Awwwwwww yeah!
Rhett's back, y'all. But because MM was an amazing novelist with a flair for building anticipation, Chapter 34 doesn't begin with Scarlett walking into Rhett's jail cell. Instead it opens with Scarlett getting dressed at Aunt Pitty's house in the morning (getting strength and courage from the "cold hard core at the bottom of her heart"), and then heading out all alone onto the mean streets of post-war Atlanta. She's dressed up in so much finery that she even earns some snarling disapproval from a passing, plainly dressed country woman who apparently thinks of Scarlett as a hussy, but even this shade cannot put a damper in her spirits. The tough physical labor back at Tara has done nothing but destroy Scarlett's soul, but the prospect of matching wits with Rhett and using her beauty to trick him into giving her the money for Tara has given her a reason to laugh and enjoy life for the first time in a long time. I would love to sit in judgment on Scarlett in this scene since you all know very well that my heart belongs to RKB, but I can't be mad. A bad economy can make a heartless criminal out of anybody, and the post-war Southern economy was one of the most trying in the history of the world.
Scarlett hesitates briefly when she approaches the jail and realizes she's going to have to go straight through a crowd of occupying, victorious Yankees if she wants to speak to Rhett, but she quickly shakes off her fear by reminding herself that "if she hadn't been afraid to kill one Yankee, she shouldn't fear merely talking to another." Scarlett did kill that Yankee in self-defense, but most characters in most novels would probably try to forget all about such a bloody crime. But not Scarlett. Instead, Scarlett draws strength time and again from that incident, and as time goes by it almost seems as though she's proud of what she did. Offhand I can only think of three major characters in GWTW who are known murderers--Scarlett, Rhett, and Archie--but each of them pays for their crime in very different ways. Isn't it amazing how even minor plot points from GWTW are potential thesis topics?
Anyhow, Scarlett walks up to the HQ and starts chatting with the Yankee soldiers and MM has a field day mocking western accents ("Have you come a fer piece?"), with western at this juncture in history meaning mid-western. Scarlett introduces herself as Rhett's sister, and the soldiers think that's hilarious since lots of Rhett's "sisters" have been visiting him there in jail. Scarlett gets huffy at their assumption, not so much because they think she's a hussy, but because the Yankee soldiers have lumped her in with the rest of "those creatures Rhett consorted with." Scarlett has accepted that she's going to be selling herself to Rhett for money, but the notion that she's no different from a common prostitute is still repulsive to her. We've all gotta draw lines somewhere, right?
Rhett eventually comes in, and the fireworks start. A lot has happened since he abandoned Scarlett on the road to Tara all those months ago, but the recent events of the novel have been rather dreary. Scarlett has worked hard on the farm and she's killed Yankees and she's welcomed Ashley back to his proper place on her imaginary love triangle, but Scarlett' life has lacked spark and mystery and the good old fashioned fun of quasi-romantic banter, so MM brings Rhett back into the story at the perfect time.
This scene goes by in a blur in the movie, but Scarlett and Rhett's conversation has so many different twists and turns that it's necessary to break it down. I think this is one of the central conversations of GWTW because it explains both the Rhett/Scarlett relationship and Rhett's mentality and philosophy on life. Melly is the moral compass of GWTW, but Rhett speaks the truth about the real world and I think that examining his words helps us to understand precisely what MM was trying to say in her novel.
Part I: Puppy Love and Lies
In the first part of Rhett and Scarlett's conversation, Rhett is totally knocked for a loop because Scarlett is actually visiting him in jail. Scarlett is totally surprised to look into his face and see "none of the skepticism, the jeering humor she knew so well." In this phase of the conversation Rhett is so delighted to see Scarlett that he "smiled down at her with the first expression of honest pleasure she had ever seen on his face." And this--this is the real Rhett, isn't it? Hes polite, he's glad to see Scarlett, and he's expressing genuine (or anyway, semi-genuine) remorse for having left her that night on the road to Tara. And how about this after she tells him she hasn't forgiven him for leaving her that night:
"Another hope crushed. And after I offered up myself for my country and fought barefoot in the snow at Franklin and got the finest case of dysentery you ever heard of for my pains!"
Awwwwwww. Poor guy. He's been through a lot, hasn't he? Of course he's got plenty of money and few responsibilities (that we know about, anyway), but it's still rather eye-opening to consider that even the mighty Rhett Butler has had a tough few years. He says he's "overcome with shame" when he considers having joined "the army in varnished boots and a white linen suit and armed with only a pair of dueling pistols," but you can tell he's kind of proud about being a veteran. Anyway, Rhett uncharacteristically wants to rehash what he was thinking on that infamous night, but Scarlett doesn't want to keep discussing it because thinking about it still makes her mad. Scarlett tries to pretend she hasn't a care in the world and that everything is going great back at Tara, but Rhett is so busy being honest and thrilled with her visit he doesn't even stop to evaluate her lies. In fact, he begins rambling in a manner that is weirdly honest and complimentary, confessing to Scarlett that even when he's away from Atlanta he "always remembered [Scarlett] and wondered what [she] was doing."
He's being as honest as he can be, but Scarlett isn't particularly interested in exploring his mind. There's a wonderful tension in GWTW because Scarlett almost always wants Rhett to stop talking while the reader (or at least this reader!) wants him to go on and on talking, forever.
Part 2: The Truth Won't Set You Free
The next section of their jail-house conversation begins when Scarlett begins asking Rhett whether or not he got away with the Confederate gold. Of course Rhett doesn't immediately realize what she's up to, but you can kind of tell that he's getting a little bit suspicious of her motives because she flat out asks him if he has the money, and he comes back with:
"What a leading question! You know as well as I do that the Confederacy ran a printing press instead of a mint."
That's a wonderfully snarky thing to say, and--is there anything Rhett Butler doesn't know? He's got everything covered from women's fashion to poker to macro-economics to philosophy to religion, and in my mind his genius separates him from almost every hero I've come across in fiction. I think I've said this before, but it bears repeating: Rhett Butler is a gleaming Swiss Army Knife in a world of rusty spoons, and that is why I luuuurve him.
And, come to think of it, that's probably why Scarlett hates him.
Interestingly enough, Scarlett once again one-ups Rhett by pretending that she's rushed to see him in jail because she's so concerned that he's going to be killed. Rhett takes her bait one final time, and Scarlett closes her eyes waiting for him to try to kiss her. But although she's "expecting violence" (say whaaaaa?), he surprises her by skipping the kiss and going straight for--
Actually, I have no idea what he's doing here. Scarlett opens her eyes and:
"His black head was bent over her hands and, as she watched, he lifted one and kissed it and, taking the other, laid it against his cheek for a moment....this gentle and lover-like gesture startled her. She wondered what expression was on his face but could not tell for his head was bowed."
What the hell?
It would have been quite different entirely if Scarlett had touched his face, but it seems sort of strange that he would grab her hand and pull her fingers against his face at a time like this. I suppose MM was demonstrating the true nature of Rhett's feelings for Scarlett here, since if he'd only been interested in sex he would have definitely gone straight in for a kiss. And this is...definitely not a kiss, is it? Poor Rhett has been without human connection for so long that all he wants here is to feel Scarlett's hand on his face? Poor thing.
But uh-oh. Scarlett realizes too late that he can see the blisters on her hands, and Rhett notices and all is immediately lost. "His black brows were up and his eyes gleamed..." and he "lounged back in his chair indolently, his face a smooth blank." He's wearing his poker face again, and now it's time for him to interrogate her:
"What's the answer?"
"Why did you lie to me about everything being nice at Tara?"
And finally--
"What is the real purpose of your visit?"
Oh gawd. I think Rhett is actually really made here, you guys. He's a true cynic, but Scarlett has tricked him into getting his hopes up by visiting him in jail, and he doesn't. Like. Being. Disappointed.
"But no," he snarks at her. "you had to come jingling your earbobs and pouting and frisking like a prostitute with a prospective client." Ouch! And that's a particularly jarring insult since we all know that Rhett runs a brothel and is best friends (or whatever...) with Belle Watling, and therefore should be able to tell the difference between a true prostitute and a woman willing to get down with him for a little dough, but even he pretends like there's no difference here. He almost whispers these last words, and Scarlett doesn't know what to do because "the deadly quietness of his voice frightened her," and she's actually terrified as she recognizes that "Rhett Butler was a dangerous man to run afoul of."
Now isn't that an interesting little bit of foreshadowing? We are still a long way from that famous, wild night after Ashley's party, but MM again and again plants little clues to let us know that Rhett Butler is dangerous, unpredictable, and uncontrollable. He's an Alpha male who is even more dangerous than he appears at first glance, especially when Scarlett makes him mad.
And boy oh boy has she made him mad here!
MM usually goes long on exposition and she normally surrounds all of her dialogue with explanations and descriptions, but not here. In this chapter MM's narrator almost disappears entirely and the style of the novel changes into something quick and very modern, almost like those long chains of snappy dialogue you find in 60's stage plays or 70's short stories. He's berating her and cross-examining her and knocking her off balance with nasty questions. But then, unexpectedly, Scarlett begins explaining the truth and his manner reverses again and Rhett jams his hands into his pockets and tries to remain nonchalant, but you can tell he'd like to help her. She's broken his heart, but he'd probably still give her the money--except he's in jail and his money is far away and if he tried to right her a check the Yankees would find out.
Part 3: That's that
The third and final part of their conversation takes place after Scarlett tries to attack Rhett in a murderous rage of her own, and then faints. The chat she has with Rhett after she regains consciousness is as harsh and brutal as a slap in the face, and Rhett gives her advice on how to talk to men and it's all so messy and tragic, isn't it? Rhett tells Scarlett she can come to his hanging because it will cheer her up, and then Scarlett sasses him right back by telling him that she won't even bother coming to his hanging since it probably won't happen until "it's too late to pay the taxes." Things are back to normal between the two of them (they're enemies again), and Scarlett didn't get the money, and I remember finishing this chapter and having absolutely no idea what was going to happen next. They do a marvelous job in GWTW the movie of introducing all of Scarlett's future husbands in the party scene at 12 Oaks (if you watch you'll see that they even introduce them in order), but if you'd asked me how Scarlett was going to get the money to pay the taxes on Tara another marriage would have been the absolute furthest thing from my mind. And I certainly didn't think that she would marry Frank Kennedy, but MM is such an excellent writer that she's laid all the clues right out there for you even at this part of the novel, a notion I'll explore further in my next post.
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