"Well none of us, as far as I can see, are doing what we intended to do right now, but I think we'll make out just the same. It's a poor person and a poor nation that sits down and cries because life isn't precisely what they expected it to be." --Tommy Wellburn
GWTW was written during the depression and the movie hit theaters almost exactly two years before the US entered WW2. MM was a well-connected and relatively wealthy southern woman, but she lived during a time when the economic system had collapsed and the whole world she'd known had been turned asunder. Uncertainty and fear were the twin engines of 1930's society (along with gin and whiskey now that Prohibition was over!), and you couldn't go two feet without seeing breadlines or hobos or starving children or any of those other things I only know about from old movies. It's difficult for me to envision a world without the familiar social safety nets of welfare and food stamps and social security, but this was the American pre-war reality. So while GWTW takes place during and after the Civil War, MM's opinions on survival and the importance of hard work and ruthlessness say as much--or more--about the 1930's as they do about the 1860's and 1870's.
So Scarlett starts running her saw mills in earnest in this chapter. She's pregnant again, so she has to race against the 9-month gestational clock to ensure she makes as much money as possible before she starts to show and is forced to stay in the house. And once again, MM portrays pregnancy as something to avoid, something to fear. Scarlett is an ambitious woman and pregnancy could be problematic and dangerous during this era, but every pregnancy in GWTW leads to inconvenience at the least (Wade/Ella/Bonnie) and sometimes spirals into something outright nefarious that threatens to kill or destroy everyone around (Beau, Melly's 2nd baby, Scarlett's miscarriage). Food for thoughts, although I won't be digesting it just yet.
Anyway, as I mentioned during my last entry, there's very little fat in GWTW. It's a lengthy novel with many twists and turns, but each line, each scene, each chapter, plays a part in the development of Scarlett's story. So smack in the middle of this chapter, we have an interesting scene in which Uncle Peter is driving Scarlett around Atlanta on her errands and he is insulted by some Yankee women ("I never saw a N***er till I came South last month and I don't care if I never see another. They give me the creeps."). Uncle Peter bristles at being insulted and is angry with Scarlett because she doesn't defend him from these brutal attacks. MM uses Uncle Peter largely as comic relief, but here his pride has been wounded, which means he refuses to drive Scarlett on her rounds ever again.
Which means Scarlett has no choice but to drive around Atlanta by herself.
Which means Rhett Butler hears about this and comes to Scarlett's rescue (again!), by escorting her on her rounds. Or anyway, he escorts her around whenever he's in town, which is not that often come to think about it.
"Frequently he was out of town on those mysterious trips to New Orleans which he never explained, but which she felt sure, in a faintly jealous way, were connected with a woman--or women."
He's such a man of mystery, for all his honesty. Rhett will answer any question Scarlett asks him, but he's such a confusing person Scarlett never seems to know what question she wants to ask. He spends "most of his time gambling in the rooms above the Girl of the Period Saloon" or hanging out with Yankees in Belle's, but they met by accident almost every day. Scarlett can't quite figure out why he's hanging around like that, but she doesn't complain either, and the two of them seem to have settled into something of a truce. And now that they're friends, he's back to dropping little nuggets of advice and conversation for the reader to enjoy:
"If you haven't done anything wrong, it's because you haven't had the opportunity, and perhaps they dimly realize it."
"Be different and be damned!" (Although I would argue that Rhett isn't any different from the men of his Charleston background. Maybe his only crime is that he actually excels at his activities. He's an excellent shot, he's good with money, he's good at gambling, he's good at almost everything. Maybe that's his sin.)
"It's so pleasant to feel sorry for people."
"I had a grandfather on the Butler side who was a pirate." (Really?)
"Hardships make or break people."
And then we get this one from Scarlett, on the subject of the word pregnant.
"Gerald had been wont to say delicately "in the family way," when he had to mention such matters, and ladies genteelly referred to pregnancy as being 'in a fix.'"
And speaking of pregnancy, isn't Rhett lovely in this section? I read this part in disbelief and awe the first time I picked up GWTW. Rhett has been nothing but a bastion of brute strength throughout the novel, but he's so gentle and patient and kind when he holds Scarlett's head over the side of the buggy that I couldn't help but be moved. Even Scarlett is touched by his sympathy. As a matter of fact she likes him so much she says he's as stimulating as a glass of brandy.
And this--Scarlett and Rhett are both alcoholics, ya'll. It pains me to say so, of course. But Scarlett and Rhett and Rick Blaine and almost every conflicted anti-hero from the 30's and 40's smokes like a chimney and drinks like a fish. They make hard liquor look glamorous and fascinating, but it eventually destroys their lives, doesn't it? Not so much Rick Blaine (although God only knows what happened to him after the end of Casabanca), but Scarlett's drinking gives poor Ella fetal alcohol syndrome, and it eventually bloats Rhett to the point where he's fat and unrecognizable. Oh well.
Events are moving fast now, though; and MM ends this chapter by telling us that Gerald O'Hara is dead.
Friday, February 7, 2014
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Chapter 37: Pedigree Collapse! (Tony Fontaine, the small world of southern society, and a few words about rape).
Are you familiar with the term pedigree collapse?
There are pretty good explanations for the concept here, and here (by the amazing Mr. Tim Urban), and essentially it's a term for a genealogy paradox. I'm sure you've heard it said that everybody in the world shares a common ancestor (i.e. that we're all 19th or 20th cousins or something like that), and the reason why it shakes out this way is because of math. Basically, every single person alive (1) has two parents (2), four grandparents (4), and eight great-grandparents (8) and the number of ancestors naturally doubles as you go back through history. Except if we follow this multiplication table to a logical conclusion, this means that there were something like a trillion people alive at the time of, say, the Roman Empire. Except we all know this isn't true, since the total world population at the time of Julius and Cleopatra was something like 300,000,000. Those numbers don't add up, so what gives?
The answer is that each person from that era who produced children essentially plays more than one role in your family tree. Cousins married cousins, brothers married sisters, nieces married uncles, and so on, which mean that the same man living in 1600 AD might be your great^8 grandfather, your great^10 uncle, and your 12th cousin 23 times removed or whatever. Thanks history gal, I can hear you say, but what in the hell does this stupid genealogy theory have to do with Chapter 37 of GWTW?
Well, it has everything to do with it, as a matter of fact.
GWTW was on TCM last night, and I caught a few minutes of the burning of Atlanta before I went to bed. Now, GWTW the book and GWTW the movie both have a cast of thousands, right? GWTW is all party scenes and soldiers marching off to battle and gossip about people with funny names, but in truth MM's book only contains a few essential characters and each of them plays several roles over the course of the novel. Let's take Tony Fontaine for an example:
Role 1: In the beginning of the book he is a foil for the Tarleton twins (he got into a brawl with one of the twins and shot Brent).
Role 2: In chapter 15 he returns to Atlanta on Christmas Eve with Ashley, "splendidly drunk, boisterous and quarrelsome."
Role 3: Scarlett lies destroys Frank and Suellen's relationship by lying to Frank and telling him that Suellen is going to marry Tony Fontaine in a few weeks.
Role 4: Tony shows up in the middle of the night, waking Scarlett and Frank to tell them all hell has broken lose and that he's killed Jonas Wilkerson and Eustis (a former slave), and is lighting out for Texas in order to escape being hanged.
So that's four separate roles for the same minor character. In lesser hands these would be four different men with four different names, four different backgrounds and four different physical appearances, but MM streamlined GWTW so much that she feels comfortable and confident using the same character over and over again. Everybody in GWTW has multiple functions and a reason for being in the story that goes far beyond what you expect the first or second time you meet them in the pages of the novel, and that gives us the impression that everyone has a story arc and that they grow and change just like the people in our own lives. A wise man once said that "all the world's a stage...and one man in his time plays many parts," and I think that GWTW demonstrates this truism more than most novels of this size and scope.
And now that I've got that off my chest, I suppose it's time to address MM and Frank Kennedy and the KKK. Except you know what? So much has been written about GWTW and racism and MM and the KKK and the depictions of African-Americans in the novel and in the movie, I don't know if I'd be comfortable unpacking my feelings on the topic in this setting. But for all that GWTW is a novel of its time and place, and therefore limited in how truly progressive it can possibly be in its finished form, I will say that there are still little nuggets of surprise politics hidden throughout the novel. For instance, let's spend a little time thinking about rape and sex as a threat to southern womanhood.
MM doesn't talk much about sex as an act, of course. There's nothing even remotely explicit in the pages of GWTW, and yet sex and lust are implicit in many conversations, particularly those Scarlett has with Ashley and Rhett. But rape is a different story entirely. Lots of people talk about rape. During the war the women are afraid the Yankees are going to sweep through Georgia and go on a rape spree that will make the Japanese behavior in Nanking look like a teaparty. And then rape comes up again in this part of the novel, since MM wants us to believe the men join the KKK primarily to protect southern women from Yankee soldiers and drunken black men. And then finally, of course, we have the scene where Scarlett is ambushed and almost raped (I guess?) by a few baddies near the outskirts of Atlanta. However, for all of this talk, Scarlett is never raped or witnesses a rape or knows anybody who was actually raped by anybody, black or white, Yankee or Confederate. It's all put down to conjecture and rumor and gossip, and Scarlett doesn't take anything she's heard very seriously during this part of the novel.
Which makes it incredibly ironic that the only confirmed sexual assault in GWTW happens in Scarlett's own mansion and is perpetuated by none other than Rhett K. Butler himself. So now, for all of the chatter about freed slaves and Yankees and lower class men overstepping boundaries during this section of the novel, the only man who actually has the opportunity and interest and strength to force himself on a woman and have carnal knowledge without her consent is the wealthiest, most-refined, and most-trustworthy man in the entire story. I'll come back to this idea when I get to that all-important part of the novel in a few weeks, but I think this eventual outcome refutes the notion that MM's approach to racial politics is as simple and reactionary as some people believe.
There are pretty good explanations for the concept here, and here (by the amazing Mr. Tim Urban), and essentially it's a term for a genealogy paradox. I'm sure you've heard it said that everybody in the world shares a common ancestor (i.e. that we're all 19th or 20th cousins or something like that), and the reason why it shakes out this way is because of math. Basically, every single person alive (1) has two parents (2), four grandparents (4), and eight great-grandparents (8) and the number of ancestors naturally doubles as you go back through history. Except if we follow this multiplication table to a logical conclusion, this means that there were something like a trillion people alive at the time of, say, the Roman Empire. Except we all know this isn't true, since the total world population at the time of Julius and Cleopatra was something like 300,000,000. Those numbers don't add up, so what gives?
The answer is that each person from that era who produced children essentially plays more than one role in your family tree. Cousins married cousins, brothers married sisters, nieces married uncles, and so on, which mean that the same man living in 1600 AD might be your great^8 grandfather, your great^10 uncle, and your 12th cousin 23 times removed or whatever. Thanks history gal, I can hear you say, but what in the hell does this stupid genealogy theory have to do with Chapter 37 of GWTW?
Well, it has everything to do with it, as a matter of fact.
GWTW was on TCM last night, and I caught a few minutes of the burning of Atlanta before I went to bed. Now, GWTW the book and GWTW the movie both have a cast of thousands, right? GWTW is all party scenes and soldiers marching off to battle and gossip about people with funny names, but in truth MM's book only contains a few essential characters and each of them plays several roles over the course of the novel. Let's take Tony Fontaine for an example:
Role 1: In the beginning of the book he is a foil for the Tarleton twins (he got into a brawl with one of the twins and shot Brent).
Role 2: In chapter 15 he returns to Atlanta on Christmas Eve with Ashley, "splendidly drunk, boisterous and quarrelsome."
Role 3: Scarlett lies destroys Frank and Suellen's relationship by lying to Frank and telling him that Suellen is going to marry Tony Fontaine in a few weeks.
Role 4: Tony shows up in the middle of the night, waking Scarlett and Frank to tell them all hell has broken lose and that he's killed Jonas Wilkerson and Eustis (a former slave), and is lighting out for Texas in order to escape being hanged.
So that's four separate roles for the same minor character. In lesser hands these would be four different men with four different names, four different backgrounds and four different physical appearances, but MM streamlined GWTW so much that she feels comfortable and confident using the same character over and over again. Everybody in GWTW has multiple functions and a reason for being in the story that goes far beyond what you expect the first or second time you meet them in the pages of the novel, and that gives us the impression that everyone has a story arc and that they grow and change just like the people in our own lives. A wise man once said that "all the world's a stage...and one man in his time plays many parts," and I think that GWTW demonstrates this truism more than most novels of this size and scope.
And now that I've got that off my chest, I suppose it's time to address MM and Frank Kennedy and the KKK. Except you know what? So much has been written about GWTW and racism and MM and the KKK and the depictions of African-Americans in the novel and in the movie, I don't know if I'd be comfortable unpacking my feelings on the topic in this setting. But for all that GWTW is a novel of its time and place, and therefore limited in how truly progressive it can possibly be in its finished form, I will say that there are still little nuggets of surprise politics hidden throughout the novel. For instance, let's spend a little time thinking about rape and sex as a threat to southern womanhood.
MM doesn't talk much about sex as an act, of course. There's nothing even remotely explicit in the pages of GWTW, and yet sex and lust are implicit in many conversations, particularly those Scarlett has with Ashley and Rhett. But rape is a different story entirely. Lots of people talk about rape. During the war the women are afraid the Yankees are going to sweep through Georgia and go on a rape spree that will make the Japanese behavior in Nanking look like a teaparty. And then rape comes up again in this part of the novel, since MM wants us to believe the men join the KKK primarily to protect southern women from Yankee soldiers and drunken black men. And then finally, of course, we have the scene where Scarlett is ambushed and almost raped (I guess?) by a few baddies near the outskirts of Atlanta. However, for all of this talk, Scarlett is never raped or witnesses a rape or knows anybody who was actually raped by anybody, black or white, Yankee or Confederate. It's all put down to conjecture and rumor and gossip, and Scarlett doesn't take anything she's heard very seriously during this part of the novel.
Which makes it incredibly ironic that the only confirmed sexual assault in GWTW happens in Scarlett's own mansion and is perpetuated by none other than Rhett K. Butler himself. So now, for all of the chatter about freed slaves and Yankees and lower class men overstepping boundaries during this section of the novel, the only man who actually has the opportunity and interest and strength to force himself on a woman and have carnal knowledge without her consent is the wealthiest, most-refined, and most-trustworthy man in the entire story. I'll come back to this idea when I get to that all-important part of the novel in a few weeks, but I think this eventual outcome refutes the notion that MM's approach to racial politics is as simple and reactionary as some people believe.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Chapter 36: "And before he knew it, he was married."
Are we supposed to feel sorry for Frank Kennedy?
No, right?
Scarlett's behavior is becoming increasingly ruthless in this part of GWTW. But her behavior isn't selfish since she's only tricking Frank Kennedy into marrying her because she wants to use his money to save Tara. Besides, we're 60% of the way through GWTW (according to my kindle), and MM has done such a great job of making Suellen out to be a spiteful brat it's impossible to feel anything but amusement for Scarlett's swindle. If Scarlett had stolen a man from Colleen--sweet, pious, quiet Colleen--I'm pretty sure we'd feel differently about Scarlett's marriage to Frank Kennedy. But Suellen is mean and lazy and a cry-baby, so we giggle and laugh when we read this chapter. Even MM is laughing at poor Suellen, particularly when Scarlett receives
"....a letter from Suellen, poorly spelled, violent, abusive, tear splotched, a letter so full of venom and truthful observations about her character that she was never to forget it nor forgive the letter writer."
Stay classy Suellen!
Anyway, I think that any sympathy we might have for Frank Kennedy is lessened because he is vain and lacks courage. Scarlett concocts a huge lie about Suellen running off with Tony Fontaine, and Frank could have easily uncovered her deception if he'd been willing to break the bonds of their polite society by simply contacting Suellen to hear the facts straight from her. But "she never wrote him and naturally he could not write her and explain." Scarlett and Rhett both have courage, but they're successful (or anyway, successful at making money in a time when everybody else is broke) because they know the rules of polite society so well they are able to game the system. Everybody else sticks to the same pre-war, southern chivalry playbook, but Rhett and Scarlett get ahead by essentially playing chicken because they know the people around them lack the personal courage to test the boundaries of polite society. Scarlett knew she could finagle Frank away from Suellen because she knew neither her sister nor Frank would ever have the gall to communicate directly with each other, even at this critical juncture in their lives.
So anyway, Frank Kennedy gets a head cold and Scarlett heads into town and immediately starts investigating the accounting books at his store, and here we finally arrive at what I think is one of the most important parts of the novel. GWTW is 75% apolitical and irreligious, but there are moments when MM deviates slightly from post-war historical events and Scarlett's own mind and delivers what I consider to be surprisingly progressive ideas, and this is one of those moments:
Why, why, her mind stuttered. I believe women could manage everything in the world without men's help--except having babies, and God knows, no woman in her right mind would have babies if she could help it.
With the idea that she was as capable as a man came a sudden rush of pride and a violent longing to prove it, to make money for herself as men made money. Money which would be her own, which she would never have to ask for nor account for to any man.
Some people argue that GWTW is not a feminist novel, but I certainly think it is. Of course the Rhett--Scarlett--Ashley--Melly love triangle drives most of the plot, but I've never understood why that means GWTW gets dismissed as a silly romance novel. Interpersonal relationships drive almost every part of everyone's life, and it's not fair to label GWTW a soap opera just because Scarlett loves Ashley.
Anyway, Rhett's back ya'll!
He's out of prison, and he's wearing a "spotless pleated shirt" and a cape (!), and he shows up at Frank's store just to jeer at Scarlett for marrying Frank so quickly. He's out of jail and he's full of laughter and good advice, including one little nugget that makes me laugh out loud every time I read it:
Influence is everything, Scarlett. Remember that when you get arrested. Influence is everything and guilt or innocence merely an academic question.
If I were half as good at insulting people as Rhett Butler--well, I'd probably be dead since I would have been shot in a duel years ago. He's a good shot and rich and clever and practically a superhero, so he gets to live forever without even working up a sweat. He's out of jail and worth half a million dollars now (some of it Confederate gold), and Scarlett tries to call him out for stealing, but he stops her cold and smokes his cigar and is oh-so-cool while Scarlett seethes about how he's rooked the entire world while she's got nothing but Frank and a dirty store. And then Rhett changes the subject and starts asking Scarlett about Ashley. He's happy to give her a loan, he says, but not if it's to give Ashley money. Interestingly enough, Rhett doesn't seem the least bit threatened or preoccupied by the fact that Scarlett is currently married to Frank Kennedy, but he's still focused on Scarlett's relationship with Ashley.
"Among men, there's a very unpleasant name for men who permit women to support them," He tells Scarlett after they argue about Ashley for a little while. Scarlett tries to switch subjects, but Rhett is having none of that, which makes me wonder if he spent his entire time in prison doing a graduate level thesis on Ashley Wilkes and his kind. He's been honest with Scarlett about all of his sins, so he expects her to be honest with him about the current status of her relationship with Ashley, to the point where he just straight up asks her if Ashley is still in love with her. Which...
Hold on.
Is Ashley in love with Scarlett? I do realize Rhett Butler represents clear-eyed, rational thought in GWTW, but I think he's dead wrong here. Ashley is probably in lust with Scarlett, but I don't know if I'd call it love. But then again, I have the benefit of having finished the novel so I can look at the characters with full-knowledge of how it all ends. And perhaps, well.... perhaps Ashley really does love Scarlett but maybe his love transitions into something else the same way every things else in GWTW eventually transforms. Certainly the movie makes it seem like Ashley never really loved Scarlett, but that's Hollywood for you. Food for thought.
Anyway, Scarlett settles into domestic life with Frank Kennedy and it seems like she's headed for a dreary existence since she'll have to live out the rest of her days as Mrs. Frank Kennedy. She's got enough money to save Tara and buy food and shelter, and the war is over and certainty has once again returned to her world. It's a bit boring, but it's a good life considering that most of her friends and neighbors are still starving. But still--I'm sure Scarlett misses the excitement of the old days, and I can imagine her at the end of Chapter 36, casting an eye toward the future and wondering when or whether she'd ever be delivered from her dull life in Atlanta.
No, right?
Scarlett's behavior is becoming increasingly ruthless in this part of GWTW. But her behavior isn't selfish since she's only tricking Frank Kennedy into marrying her because she wants to use his money to save Tara. Besides, we're 60% of the way through GWTW (according to my kindle), and MM has done such a great job of making Suellen out to be a spiteful brat it's impossible to feel anything but amusement for Scarlett's swindle. If Scarlett had stolen a man from Colleen--sweet, pious, quiet Colleen--I'm pretty sure we'd feel differently about Scarlett's marriage to Frank Kennedy. But Suellen is mean and lazy and a cry-baby, so we giggle and laugh when we read this chapter. Even MM is laughing at poor Suellen, particularly when Scarlett receives
"....a letter from Suellen, poorly spelled, violent, abusive, tear splotched, a letter so full of venom and truthful observations about her character that she was never to forget it nor forgive the letter writer."
Stay classy Suellen!
Anyway, I think that any sympathy we might have for Frank Kennedy is lessened because he is vain and lacks courage. Scarlett concocts a huge lie about Suellen running off with Tony Fontaine, and Frank could have easily uncovered her deception if he'd been willing to break the bonds of their polite society by simply contacting Suellen to hear the facts straight from her. But "she never wrote him and naturally he could not write her and explain." Scarlett and Rhett both have courage, but they're successful (or anyway, successful at making money in a time when everybody else is broke) because they know the rules of polite society so well they are able to game the system. Everybody else sticks to the same pre-war, southern chivalry playbook, but Rhett and Scarlett get ahead by essentially playing chicken because they know the people around them lack the personal courage to test the boundaries of polite society. Scarlett knew she could finagle Frank away from Suellen because she knew neither her sister nor Frank would ever have the gall to communicate directly with each other, even at this critical juncture in their lives.
So anyway, Frank Kennedy gets a head cold and Scarlett heads into town and immediately starts investigating the accounting books at his store, and here we finally arrive at what I think is one of the most important parts of the novel. GWTW is 75% apolitical and irreligious, but there are moments when MM deviates slightly from post-war historical events and Scarlett's own mind and delivers what I consider to be surprisingly progressive ideas, and this is one of those moments:
Why, why, her mind stuttered. I believe women could manage everything in the world without men's help--except having babies, and God knows, no woman in her right mind would have babies if she could help it.
With the idea that she was as capable as a man came a sudden rush of pride and a violent longing to prove it, to make money for herself as men made money. Money which would be her own, which she would never have to ask for nor account for to any man.
Some people argue that GWTW is not a feminist novel, but I certainly think it is. Of course the Rhett--Scarlett--Ashley--Melly love triangle drives most of the plot, but I've never understood why that means GWTW gets dismissed as a silly romance novel. Interpersonal relationships drive almost every part of everyone's life, and it's not fair to label GWTW a soap opera just because Scarlett loves Ashley.
Anyway, Rhett's back ya'll!
He's out of prison, and he's wearing a "spotless pleated shirt" and a cape (!), and he shows up at Frank's store just to jeer at Scarlett for marrying Frank so quickly. He's out of jail and he's full of laughter and good advice, including one little nugget that makes me laugh out loud every time I read it:
Influence is everything, Scarlett. Remember that when you get arrested. Influence is everything and guilt or innocence merely an academic question.
If I were half as good at insulting people as Rhett Butler--well, I'd probably be dead since I would have been shot in a duel years ago. He's a good shot and rich and clever and practically a superhero, so he gets to live forever without even working up a sweat. He's out of jail and worth half a million dollars now (some of it Confederate gold), and Scarlett tries to call him out for stealing, but he stops her cold and smokes his cigar and is oh-so-cool while Scarlett seethes about how he's rooked the entire world while she's got nothing but Frank and a dirty store. And then Rhett changes the subject and starts asking Scarlett about Ashley. He's happy to give her a loan, he says, but not if it's to give Ashley money. Interestingly enough, Rhett doesn't seem the least bit threatened or preoccupied by the fact that Scarlett is currently married to Frank Kennedy, but he's still focused on Scarlett's relationship with Ashley.
"Among men, there's a very unpleasant name for men who permit women to support them," He tells Scarlett after they argue about Ashley for a little while. Scarlett tries to switch subjects, but Rhett is having none of that, which makes me wonder if he spent his entire time in prison doing a graduate level thesis on Ashley Wilkes and his kind. He's been honest with Scarlett about all of his sins, so he expects her to be honest with him about the current status of her relationship with Ashley, to the point where he just straight up asks her if Ashley is still in love with her. Which...
Hold on.
Is Ashley in love with Scarlett? I do realize Rhett Butler represents clear-eyed, rational thought in GWTW, but I think he's dead wrong here. Ashley is probably in lust with Scarlett, but I don't know if I'd call it love. But then again, I have the benefit of having finished the novel so I can look at the characters with full-knowledge of how it all ends. And perhaps, well.... perhaps Ashley really does love Scarlett but maybe his love transitions into something else the same way every things else in GWTW eventually transforms. Certainly the movie makes it seem like Ashley never really loved Scarlett, but that's Hollywood for you. Food for thought.
Anyway, Scarlett settles into domestic life with Frank Kennedy and it seems like she's headed for a dreary existence since she'll have to live out the rest of her days as Mrs. Frank Kennedy. She's got enough money to save Tara and buy food and shelter, and the war is over and certainty has once again returned to her world. It's a bit boring, but it's a good life considering that most of her friends and neighbors are still starving. But still--I'm sure Scarlett misses the excitement of the old days, and I can imagine her at the end of Chapter 36, casting an eye toward the future and wondering when or whether she'd ever be delivered from her dull life in Atlanta.
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