So here we are at Chapter 35 of GWTW. Any other author would have probably used this chapter as one of those soft, landing pad sections. Scarlett and Rhett have just completed an explosive, very confusing conversation (in a jail, no less!), and it seems logical to cordon off a few pages for Scarlett (and the reader) to think and reflect on everything the two of them said. But not MM.
Nope.
This is the Great American novel, after all. So instead of having our girl pause, go home, regroup, and lick her wounds in private in a slow, expository chapter, the pace of the novel actually begins to speed up in this section as Scarlett runs into Frank Kennedy and the whirlwind of Georgia courtship begins once again. But before I dive into Scarlett's relationship with her second husband, I think this is a good place to stop and consider Scarlett's character arc at this point in the story. Specifically, I think it's important to survey the heroine's morality at this juncture, because while I believe that we can all agree that Scarlett's marriage to Frank Kennedy is a low point for her, stealing a husband from her spinster sister may not be her major crime in this section.
Rather (and stick with me, here), I think Scarlett's true moral downfall is evident in her reaction--or rather, non-reaction--to Rhett Butler's apparent fate. Now it's true that Scarlett hates Rhett at this point in the story. After all, they pretty much had it out the last time they saw each other, and he's given her absolutely no reason to believe that he's madly in love with her. And yet--
And yet--
Doesn't it seem strange that Scarlett can be so blase about Rhett being hanged?
Yes, he's a rogue. And yes, she hates him for good reason. But they spent a lot of time together during the War. And, lest we forget, he probably saved Scarlett and Melly's lives the night Atlanta fell. Scarlett has felt sympathy for those who've died fighting for the Confederacy, but she doesn't even blink at the notion of Rhett being hanged by the Yankees. That's cold.
The first time I read GWTW I thought Frank Kennedy was just going to be another plot point, another person who could deliver information about what was happening there in Atlanta and why. Besides, he's basically married to Suellen so it's not like he's an obvious potential beau. Plus, he's so annoying, isn't he?
Everything about Frank Kennedy irritates Scarlett. She hates his laugh, his old-maidish ways, the long stories he tells, his timidity. He's awful and he has stupid whiskers and bad breath, and Scarlett only sees him as a way to make Suellen disappear.
But he's got money!
Frank has a little store and he's making a little dough, apparently, and Scarlett begins to hatch her plot. Now Scarlett obviously marries Frank because she plans on using his money to help pay the taxes on Tara, but in my opinion it's more than that, and I don't mean that she marries him just to make her sister feel bad. No, I think Scarlett is chiefly attracted to Frank Kennedy because he's a businessman. He's a terrible businessman, obviously. But he is in business, which means he is making money, and that's exactly where she wants to be. She considers asking him to loan her the money, but MM has her reject this simpler choice straight out:
"He would be embarrassed; he would stammer; he would offer excuses, but he wouldn't lend it to her."
And here's another gem on the subject of Suellen:
"What was there in that whining complaining girl to make this old fool so anxious to give her a soft nest? Suellen didn't deserve a loving husband and the profits of a store and a sawmill."
MM is at her best when she's being mean, right? Scarlett has hatred in her heart for almost everyone around her, but her chippiness could be downright scathing in the hands of the wrong author. But MM is so skilled that Scarlett's nasty opinions on Frank and Suellen come across as hilarious honesty instead of selfish cruelty. If I'd written these scenes Scarlett would have been a terrible shrew/mean bitch, but MM's words are so funny you can't help but smile.
"Certainly, he's no beauty...and he's got very bad teeth and his breath smells bad and he's old enough to be my father. Moreover, he's nervous and timid and well meaning, and I don't know of any more damning qualities a man can have."
(Does Scarlett realize that Ashley is also nervous, timid, and well meaning?)
Later on Scarlett goes to a wedding in town and is reunited with all her old friends from the war days. They're poorer, of course. But they're also capable of having fun and celebrating, but Scarlett can barely pretend to be gay because "she was hunted as a fox, running with a bursting heart, trying to reach a burrow before the hounds caught up." Consequently, Scarlett decides right then and there that "she hated them all," because they seem so content with their sad lots in life. After all, Scarlett realizes "the silly fools don't seem to realize that you can't be a lady without money."
Scarlett is wrong, of course.
But she's also right.
We know that being a lady has absolutely nothing to do with how many dresses or slaves or beaus you have, but up to this point Scarlett has absolutely no reason to unpack her understanding of the world. She's barely been able to keep body and soul together, and I think it would be unreasonable for her to philosophize about her socio-economic surroundings at a time when Tara is going for taxes and she doesn't any idea where her next dollar is going to come from. Melly was born knowing that being a southern belle has nothing to do with money, but Scarlett won't have the time and head space to become acquainted with this reality for another few years.
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