(Sorry about the delay, ya'll. But between two bouts with strep-throat/laryngitis, 70-hour work weeks, a lengthy vacation to France, and an excessive amount of jet-lag, I've been too busy/sick to keep pace in this blog. But let's be patient: GWTW isn't going anywhere, and MM's great novel is sometimes easier to appreciate and digest after you take a pause to breathe a bit between chapters.)
Chapter 57 picks up not too long after Chapter 56 ends, but somehow things between the Scarlett and Rhett have gotten even worse. The vivacious, unstoppable Scarlett O'Hare we've all come to know and love is now "pale" and "thin," and exhausted. And the tension between our two main characters is so high that even Wade and Ella, two heretofore nearly oblivious bystanders to the dramas playing out in Atlanta, are clinging to Prissy because "there was something frightening in the cold, impersonal atmosphere between their mother and their stepfather." And as for Rhett....
Well, although we've finally gotten a good glimpse of the terrified, self-hating, self-blaming outcast at the core of his being, the Rhett in this chapter is more pensive than anything. MM could have jumped straight from Scarlett's miscarriage directly to [SPOILER REMOVED], but that would have been overdoing it, right? I mean not necessarily for the veracity of the novel since MM is good enough to overcome the sin of poor pacing, but Rhett is already mentally worn out after the miscarriage. If the other tragedy had occurred right after Scarlett's tumble down the stairs, I don't see how he could have avoided completely losing his mind by the end of the novel.
Anyway, Scarlett is weak, Wade and Ella are suddenly hyper-aware of their surroundings, Rhett is pensive and depressed, and even the normally confidant and pleasant Melly begins this chapter filled with "confusion and dismay" when she spies Rhett coming up her walk. The world of our four main characters has been turned asunder and each of them undergoes major personality changes after Scarlett's miscarriage. They're shocked I think, but more than that I think they're all suddenly quite aware that more terrible events could be lurking just beyond the horizon.
And that's what makes Rhett ride up to Melly's house, of course. They've all just barely survived the fallout from the Scarlet--Rhett--Ashley triangle, and Rhett in all his wonderful wisdom is trying to nip the remaining potential trouble spots in the bud.
Sigh.
Anyway, Melly "rose to meet him, noting with surprise, as always, how lightly he walked for a big man." And I've always adored the way MM describes Rhett as moving so quickly, but I'm never quite sure about what she's attempting to convey. He's built like an SEC linebacker, but he's got the grace of Neymar Jr. , and I think she means that although physics dictates that Rhett should be lumbering and plodding, his spirit/will/personality keeps him walking lightly. But then again, in Scarlett's eyes his quiet, light walk is a left-over from his Wild West/gambling days, a call-back to the time when his life depended on him being able to sneak around undetected by his enemies.
Or, you know, something like that.
Anyway, bottom line is that Rhett is sad and tired and the reader is sad and tired and Melly is sad and tired and gawd, isn't this whole conversation wonderful?
Rhett and Melly have probably spoken one-on-one before, but we've never been privy to such an interaction before. It's a refreshing comparison to Scarlett and Ashley's awkward conversations, isn't it? Scarlett and Ashley have lust in common but little else, which means that their words are always a little stilted and their conversations rarely stray from safe ground. On the other hand, Rhett and Melly respect and love each other and they both genuinely have the others best interest at heart. So even while preserving the proprieties of the day, there's still something simple and pure and honest about the way they talk to each other.
Do ya'll watch Mad Men?
Because there was a moment in the finale episode when Don calls Peggy Olson on the telephone and confesses all his sins in a tumble of words that Peggy barely understands. Peggy is totally confused by the whole thing, but she loves Don so much that she forgives him all his trespasses (real and imagined) and tells him to return to New York ASAP. He doesn't of course (or does he?), but their fundamental ability to understand each other reminded me so much of Rhett and Melly that I couldn't help but be moved by the whole thing.
Anyway, Rhett might have alighted from his horse like Neymar, but he sits down "heavily" as he and Melly begin to chat and we get the sense that the weight of the whole world is on his broad shoulders. The other characters might have a sense that something is going to go (even more) wrong down the road, but Rhett the championship poker player has evidently already identified precisely what is going to happen and is apparently determined to make sure that he helps the four of them avoid disaster. It's as though they're riding on a train and he can see a dangerous s-curve bend in the tracks miles ahead of the rest of the passengers. And, as Jacob Clifton always used to say, the thing that makes you awesome is also the thing that makes you suck. Rhett's ability to read minds and anticipate the future has kept him alive and prosperous for his entire adult-life, but prescience is a blessing and a curse. And besides, perhaps it could be argued that because Rhett has become so good at reading the tea leaves and predicting the future he begins to lean on his 6th sense as something of a crutch. He's an excellent poker player and good at investing, but even the trickiest card game can be defeated by skill and a little bit of good luck. But life isn't a poker game.
You do hear that metaphor from time to time, of course. Everybody from Kenny Rogers("You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em,") to the Streets ("you've gotta organize your twos and threes into a run and then you'll have f**ked him some") tells us all the time that life is a poker game, but life is not a card game at all. Life is random. It's not a hand of cards and it's not a roulette wheel: it's a lottery. There are 311,875,200 possible hands in a game of stud poker, but you can over come a poor shuffle by out-witting your opponent. But in the lottery you only get one shot and there's absolutely no way to increase your odds of winning.
As a matter of fact, most smart people would agree that you can't win the lottery. Other people might win the Powerball jackpot, but you will not.
Let's ruminate on that reality as we go through the rest of GWTW.
**********************************
Alright, so as Melly comes to terms with the little deception Rhett is asking her to help him perform, she begins to ruminate about the mean things other people always said about Rhett. "People had said he was brutal and sneering and bad mannered and even dishonest" and Melly is silently pleased that she never believed the worst about Rhett. Except, you know what? I wouldn't normally ascribe these adjectives to Rhett Butler, but we've certainly seen that side of his personality, haven't we? The night after Ashley's party he was all of these things (and so much more!), and Scarlett even called him out on it while she was plotting her escape. The Rhett we met during that crazy night was brutal (some would even call him a rapist), he was sneering, he was bad mannered, and he was definitely dishonest. Although of course his dishonesty is less about deceit and more about self-preservation, it was certainly dishonest of him to return to Scarlett's room three days after their big night and try to casually write the whole thing off as a forgettable drunken episode. And so, although the reader likes Rhett as much as Melly does, we can't help but wonder if Mrs, Wilkes would love him so much if she actually got to witness his crazy-side first hand. Melly knows Rhett is an alpha-male, but I think she'd be afraid of him if she ever actually saw how alpha he can be when he's pushed too far.
After all, look at how the fearless Scarlett behaves around Rhett now. She can't quite figure out her own feelings, but she knows for a fact that she doesn't want to be alone with him. And she doesn't dare stop chattering when he picks her up from the train station, because she's afraid of letting silence fall between the two of them.
What is she afraid of?
Scarlett says "she did not know how he felt toward her," but that's been the status quo between the two of them for a long time, so why is the present situation so different? What has changed? Of course Rhett has confessed his love for Scarlett, but he took it back almost as quickly as he admitted it, and in the grander scheme of things....
I don't know.
Scarlett is irritated and confused by the fact that Rhett hasn't apologized for the whole sorry episode, but what in the world does she expect him to say? Interestingly enough, movie Rhett does come right out and apologize to Scarlett for all the havoc and all the crazy arguments and the fighting, but then again movie Rhett is not nearly as complex or as troubled as book Rhett. Movie Rhett would make a better husband than book Rhett, but book Rhett is infinitely more fascinating, isn't he? Movie Rhett is a sweetheart, but book Rhett is...well, we're 94% into GWTW and I'm still not certain about what makes Rhett K. Butler tick.
We know what makes Scarlett tick: money and common sense. For instance, Scarlett sells the mills to Ashley at the end of this chapter, and Scarlett is depressed about it but she's too confused by the sudden alliance between Rhett, Melly and Ashley to successfully protest this turn of events. Scarlett has been sort of hoodwinked into this sale, but she also finds herself defending her business ethics and the use of convict labor and explaining the relationship between low-overhead and high-profits to Melly and Ashley. And Scarlett is right, you guys. She's wrong, of course, since modern business ethics and public policy and public opinion tells us that low-cost labor is wrong, but surely we can't expect the daughter of a Georgia plantation owner to do a 180 and suddenly decide to value the worker and give her employees a fair shake? Scarlett grew up on a huge plantation and she loved every moment of her childhood and she's smart enough to at least recognize that her family wealth was built on low-cost slave labor. There are laws protecting workers now, but in Scarlett's world there was only the law of the jungle, and I find it hilarious that Melly and Ashley are so scandalized by the whole situation. Slavery is wrong and convict labor is wrong, but nobody likes a hypocrite, ya'll.
But if Scarlett is all about logic and money and common sense and survival, what is Rhett really about? What does he want? Why did he come back to Atlanta in the first place? And why has he stayed for so long? What's his long term plan? Scarlett has sold the mills to Ashley and Melly, so...what's next? Did he really plan on simply existing, on simply riding everything out until Bonnie grows up and gets married? Or did he anticipate that Scarlett would one day wake up madly in love with him? What is he doing?
*********
I'll be back soon. I promise.
