words are inadequate.
Inadequate (according to m-w.com):
Adjective
| |
And so again I ask: Inadequate for....what? What was he expecting? What purpose did he have in mind? What does he want from her, and why is what she gave him (i.e. derision) so insufficient?
9.) "Prissy...try not to be a bigger fool than you are." This is my all-time-favorite Rhett Butlerism. It tops everything that came before it in the story and everything that comes after it, perfect and useful in all times and occasions. Don't be a bigger fool than you are. I have used that in many different situations and on many different people, including--and especially--myself. It's of course extra funny because it's his goodbye to the hapless Prissy, but it applies universally, doesn't it? We are all fools, but we don't have to be a bigger fool than we are, do we?
10.) "Now she remembered all the bad names she had wanted to call him but it was too late. She leaned her head against the bowed neck of the horse and cried." What an ending. Or is it a beginning? Rhett Butler's departure marks the end of the first part of GWTW, and Scarlett's loneliness at the end of this scene sets up the middle. The next third of GWTW is a total change from everything that has come before. Even on this last morning before Sherman conquered Atlanta, Scarlett woke up safe and well-fed in a mansion, for all that she had to help Melly deliver Beau, etc. But now her entire world has turned upside down and everything has been altered and there's no going back.
|
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Chapter 23 (Part 2): "Like mad ghosts..."
Before I launch into a discussion about the second half of Chapter 23, I've gotta make sure I give another shout out to one of my all-time favorite GWTW/MM literary motifs: Rhett Butler Picking People Up.
Rhett's a physical guy, all brute strength and broad shoulders and swarthy yumminess, and throughout the story so far MM has reminded us almost constantly of his power by having him pick people up time and time again. Off the top of my head, he has thus far carried Gerald (after their big poker game and booze fest early in the novel) and Melly (when she fainted in town when she was pregnant), and he has swung Scarlett into his carriage at least once. Well, by the time he arrives at Aunt Pitty's house in chapter 23 he's back at it again: he carries Melly down the stairs and deposits her into the back of the little stolen buggy he's going to use to take everybody away from the invading army. Then he picks Scarlett up and puts her onto the front seat of the wagon without even pausing to complain. So, huzzah for MM for having the sophistication to use this time and again without running it into the ground.
Anyway, as soon as they leave Aunt Pitty's house the CSA blows up the ammunition trains on Marietta Street. And Rhett is pissed because his escape plan involved "circling around the center of town" so they can "avoid the fire and that drunken mob on Decatur Street and get through the southwest part of town without any danger," but he was planning on driving down Marietta Street in order to follow that course and now Marietta is on fire. So basically he was going to take them on a huge semi-circle around the downtown area, although a close reading indicates that it's unclear whether his route is going to go clockwise or counterclockwise from Pitty's house. Hmmm. My inclination is to assume they are going to go clockwise and cut through what is now Sweet Auburn, but I could be wrong.
They head straight into the fire, and this is when GWTW gets a little weird. I sometimes think of GWTW as the ultimate Southern Gothic novel, even though it lacks the supernatural aspects that are traditionally found in that genre. Scarlett is certainly haunted by her dream later on in the book, but MM never tries to convince us that there's anything "real" about Scarlett's fears. Nevertheless, although Scarlett and Rhett always have their feet firmly on the ground, chapter 23 and the next few chapters are very spooky in their own way, aren't they?
Scarlett leans into Rhett ("his profile stood out as clearly as the head on an ancient coin, beautiful, cruel and decadent"), but when Rhett looks back at her his eyes are "gleaming with a light as frightening as the fire." And then Scarlett says "he seemed exhilarated and contemptuous....as if he welcomed the inferno they were approaching."
Say whaaaaa?
Exhilarated and contemptuous?
Really?
Does that mean he's an old-school adrenaline addict? And if so, perhaps that explains precisely why he rushes off to join the Army at the end of this section. We're supposed to think Rhett is joining the CSA because he's sentimental at heart and wants to help, but could his enlistment actually have more to do with a sudden realization that he "gets off" on danger? It's one thing to be excited and over-stimulated and all of that, but he's enjoying the hell out of this, isn't he?
And then, speaking of the Southern Gothic, our friends in the broken down buggy run into the retreating army just as they're getting ready to cross Marietta Street and MM says that "they went past...so silent that...they might all have been ghosts." Not exactly Boo Radley there, but her description certainly lends a sense of foreboding to the environment, doesn't it?
Alright, so now the action shifts again as Rhett gets all sarcastic about the retreating men of the Glorious Cause retreating, and Scarlett starts hating him for not being in the army and because Charles and all the boys she grew up with and Ashley are probably dead while Rhett is just coasting by, enjoying the good life, and blah blah blah Scarlett greedy-cakes.
But now things turn again, because Rhett gets quiet and moody all of a sudden. Which is totally out of his character, since we've thus far not seen him as anything other than amused and talkative. Is this the real Rhett Butler? Or is this how Rhett reacts to danger? Or maybe we should just take these events at face value: Rhett is a man of action, and he's spent an entire night piloting a woman and child through the dark streets of Atlanta when there's real action--real war!--happening somewhere nearby.
Once they get out of town, Rhett pulls the carriage to the side and that's when shit gets real.
"Scarlett, are you still determined to do this crazy thing?" He asks her, and the first time I read this book I had absolutely no idea what in the hell he was talking about. What was so crazy about a woman wanting to leave Atlanta when Billy Sherman (yay!) came to town? I would have left too, and so would anybody with common sense and two good legs to stand on. Scarlett is still a young woman and Atlanta has gotten incredibly dangerous over the past few weeks--going home is a reasonable reaction when the world begins melting around you, I think.
But Rhett thinks she's cray.
I mean, I get what he's after here, but maybe he's judging her a bit too harshly. And besides, if he thinks going to Tara was truly a bad idea, why in the hell did he help her come so far out of town? I suppose one could argue that Rhett helped her get to the burbs because he figured hiding in the dark woods was a better idea than staying on at Aunt Pitty's house, but I'm not so sure. Maybe he's simply not thinking very clearly in this section. He and Scarlett are both tired and over stimulated, and probably hungry and slightly dehydrated, so perhaps they could both use some water and a nap?
Either way and whatever is bothering the two of them, both Scarlett and Rhett start behaving as though they've lost their minds in this section, which is sort of amusing. If you side with Cliff's notes and other authorities and believe that Rhett and Scarlett represent the New South, then their strange behavior and ambiguous motives in this section certainly underline your point. Neither of them knows where to go, what to do, or what to think, and both of them start making terrible decisions like the nutjobs that some people (not me, of course) think they actually are.
Rhett starts talking about maybes.
"Maybe you can get past Rough and Ready all right...maybe the Yankees aren't there yet. Maybe you can get through there..."
Scarlett is freaking out in this section, because she suddenly realizes that Rhett is planning on abandoning her right there, but...what is really happening here? Is this supposed to be a pep talk? What the hell is he doing? If he doesn't think Scarlett's chance of success is more than a maybe, then he should stay. Right? But then again, maybe the presence of a man of military age would have freaked out the Union or Confederate armies and Rhett left in order to do Scarlett a favor, betting that a few women and a girl had a better chance to get through rather than a rich guy and a couple of dames?
I don't know.
Either way, he's leaving her.
WTF?
"She looked around them wildly, at the livid sky behind them...had she gone crazy? Was she not hearing right?"
And when Scarlett looks back at Rhett, he is grinning at her. I normally laugh when he laughs, but I'm having trouble finding the joke even after all these years and even after I've read this book a thousand times.
But okay--he's leaving her. The first time I read this book I hadn't seen the movie, and I assumed he was going to drop some terrible bombshell and announce that he was abandoning them to go back to Belle's brothel or something. But no.
Noooooo.
"I am going, dear girl, with the army."
Scarlett initially thinks he's joking. But he ain't joking. He's jeering at her and at himself, and "his drawling voice jibed in her ears," but he aint joking. He's talking about patriotism, shields, and brave speeches, but he ain't joking. Scarlett is "breathless, stunned, nauseated" as she listens to his words, and she keeps asking him if he's joking.
But he ain't joking.
She asks him for his reasons and he gives them, and I still don't know if he's telling the truth--or if there was any truth worth telling at this point during the Civil War. He gives a number of answers, but I don't know which one is real. But I will lay them out and discuss them here.
Reason 1.) "Because, perhaps, of the betraying sentimentality that lurks in all of us Southerners." Which....no. I don't think that's it. Rhett does get oddly sentimental during the last few chapters of GWTW of course, but Bonnie and all of that are still 10 years in the future. He's joining up with the CSA, but I don't think he's joining it because he's suddenly sentimental about the South. He's growing and changing just like everybody else in the novel, but he's not changing that quickly. This would be akin to Ashley Wilkes running away to New York without warning, to get a job at a bank on...Oh My GAWD (spoiler!). Okay, more on that later.
Reason 2.) "Perhaps because I am ashamed." This seems a little more likely at this point, but not entirely plausible. Ashamed of what, Rhett darling? Ashamed of being alive, being smart, and making money hand-over-fist? That doesn't sound like the Rhett Butler I've known and love (and obsessed over) since I was a teenager.
Reason 3.) You know what I think? I think MM put this little turn of events in because it helps sell the ending. We buy Rhett as a doting father later on chiefly because he got so corny and schmaltzy about his fair Southland in this part of the book. Plus, every other man in the story fought for the Confederacy and it gives Rhett something to fall back on later in the book. Plus, as a writer MM honestly needed Rhett to disappear from the novel for a while. Rhett is a wonderful character and he's amazing in so many different ways, but for the first two sections of the novel we get him in very small doses. He drops his jokes and his intrigue, he helps Scarlett, he gets jealous over Ashley, and then he blows out of town to go do whatever it is he does when he's not hanging out in Atlanta (for more on that you should check out my fan fiction!). Plus, even when he's married to Scarlett we rarely actually spend any time with him because he's seldom at home. Rhett joined the army because Rhett needed to be out of the story for a little while. When you think about it he's almost more interesting when he's not in a chapter, because we get to hear all kinds of crazy gossip about him.
Reason 4.) But here's my newest idea: Rhett Butler enlists because he has an excellent moral compass. According to MM (and many, many other people...ahem...) fighting for the South was the noblest thing a man could have done, right? Now our boy RKB has done some crazy stuff over the past few decades, and he pretends not to have any morals or values beyond having fun and making money, but at heart the man has a lot of....well, he's got a lot of heart. He's a bad boy with a good soul that hasn't been corrupted by all the crazy times he's had in New Orleans and Central America and San Francisco and all the other places he's visited. He's a professional gambler and a drunk and unbelievably tough and sarcastic, but he's almost always on the side of right in GWTW. His moral compass still points north (shout out to Spielberg's Lincoln!), and in this section I would argue that he's compelled to fight for the Confederacy because it's the right thing to do--even though he either can't articulate it at this point or doesn't actually acknowledge the feeling. Maybe he's denying it, or maybe he doesn't know what's driving him, but I do believe he's taking a moral stand at this point.
So he's off to the war, but not before he steals a kiss from Scarlett. An all-important kiss that I will cover in part three of my analysis of this chapter. Check back soon, ya'll!
Rhett's a physical guy, all brute strength and broad shoulders and swarthy yumminess, and throughout the story so far MM has reminded us almost constantly of his power by having him pick people up time and time again. Off the top of my head, he has thus far carried Gerald (after their big poker game and booze fest early in the novel) and Melly (when she fainted in town when she was pregnant), and he has swung Scarlett into his carriage at least once. Well, by the time he arrives at Aunt Pitty's house in chapter 23 he's back at it again: he carries Melly down the stairs and deposits her into the back of the little stolen buggy he's going to use to take everybody away from the invading army. Then he picks Scarlett up and puts her onto the front seat of the wagon without even pausing to complain. So, huzzah for MM for having the sophistication to use this time and again without running it into the ground.
Anyway, as soon as they leave Aunt Pitty's house the CSA blows up the ammunition trains on Marietta Street. And Rhett is pissed because his escape plan involved "circling around the center of town" so they can "avoid the fire and that drunken mob on Decatur Street and get through the southwest part of town without any danger," but he was planning on driving down Marietta Street in order to follow that course and now Marietta is on fire. So basically he was going to take them on a huge semi-circle around the downtown area, although a close reading indicates that it's unclear whether his route is going to go clockwise or counterclockwise from Pitty's house. Hmmm. My inclination is to assume they are going to go clockwise and cut through what is now Sweet Auburn, but I could be wrong.
They head straight into the fire, and this is when GWTW gets a little weird. I sometimes think of GWTW as the ultimate Southern Gothic novel, even though it lacks the supernatural aspects that are traditionally found in that genre. Scarlett is certainly haunted by her dream later on in the book, but MM never tries to convince us that there's anything "real" about Scarlett's fears. Nevertheless, although Scarlett and Rhett always have their feet firmly on the ground, chapter 23 and the next few chapters are very spooky in their own way, aren't they?
Scarlett leans into Rhett ("his profile stood out as clearly as the head on an ancient coin, beautiful, cruel and decadent"), but when Rhett looks back at her his eyes are "gleaming with a light as frightening as the fire." And then Scarlett says "he seemed exhilarated and contemptuous....as if he welcomed the inferno they were approaching."
Say whaaaaa?
Exhilarated and contemptuous?
Really?
Does that mean he's an old-school adrenaline addict? And if so, perhaps that explains precisely why he rushes off to join the Army at the end of this section. We're supposed to think Rhett is joining the CSA because he's sentimental at heart and wants to help, but could his enlistment actually have more to do with a sudden realization that he "gets off" on danger? It's one thing to be excited and over-stimulated and all of that, but he's enjoying the hell out of this, isn't he?
And then, speaking of the Southern Gothic, our friends in the broken down buggy run into the retreating army just as they're getting ready to cross Marietta Street and MM says that "they went past...so silent that...they might all have been ghosts." Not exactly Boo Radley there, but her description certainly lends a sense of foreboding to the environment, doesn't it?
Alright, so now the action shifts again as Rhett gets all sarcastic about the retreating men of the Glorious Cause retreating, and Scarlett starts hating him for not being in the army and because Charles and all the boys she grew up with and Ashley are probably dead while Rhett is just coasting by, enjoying the good life, and blah blah blah Scarlett greedy-cakes.
But now things turn again, because Rhett gets quiet and moody all of a sudden. Which is totally out of his character, since we've thus far not seen him as anything other than amused and talkative. Is this the real Rhett Butler? Or is this how Rhett reacts to danger? Or maybe we should just take these events at face value: Rhett is a man of action, and he's spent an entire night piloting a woman and child through the dark streets of Atlanta when there's real action--real war!--happening somewhere nearby.
Once they get out of town, Rhett pulls the carriage to the side and that's when shit gets real.
"Scarlett, are you still determined to do this crazy thing?" He asks her, and the first time I read this book I had absolutely no idea what in the hell he was talking about. What was so crazy about a woman wanting to leave Atlanta when Billy Sherman (yay!) came to town? I would have left too, and so would anybody with common sense and two good legs to stand on. Scarlett is still a young woman and Atlanta has gotten incredibly dangerous over the past few weeks--going home is a reasonable reaction when the world begins melting around you, I think.
But Rhett thinks she's cray.
I mean, I get what he's after here, but maybe he's judging her a bit too harshly. And besides, if he thinks going to Tara was truly a bad idea, why in the hell did he help her come so far out of town? I suppose one could argue that Rhett helped her get to the burbs because he figured hiding in the dark woods was a better idea than staying on at Aunt Pitty's house, but I'm not so sure. Maybe he's simply not thinking very clearly in this section. He and Scarlett are both tired and over stimulated, and probably hungry and slightly dehydrated, so perhaps they could both use some water and a nap?
Either way and whatever is bothering the two of them, both Scarlett and Rhett start behaving as though they've lost their minds in this section, which is sort of amusing. If you side with Cliff's notes and other authorities and believe that Rhett and Scarlett represent the New South, then their strange behavior and ambiguous motives in this section certainly underline your point. Neither of them knows where to go, what to do, or what to think, and both of them start making terrible decisions like the nutjobs that some people (not me, of course) think they actually are.
Rhett starts talking about maybes.
"Maybe you can get past Rough and Ready all right...maybe the Yankees aren't there yet. Maybe you can get through there..."
Scarlett is freaking out in this section, because she suddenly realizes that Rhett is planning on abandoning her right there, but...what is really happening here? Is this supposed to be a pep talk? What the hell is he doing? If he doesn't think Scarlett's chance of success is more than a maybe, then he should stay. Right? But then again, maybe the presence of a man of military age would have freaked out the Union or Confederate armies and Rhett left in order to do Scarlett a favor, betting that a few women and a girl had a better chance to get through rather than a rich guy and a couple of dames?
I don't know.
Either way, he's leaving her.
WTF?
"She looked around them wildly, at the livid sky behind them...had she gone crazy? Was she not hearing right?"
And when Scarlett looks back at Rhett, he is grinning at her. I normally laugh when he laughs, but I'm having trouble finding the joke even after all these years and even after I've read this book a thousand times.
But okay--he's leaving her. The first time I read this book I hadn't seen the movie, and I assumed he was going to drop some terrible bombshell and announce that he was abandoning them to go back to Belle's brothel or something. But no.
Noooooo.
"I am going, dear girl, with the army."
Scarlett initially thinks he's joking. But he ain't joking. He's jeering at her and at himself, and "his drawling voice jibed in her ears," but he aint joking. He's talking about patriotism, shields, and brave speeches, but he ain't joking. Scarlett is "breathless, stunned, nauseated" as she listens to his words, and she keeps asking him if he's joking.
But he ain't joking.
She asks him for his reasons and he gives them, and I still don't know if he's telling the truth--or if there was any truth worth telling at this point during the Civil War. He gives a number of answers, but I don't know which one is real. But I will lay them out and discuss them here.
Reason 1.) "Because, perhaps, of the betraying sentimentality that lurks in all of us Southerners." Which....no. I don't think that's it. Rhett does get oddly sentimental during the last few chapters of GWTW of course, but Bonnie and all of that are still 10 years in the future. He's joining up with the CSA, but I don't think he's joining it because he's suddenly sentimental about the South. He's growing and changing just like everybody else in the novel, but he's not changing that quickly. This would be akin to Ashley Wilkes running away to New York without warning, to get a job at a bank on...Oh My GAWD (spoiler!). Okay, more on that later.
Reason 2.) "Perhaps because I am ashamed." This seems a little more likely at this point, but not entirely plausible. Ashamed of what, Rhett darling? Ashamed of being alive, being smart, and making money hand-over-fist? That doesn't sound like the Rhett Butler I've known and love (and obsessed over) since I was a teenager.
Reason 3.) You know what I think? I think MM put this little turn of events in because it helps sell the ending. We buy Rhett as a doting father later on chiefly because he got so corny and schmaltzy about his fair Southland in this part of the book. Plus, every other man in the story fought for the Confederacy and it gives Rhett something to fall back on later in the book. Plus, as a writer MM honestly needed Rhett to disappear from the novel for a while. Rhett is a wonderful character and he's amazing in so many different ways, but for the first two sections of the novel we get him in very small doses. He drops his jokes and his intrigue, he helps Scarlett, he gets jealous over Ashley, and then he blows out of town to go do whatever it is he does when he's not hanging out in Atlanta (for more on that you should check out my fan fiction!). Plus, even when he's married to Scarlett we rarely actually spend any time with him because he's seldom at home. Rhett joined the army because Rhett needed to be out of the story for a little while. When you think about it he's almost more interesting when he's not in a chapter, because we get to hear all kinds of crazy gossip about him.
Reason 4.) But here's my newest idea: Rhett Butler enlists because he has an excellent moral compass. According to MM (and many, many other people...ahem...) fighting for the South was the noblest thing a man could have done, right? Now our boy RKB has done some crazy stuff over the past few decades, and he pretends not to have any morals or values beyond having fun and making money, but at heart the man has a lot of....well, he's got a lot of heart. He's a bad boy with a good soul that hasn't been corrupted by all the crazy times he's had in New Orleans and Central America and San Francisco and all the other places he's visited. He's a professional gambler and a drunk and unbelievably tough and sarcastic, but he's almost always on the side of right in GWTW. His moral compass still points north (shout out to Spielberg's Lincoln!), and in this section I would argue that he's compelled to fight for the Confederacy because it's the right thing to do--even though he either can't articulate it at this point or doesn't actually acknowledge the feeling. Maybe he's denying it, or maybe he doesn't know what's driving him, but I do believe he's taking a moral stand at this point.
So he's off to the war, but not before he steals a kiss from Scarlett. An all-important kiss that I will cover in part three of my analysis of this chapter. Check back soon, ya'll!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)