Scarlett spends a large part of chapter 58 reminiscing about the past. But because Scarlett is Scarlett--and because the Butler marriage has been what it has been--her nostalgia centers on the old arguments and disagreements they had during their first years of marriage. Other people might have focused on other things. For instance, Melly remembering the Good Old Days of her marriage would undoubtedly remember sweet words muttered over Shakespeare and hot tea in her parlor or the other similar activities that pass for exciting fun in the Wilkes residence. But Scarlett remembers all the messed-up, tripped out, horrible arguments the two of them had before things really went sour.
It makes you think, doesn't it?
Of course, the reader understands what Scarlett means, don't we? I'm partial to Civil War Rhett, with his unexplained absences and random musings and rebellious streak, but Honeymoon Rhett was also quite wonderful in his own way. At the time Scarlett was irritated with his contradictory behavior and weird little twists in temper, but he was also hilarious and intriguing during those days. But now--
Well.
"His impersonal courtesy toward her that had begun during her convalescence continued and he did not fling softly drawled barbs at her or sting her with sarcasm." And while Rhett's barbs and sarcasm might have infuriated Scarlett during the first years of their marriage, she's at lest perceptive enough to understand that he was only behaving that way because he "he had done it because he cared what she did and said," but now that he's stopped doing that "she wondered if he cared about anything she did."
And what are we, the reader, supposed to think about all of this?
Chapter 58 is largely an expository chapter, a breather chapter, a short bridge between all the Ashley Party/Rape/Miscarriage drama and the Bonnie/depression/Melly drama of the final sections in the book, and as such not much happens within these pages. And yet, the reader is aware of dark clouds gathering somewhere off in the distance. I switched to the digital/kindle version of GWTW a while ago, but I just picked up my oldest paperback copy of the novel and opened it to the start of chapter 58, and there's a wonderful tension between the bulk of the pages of the book on the left side where everything we could have imagined has already happened to our four leads and the comparatively miniature number of pages remaining on the right side. Most other novelists would probably be winding down the story by now, but after traveling so far with MM we know that she's probably just ramping up for one last, catastrophic explosion. We don't have any inkling about what's coming, but we know something is going to happen. Something bad.
MM doesn't get a lot of credit as a masterful writer these days, since most modern evaluations of GWTW either focus entirely on the movie or spend so much time addressing/apologizing for the racial issues in the story that they never actually tell us anything about MM's skills. But to my mind spots like chapter 58 are where she proves that she was an extraordinary artist, somebody on par with any 20th century American novelist you can name. Hemingway's novels were revolutionary and some people prefer Fitzgerald, but there stories tend to peter out and cross the finish line with a limp and a thud. By contrast, MM is on the very last five percent of a novel that stretches across twelve turbulent years in American history and she still has surprises for us. If To Kill a Mockingbird and The Sun Also Rises and The Great Gatsby coast to their finish based on kinetic energy built up during their respective climaxes, GWTW is a book that rounds the final bend with a renewal of potential energy and this chapter is basically MM's equivalent of pulling back her bow for one last bullseye that's going to blast us right in the heart.
Anyway, Scarlett spends most of Chapter 58 being observant, which is not her natural state. She watches as Rhett begins to spend more time with members of the Old Guard, and she begins to worry because she associates them all with the Klan. As a matter of fact, Scarlett's analytical skills are so poor that she begins to actually think that Rhett ("Da Gawd" as Desus Nice would say) will meet the same sorry fate as Poor Old Frank Kennedy. Frank Kennedy got killed because he was in the Klan, but mostly because he was sort of dumb and single-minded and because he was trying to prove his own value to the "team", and Rhett is none of those things, but Scarlett can't tell the difference right now. A husband is a husband and she doesn't want to be a widow for the third time because she doesn't want to "lose her store or his money", and I guess we could be shocked at Scarlett's selfishness, but she's right. Remember, losing Rhett doesn't mean anything to Scarlett at this particular period in time because Scarlett doesn't think she ever had him in the first place. And even if a small part of her knows he was at least a little bit enthralled by her in the early days of their marriage, all of that is gone now. As far as she knows, Rhett has never really been in love with her. True he revealed his deepest feelings to her after Ashley's party, but he was drunk and crazy and sneering and bitter about all of it so it's only reasonable that Scarlett would ignore all of that and focus on the things she knows are true. So she's a little bit rude to focus solely on the loss of his money and her store, but that shows you how messed up the Butler marriage has been and demonstrates how narrow her life has become, doesn't it?
She doesn't even have the mills anymore, for goodness sakes. Post-war Scarlett had a lot of things to worry about, but she never has to worry about having the money to cover Tara or keep her store in the black anymore, and Ashley is no longer really in her orbit, so what is she supposed to do with her time?
I guess she could worry about her children, but Scarlett was the Kate Middleton of her day. Sure, Wade, Ella, and Bonnie are technically hers, but they're watched over by a battalion of nannies and mammies day and night, so it's not like Scarlett has a lot of responsibility for the little tykes. And besides, Wade is busy being educated/indoctrinated into the ways of the Old South, Ella is busy being silly (poor Ella!), and Bonnie is too busy defying authority and learning to jump her pony to require much effort from Scarlett. In another marriage in another era, Scarlett would have undoubtedly been pregnant again, but that's not going to happen, so---
*Shrug*
And so that's where this chapter leaves us: with Scarlett watching and waiting, with Rhett "recant[ing] his Republican heresies," and with the whole entire town smiling at Bonnie and Rhett's close relationship. I don't suppose MM could have left the whole thing right here and spared us all the emotional turmoil of the final few chapters detailing the decline and fall of the Butler household, but this might be the Last Clear Chance for something like happiness for Scarlett and Rhett.
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