Let's go back to high school tonight, shall we?
According to Merriam-Webster online, the denouement is the "final outcome of the main dramatic complication in a literary work," with the classic example included in the online definition being from Romeo and Juliet ("In the play's denouement, the two lovers kill themselves.."). I've tried over the years to put my hands on precisely what I think the true denouement is in GWTW, but each and every effort has heretofore come up empty and deeply unsatisfying. Mostly because I've never been able to decide on which of Scarlett's dramatic complications is the actual main complication.
I love Casablanca almost as much as I love GWTW, but for all the mysteries and chaos and action that occurs during Casablanca even a first-time viewer of the movie has no trouble correctly identifying the airport scene (i.e. "here's looking at you kid") as the denouement.
Same with Romeo and Juliet, Richard III, The Lion in Winter, Forrest Gump, and any given episode of The Young and the Restless. Every reasonably well-edited reality show has a readily discernible plot, and even a teenager could probably correctly locate the moment when the momentum of the narrative shifts and the end result becomes inevitable. But GWTW is not only about one thing. The movie focuses on the Scarlett/Rhett relationship and their sticky, mutually destructive marriage is the main complication in Scarlett's life, but I don't think this depiction is accurate for MM's book. GWTW isn't like Romeo and Juliet. It isn't about one big thing, and it certainly isn't only about the Scarlett/Rhett love story. Instead it's about several major things. And, more to the point, it's about Scarlett's relationships with the other three main characters. As we saw in Chapter 51, every aspect of Scarlett's life is connected to every other thing that happens in a manner that is more cosmic and less practical than even MM would probably care to admit. The Butlers and the Wilkes' are bound together because they all live in Atlanta and have known each other for a very long time and Ashley works at the mills and all of that, but they're also connected on a different plane (although I'm not sure if it's higher or lower, to tell you the truth). So for all that Ashley has tried to keep his distance from Scarlett, the mere mention of his hatred of Rhett is enough to send Scarlett off into a vow of celibacy, which is enough to make Rhett go ape with insecurity, which is enough to cause him to try to forget all about Scarlett and focus all his attention on Bonnie which....
Anyway, we'll get to all of that soon enough. But for now, let's just focus on the way MM set the scene that opens Chapter 52, the scene that I would argue could very well be the true denouement of GWTW. MM usually doesn't spend too much time setting down the details of her scenes, and she definitely doesn't linger on descriptions, but in my mind's eye there's something almost charmingly Valazquez-esque about the way she's placed the Butler clan around the sitting room on this rainy afternoon.
Wade: lonely, moping, bored, picking up books (instruments of learning that are misplaced here, since this scene does not take place in a library) and letting them bang to the ground. Poor lil Wade, ya'll.
Ella: busy in the corner with her dolls. So while Wade is bored, Ella is boring. Does Ella have a speaking anywhere in GWTW? I don't think she does. Even Beau gets a few lines, doesn't he?
Scarlett: sitting at her secretary adding up a long column of figures.
Rhett: lying on the floor(!), swinging his watch by it chain (!), just out of Bonnie's reach (!).
And that's....okay, so I know a lot of people don't think GWTW is a great work of literature, but isn't that a wonderfully subtle piece of foreshadowing? Bonnie Butler will be blessed with every gift except length of years and, of course, a watch is the universal symbol of time in Western art, and isn't it so poignant that this is Rhett's watch and it is being swung by Rhett himself?And over the course of the novel we have seen Rhett say and do a million different things in a million different places, but this is the first time we've heard of him lying down. Scarlett and Rhett are married, but in the few scenes MM has given us that take place inside the Butler bedroom Rhett is never sleeping or lying down. But here he's prone, which is also foreshadowing since he'll eventually be knocked down/laid low by Bonnie's death. Everything we need to know about the end of GWTW is here in this room, and everything that happens throughout the rest of the book simply confirms what we already know about Scarlett, Rhett, Ashley, and Melly, doesn't it?
Lovely.
Anyway, moving on quickly, isn't it fun how Wade, Rhett and Scarlett have such very definitions of bravery/courage in this scene? Wade Hampton is a product of post-Civil War Atlanta and he lost his father in the War. Therefore, in his opinion true courage means being severely wounded in battle while fighting against the feds for the CSA. All the bravest men are dead on the alter of their country ("dulce et decorum est..." after all), but I guess Wade thinks that the only heroes are those who actually died while fighting against the Yankees. By contrast, Scarlett is a tough woman who was forged through the fiery crucible of the Reconstruction South, so she has very little patience for Wade's definition of bravery. She always did think Charles Hamilton was a fool, and the reader knows that Wade wasn't anybody's definition of a brave soldier, plus Scarlett instinctively seems to believe that only survivors like Scarlett are truly courageous. After all, everybody can die and will die, but not everybody has the gumption to live.
And as for Rhett....
Well, true to form, Rhett doesn't tip his hand and give us his definition of bravery. Instead he gets in a dig at Scarlett ("He married your mother, didn't he? Well, that's proof enough of heroism."), and then turns his attention elsewhere. I'd argue that Rhett Butler has more physical courage than anybody else in GWTW (except maybe the young Gerald), but he also seems to understand that a willingness to fight isn't really worth much. He doesn't spend much time debating heroism because he's too mature and complex to give much thought to boyish fantasies about courage and fighting. Duels and fighting and gun play and all that other stuff has been a part of his life for so long that you get the sense that he's almost annoyed to think about it.
Anyway, Rhett decides then and there that he's going to start using all his charm and smarm to get back in the good graces of Southern Society. Rhett Butler is a reliable character that we can count on to make the right choices for the right reasons most of the time, so even though I'm pro-Yankee and anti-Confederate and a Northerner and living in Chicago in the 21st century, Rhett's desire to have his children included in Southern Society carries a lot of weight with me. After all, unlike Scarlett and Melly and the rest of our gang, Rhett has spent a lot of time in a lot of different places around the world. He's spent time in California, New York, Paris, and London, and he still seems to believe deep down that Southern Society is the best. Or anyway, he seems to truly believe that Southern Society is the best fit for his family, and who am I to argue with such logic? Besides, Rhett is what the kids today call a boss. He's a guy who understands the world and his place in it, and he always seems to know just what to do to come out ahead, and I think it's incredibly pleasurable to watch him try to concoct a plan to shoehorn Bonnie, Wade, and Ella back into genteel Atlanta's good graces.
Up next....Ashley's birthday party. Laissez le bon temps rouler?
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Saturday, November 8, 2014
Chapter 51: "You like dogs, don't you, Scarlett?"
Happy National Novel Writing Month, Everybody!
Chapter 51 is an awfully short chapter, isn't it?
And yet, so much happens. It's a linchpin chapter, one that is replicated almost verbatim in one of the more memorable scenes in the movie, but it's nothing more than a few quick conversations and a couple paragraphs of Scarlett's internal dialogue.
But it's so scandalous, isn't it?
Scarlett doesn't want to get any fatter, so Scarlett doesn't want to give birth to anymore kids. Which means Scarlett has decided that she doesn't want to have sex with Rhett anymore. Or does it? I know absolutely nothing about Victorian era birth control and sex education, but Rhett is the chief investor for Atlanta's most profitable brothel so surely he was well-versed in these matters? He's anti-abortion because old school abortion was so hazardous, but I'm absolutely certain he knows at least a few ways to avoid pregnancy? And if people in 1870s Atlanta didn't know anything about birth control, then how come there's such a huge time gap between Melly's first pregnancy and Melly's final pregnancy?
Unless....
You're not honestly suggesting to me that Melly and Ashley have been faithfully celibate this entire time, are you? Its true that Dr. Meade specifically told Melly she shouldn't have any more children. And it's also true that Ashley and Melly are notoriously straight-laced vanilla folks who never met a rule they didn't adore, but come on. And yes, it's also true that Melly nearly died while she was in child birth with Beau, but are you seriously going to try to convince me that they never slipped up and....
Actually, I don't know anymore. MM gives Melly a little internal dialogue back in Chapter 50 wherein Melly expresses her desire to have a girl. As a matter of fact, Melly "was quite willing to risk her life for another child," but "Ashley would not hear of it." Scarlett knows about Dr. Meade's medical opinion and Scarlett therefore seems to reasonably conclude that Ashley and Melly are abstaining from all sexual relations because of Melly's precarious health, but I'm not so sure about that.
Because you can have sexual relations without having actual sex, can't you?
Rhett is Scarlett's third husband, so she has to know something about sex and what happens in the bedroom and about what does and does not lead to pregnancy. But it's interesting to realize that for all her smarts and wild experiences, Scarlett has a childlike grasp on the realities of sharing a bed with a man. She thinks sex is black-and-white: you're either not having sex at all or you're having sex and are therefore in danger of getting pregnant. Sex is not like that and there's a huge gray area out there of course, but Scarlett doesn't seem to grasp the concept of being physically close to her husband without risking having another child.
I think that's why the conversations with Ashley and Rhett go so poorly. None of these characters have any idea what the others are talking about or why they're talking about it. It reads as high drama, but in fact it's also pure comedy: a series of misunderstandings that ends with every single person unhappy despite their best efforts.
And anyway, what in the hell is going on with Ashley in this chapter? Ashley is usually so cool and calm and detached about everything, but all of a sudden he starts calling Rhett out after Scarlett starts advising him on how best to deal with sick workers ("a couple of licks will cure most any sickness short of a broken leg,"she says in what has to be one of her most carelessly cruel throwaway lines). And Scarlett lets him talk all that trash about Rhett, even though Rhett doesn't have anything to do with her "penny-pinching ways," and then---
Oh, the things Ashley says in this chapter!
What is going on here? Let's lay out Ashley's transgressions here, because this is some real BS.
Mmmmm mmmm mmm!
When did Ashley turn into such a hater? And doesn't he know none of this is true? And, and, and...
I'm not an Ashley Wilkes hater, but I'm not an apologist either. I'm surprised the notoriously dilly-dallying Ashley Wilkes has picked this particular moment--and this particular subject--to assert an opinion. I suppose we're supposed to assume that Ashley is somewhat jealous of Rhett/Scarlett? Ashley has seemed largely content with the trajectory of his life since the opening pages of GWTW, but perhaps he is not quite as happy with his life as we'd previously been led to assume. After all, Ashley has played by all the rules and he's done exactly what society has expected of him, but where has all that obedience gotten him? On the other hand, Rhett Butler has bucked that same society, but somehow he's still a virile millionaire who's living in the biggest house in town and who's shacking up with the very fertile Scarlett. It's simply not fair.
But fair is for children.
And MM knows that. And so does Scarlett. And so does Ashley in his finer moments. GWTW is about a lot of things, but fairness and equality and opportunity are not the morals of this particular story. I would also argue that GWTW is not in the tradition of Survival of the Fittest like Ayn Rand or something similar to that. More than anything, I think MM preaches the twin gospels of flexibility and self-reliance, so in the grand scheme of the novel the "woolen-headed Mr. Wilkes" is always, always, always destined to fail.
C'est la vie, Mr. Wilkes.
But of course, Ashley doesn't know he's in a novel.
And neither does Scarlett, come to think of it.
I don't know where Scarlett thinks she is in this chapter, come to think of it. She has already realized that Rhett isn't like Charles and Frank. He isn't afraid of her. As a matter of fact, there have been more than a few times in this novel when the fearless Scarlett is afraid of him. But she apparently forgets about all of that now that Ashley's meddling bs has revived her spirit. She rushes home to tell Rhett that she's not going to be sleeping with him anymore, and Rhett goes ape.
Oh wait, no he doesn't.
In the movie Rhett goes ape and throws his glass of whiskey against Scarlett's portrait on the wall, but novel Rhett doesn't do any of that. Instead "his eyes began to gleam oddly," and he starts to interrogate Scarlett while wearing his usual cool, pretending as though none of this matters to him except as an academic exercise.
This isn't the first time Rhett's eyes "gleam" but I think his eyes almost perpetually gleam from this chapter until after Bonnie's demise. Interestingly enough, although Rhett Butler is presented to us as an inscrutable poker player, but he does have tells, doesn't he. That's why he's intriguing, even long after you've put down GWTW for the first time. If Rhett really were as blank and empty as Phil Ivey or David Benefield or your average American prep school graduate, he'd be boring as hell. But Rhett does alter his expressions. It's just that it's impossible to decode what the changes in his face actually mean. His eyes gleam oddly. His eyebrows raise. His mouth turns down. He smiles. But it's very hard to put together the puzzle most of the time. I don't blame Scarlett for not understanding Rhett's moods most of the time, actually.
But then again, Scarlett, how do you think your husband is going to react when he realizes you don't want to sleep with him anymore? Particularly since said husband knows this whole situation was prompted by a conversation with your dream man?
Rhett reacts coolly to Scarlett's decision, but we can tell he's pretty pissed about this whole thing. Particularly since he leaves in a huff, threatening and vaguely dangerous as he walks out the door, reminding Scarlett and the reader that:
"If I wanted you, no lock would keep me out."
Oh boy.
Chapter 51 is an awfully short chapter, isn't it?
And yet, so much happens. It's a linchpin chapter, one that is replicated almost verbatim in one of the more memorable scenes in the movie, but it's nothing more than a few quick conversations and a couple paragraphs of Scarlett's internal dialogue.
But it's so scandalous, isn't it?
Scarlett doesn't want to get any fatter, so Scarlett doesn't want to give birth to anymore kids. Which means Scarlett has decided that she doesn't want to have sex with Rhett anymore. Or does it? I know absolutely nothing about Victorian era birth control and sex education, but Rhett is the chief investor for Atlanta's most profitable brothel so surely he was well-versed in these matters? He's anti-abortion because old school abortion was so hazardous, but I'm absolutely certain he knows at least a few ways to avoid pregnancy? And if people in 1870s Atlanta didn't know anything about birth control, then how come there's such a huge time gap between Melly's first pregnancy and Melly's final pregnancy?
Unless....
You're not honestly suggesting to me that Melly and Ashley have been faithfully celibate this entire time, are you? Its true that Dr. Meade specifically told Melly she shouldn't have any more children. And it's also true that Ashley and Melly are notoriously straight-laced vanilla folks who never met a rule they didn't adore, but come on. And yes, it's also true that Melly nearly died while she was in child birth with Beau, but are you seriously going to try to convince me that they never slipped up and....
Actually, I don't know anymore. MM gives Melly a little internal dialogue back in Chapter 50 wherein Melly expresses her desire to have a girl. As a matter of fact, Melly "was quite willing to risk her life for another child," but "Ashley would not hear of it." Scarlett knows about Dr. Meade's medical opinion and Scarlett therefore seems to reasonably conclude that Ashley and Melly are abstaining from all sexual relations because of Melly's precarious health, but I'm not so sure about that.
Because you can have sexual relations without having actual sex, can't you?
Rhett is Scarlett's third husband, so she has to know something about sex and what happens in the bedroom and about what does and does not lead to pregnancy. But it's interesting to realize that for all her smarts and wild experiences, Scarlett has a childlike grasp on the realities of sharing a bed with a man. She thinks sex is black-and-white: you're either not having sex at all or you're having sex and are therefore in danger of getting pregnant. Sex is not like that and there's a huge gray area out there of course, but Scarlett doesn't seem to grasp the concept of being physically close to her husband without risking having another child.
I think that's why the conversations with Ashley and Rhett go so poorly. None of these characters have any idea what the others are talking about or why they're talking about it. It reads as high drama, but in fact it's also pure comedy: a series of misunderstandings that ends with every single person unhappy despite their best efforts.
And anyway, what in the hell is going on with Ashley in this chapter? Ashley is usually so cool and calm and detached about everything, but all of a sudden he starts calling Rhett out after Scarlett starts advising him on how best to deal with sick workers ("a couple of licks will cure most any sickness short of a broken leg,"she says in what has to be one of her most carelessly cruel throwaway lines). And Scarlett lets him talk all that trash about Rhett, even though Rhett doesn't have anything to do with her "penny-pinching ways," and then---
Oh, the things Ashley says in this chapter!
What is going on here? Let's lay out Ashley's transgressions here, because this is some real BS.
- Ashley blames Rhett for...brutalizing Scarlett by his contact.(Whaaat?)
- "Everything he touches he poisons." (Look who's talking, ya'll!
- "He's twisted your thoughts into the same hard path his own run in."
- "Knowing your beauty and your charm are in the keeping of a man who--"
Mmmmm mmmm mmm!
When did Ashley turn into such a hater? And doesn't he know none of this is true? And, and, and...
I'm not an Ashley Wilkes hater, but I'm not an apologist either. I'm surprised the notoriously dilly-dallying Ashley Wilkes has picked this particular moment--and this particular subject--to assert an opinion. I suppose we're supposed to assume that Ashley is somewhat jealous of Rhett/Scarlett? Ashley has seemed largely content with the trajectory of his life since the opening pages of GWTW, but perhaps he is not quite as happy with his life as we'd previously been led to assume. After all, Ashley has played by all the rules and he's done exactly what society has expected of him, but where has all that obedience gotten him? On the other hand, Rhett Butler has bucked that same society, but somehow he's still a virile millionaire who's living in the biggest house in town and who's shacking up with the very fertile Scarlett. It's simply not fair.
But fair is for children.
And MM knows that. And so does Scarlett. And so does Ashley in his finer moments. GWTW is about a lot of things, but fairness and equality and opportunity are not the morals of this particular story. I would also argue that GWTW is not in the tradition of Survival of the Fittest like Ayn Rand or something similar to that. More than anything, I think MM preaches the twin gospels of flexibility and self-reliance, so in the grand scheme of the novel the "woolen-headed Mr. Wilkes" is always, always, always destined to fail.
C'est la vie, Mr. Wilkes.
But of course, Ashley doesn't know he's in a novel.
And neither does Scarlett, come to think of it.
I don't know where Scarlett thinks she is in this chapter, come to think of it. She has already realized that Rhett isn't like Charles and Frank. He isn't afraid of her. As a matter of fact, there have been more than a few times in this novel when the fearless Scarlett is afraid of him. But she apparently forgets about all of that now that Ashley's meddling bs has revived her spirit. She rushes home to tell Rhett that she's not going to be sleeping with him anymore, and Rhett goes ape.
Oh wait, no he doesn't.
In the movie Rhett goes ape and throws his glass of whiskey against Scarlett's portrait on the wall, but novel Rhett doesn't do any of that. Instead "his eyes began to gleam oddly," and he starts to interrogate Scarlett while wearing his usual cool, pretending as though none of this matters to him except as an academic exercise.
This isn't the first time Rhett's eyes "gleam" but I think his eyes almost perpetually gleam from this chapter until after Bonnie's demise. Interestingly enough, although Rhett Butler is presented to us as an inscrutable poker player, but he does have tells, doesn't he. That's why he's intriguing, even long after you've put down GWTW for the first time. If Rhett really were as blank and empty as Phil Ivey or David Benefield or your average American prep school graduate, he'd be boring as hell. But Rhett does alter his expressions. It's just that it's impossible to decode what the changes in his face actually mean. His eyes gleam oddly. His eyebrows raise. His mouth turns down. He smiles. But it's very hard to put together the puzzle most of the time. I don't blame Scarlett for not understanding Rhett's moods most of the time, actually.
But then again, Scarlett, how do you think your husband is going to react when he realizes you don't want to sleep with him anymore? Particularly since said husband knows this whole situation was prompted by a conversation with your dream man?
Rhett reacts coolly to Scarlett's decision, but we can tell he's pretty pissed about this whole thing. Particularly since he leaves in a huff, threatening and vaguely dangerous as he walks out the door, reminding Scarlett and the reader that:
"If I wanted you, no lock would keep me out."
Oh boy.
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Chapter 50: "....he was watching her covertly."
Gone With the Wind was in theaters this week, and I drafted/bribed/blackmailed my best friend into attending the showing on Sunday at the Icon theater on Roosevelt . Incredibly, he'd never seen Gone With the Wind before, so I was totally jealous that his first exposure to Scarlett/Rhett/Melly/Ashley would be via the big screen with a lively (near) capacity crowd. I'm not exactly sure how much he enjoyed the movie. As a matter of fact, I'm not even sure if he knows how much he enjoyed the movie. GWTW is four hours of high drama with a lot of major plot developments and it will probably take him a full year to digest everything that happens in the story. Nevertheless, he did have one strong opinion that he voiced several times over the course of the film.
"Ashley is a twerp," my bestie said more than once while Vivian Leigh and Leslie Howard were doing their thing live in technicolor. "What does she see in that guy anyway?"
In related news, one of my co-workers is reading 50 Shades of Gray for the first time this week. She reads chapters during her lunch break, and she scowls at her kindle as she reads the novel because every single sentence in that book is false and/or stupid. And when she's finished, the two of us laugh at E.L. James and her silly plot and her one-dimensional characters and we wonder what in the world anybody sees in Christian Gray.
I personally understand what Scarlett sees in Ashley Wilkes. Ashley was the gleamingly handsome, graceful, all-too-perfect, blonde, gray-eyed, boy next door at the beginning of the novel, and he remains almost the same guy for the entire book. Of course Ashley changes some over the course of GWTW, but he's mostly notable for staying exactly the same. And I think that's what Scarlett likes about him: he's the same predictable, lovely, handsome guy he's known since she was a child.
And yet....
And yet.
Ashley is consistent from top to bottom, and that's why his character is so uninteresting. Suzanne Brockmann wrote a wonderful essay years ago about the difference between Alpha males and Beta males, and I think that's the most basic, essential difference between Rhett and Ashley. And yet, below the surface Ashley and Rhett are a lot alike.
MM spends the last twenty percent of the novel emphasizing the similarities between the two men, but because we see them through Scarlett's eyes we never do get a clear picture of either. But we do know that Ashley Wilkes is exactly who he says he is, and that he is consistent in thought, word, and deed. On the other hand, who is Rhett?
And what does he want?
And why does he want it?
Rhett is consistently inconsistent. Every single aspect of his being is a contradiction, and for that reason he is infinitely interesting. By contrast, Christian Gray from 50 Shades of Gray is just like Ashley because he is exactly who he appears to be. The real Rhett Butler is hidden under thick layers of bluster, lies, machismo and sarcasm, and I don't know that we ever get to explore his core. Christian Gray is boring because he doesn't surprise us. Even his secrets aren't surprising. Even the Red Room isn't surprising, because Christian seems sort of strange and creepy from the first page. Rhett is a beta male hidden beneath an alpha costume, and that is why he intrigues us long after we finish the novel.
Rhett Butler has been a man of action for all of GWTW, but now that he's married to Scarlett he spends much of his time "watching her closely." And...isn't that sweet? As a matter of fact, his adoration is so frank and obvious, Scarlett literally cannot compute his behavior. MM actually stops the action to tell us that Scarlett can't even figure out why Rhett married her. After all,
"Men married for love or a home and children or money but she knew he had married her for none of these things. He certainly did not love her."
"Whatever love means," right Scarlett?
What does Scarlett think love means? I agree that Rhett should have been direct and admitted that he loved Scarlett when he proposed, but...come on, Scarlett. She eventually concludes that Rhett married her because he wanted to have sex with her, but this is ridiculous on its face because the man owns a brothel.
Sigh.
What does Scarlett think love means? I don't know. But this chapter starts Rhett Butler's long, strange, sad, sad, sad mental collapse, and I think he starts to break apart because Scarlett's anti-child, anti-marriage, anti-love attitude throws the Alpha and Beta parts of his psyche into direct conflict.
Scarlett finds out she's pregnant and she rushes in to deliver the news to Rhett (who, it must be noted, is lounging in her bedroom. That's how close they were. That's how much he loves her. They live in an enormous mansion, and this is a guy who is one of the most self-sufficient characters in any novel ever, and yet when we start this scene he's patiently waiting in her bedroom like a loyal puppy waiting for his master. He's afraid to admit it, but he loves her so much it almost hurts to read the words. Poor thing.). She's pissed off as she's explaining the whole situation, "but he said nothing."
Scarlett keeps babbling, and she's so nervous and frightened that she starts imagining things. Rhett is quiet and pensive and tense this whole time, but Scarlett chastises him for laughing even though he's doing nothing of the sort. As a matter of fact, instead of laughing "his face hardened slightly and his eyes became blank," and by now the reader realizes that Rhett only throws up his poker face when he's feeling particularly emotional. I'm not sure if he understands Scarlett's (understandable) apprehension, or if he is totally confused by it, but it's clear that he feels the desperate need to hide everything from Scarlett. He goes full Alpha here and his mask is successful for a few moments, but then Scarlett starts talking about getting an abortion and he flips out.
Interestingly enough, Rhett doesn't seem purely pro-life. He objects to Scarlett's abortion, but only because he's afraid that Scarlett might die as a result of the procedure. But then again, it's almost impossible to tell if those are his true feelings or if those are the only feelings he chose to demonstrate at this time. I have no idea. But I do know that up to this point we've seen Rhett lose his cool on only a handful of occasions, and every time he has lashed out in anger or frustration or lust or emotion he reels himself back in quickly and it's over in a flash. But I think he's reacting in this section to the double whammy of 1.) Scarlett being pregnant and 2.) Scarlett wanting an abortion, and he has trouble getting himself under control.
He does manage to compose himself eventually, because he's that kind of a guy. But isn't it interesting that he's so afraid of revealing his true emotions to Scarlett that he resorts to picking her up and pulling her so close that she can't see his face? His face is totally blank, but he's still terrified of giving too much of himself away. Rhett has always seemed so suave and cool and calm, but the reader suddenly realizes that our fearless hero is basically walking a tightrope of emotion. And we also realize for the first time that it's conceivable that Scarlett has the capacity to push him over the edge.
Yikes.
"Ashley is a twerp," my bestie said more than once while Vivian Leigh and Leslie Howard were doing their thing live in technicolor. "What does she see in that guy anyway?"
In related news, one of my co-workers is reading 50 Shades of Gray for the first time this week. She reads chapters during her lunch break, and she scowls at her kindle as she reads the novel because every single sentence in that book is false and/or stupid. And when she's finished, the two of us laugh at E.L. James and her silly plot and her one-dimensional characters and we wonder what in the world anybody sees in Christian Gray.
I personally understand what Scarlett sees in Ashley Wilkes. Ashley was the gleamingly handsome, graceful, all-too-perfect, blonde, gray-eyed, boy next door at the beginning of the novel, and he remains almost the same guy for the entire book. Of course Ashley changes some over the course of GWTW, but he's mostly notable for staying exactly the same. And I think that's what Scarlett likes about him: he's the same predictable, lovely, handsome guy he's known since she was a child.
And yet....
And yet.
Ashley is consistent from top to bottom, and that's why his character is so uninteresting. Suzanne Brockmann wrote a wonderful essay years ago about the difference between Alpha males and Beta males, and I think that's the most basic, essential difference between Rhett and Ashley. And yet, below the surface Ashley and Rhett are a lot alike.
MM spends the last twenty percent of the novel emphasizing the similarities between the two men, but because we see them through Scarlett's eyes we never do get a clear picture of either. But we do know that Ashley Wilkes is exactly who he says he is, and that he is consistent in thought, word, and deed. On the other hand, who is Rhett?
And what does he want?
And why does he want it?
Rhett is consistently inconsistent. Every single aspect of his being is a contradiction, and for that reason he is infinitely interesting. By contrast, Christian Gray from 50 Shades of Gray is just like Ashley because he is exactly who he appears to be. The real Rhett Butler is hidden under thick layers of bluster, lies, machismo and sarcasm, and I don't know that we ever get to explore his core. Christian Gray is boring because he doesn't surprise us. Even his secrets aren't surprising. Even the Red Room isn't surprising, because Christian seems sort of strange and creepy from the first page. Rhett is a beta male hidden beneath an alpha costume, and that is why he intrigues us long after we finish the novel.
Rhett Butler has been a man of action for all of GWTW, but now that he's married to Scarlett he spends much of his time "watching her closely." And...isn't that sweet? As a matter of fact, his adoration is so frank and obvious, Scarlett literally cannot compute his behavior. MM actually stops the action to tell us that Scarlett can't even figure out why Rhett married her. After all,
"Men married for love or a home and children or money but she knew he had married her for none of these things. He certainly did not love her."
"Whatever love means," right Scarlett?
What does Scarlett think love means? I agree that Rhett should have been direct and admitted that he loved Scarlett when he proposed, but...come on, Scarlett. She eventually concludes that Rhett married her because he wanted to have sex with her, but this is ridiculous on its face because the man owns a brothel.
Sigh.
What does Scarlett think love means? I don't know. But this chapter starts Rhett Butler's long, strange, sad, sad, sad mental collapse, and I think he starts to break apart because Scarlett's anti-child, anti-marriage, anti-love attitude throws the Alpha and Beta parts of his psyche into direct conflict.
Scarlett finds out she's pregnant and she rushes in to deliver the news to Rhett (who, it must be noted, is lounging in her bedroom. That's how close they were. That's how much he loves her. They live in an enormous mansion, and this is a guy who is one of the most self-sufficient characters in any novel ever, and yet when we start this scene he's patiently waiting in her bedroom like a loyal puppy waiting for his master. He's afraid to admit it, but he loves her so much it almost hurts to read the words. Poor thing.). She's pissed off as she's explaining the whole situation, "but he said nothing."
Scarlett keeps babbling, and she's so nervous and frightened that she starts imagining things. Rhett is quiet and pensive and tense this whole time, but Scarlett chastises him for laughing even though he's doing nothing of the sort. As a matter of fact, instead of laughing "his face hardened slightly and his eyes became blank," and by now the reader realizes that Rhett only throws up his poker face when he's feeling particularly emotional. I'm not sure if he understands Scarlett's (understandable) apprehension, or if he is totally confused by it, but it's clear that he feels the desperate need to hide everything from Scarlett. He goes full Alpha here and his mask is successful for a few moments, but then Scarlett starts talking about getting an abortion and he flips out.
Interestingly enough, Rhett doesn't seem purely pro-life. He objects to Scarlett's abortion, but only because he's afraid that Scarlett might die as a result of the procedure. But then again, it's almost impossible to tell if those are his true feelings or if those are the only feelings he chose to demonstrate at this time. I have no idea. But I do know that up to this point we've seen Rhett lose his cool on only a handful of occasions, and every time he has lashed out in anger or frustration or lust or emotion he reels himself back in quickly and it's over in a flash. But I think he's reacting in this section to the double whammy of 1.) Scarlett being pregnant and 2.) Scarlett wanting an abortion, and he has trouble getting himself under control.
He does manage to compose himself eventually, because he's that kind of a guy. But isn't it interesting that he's so afraid of revealing his true emotions to Scarlett that he resorts to picking her up and pulling her so close that she can't see his face? His face is totally blank, but he's still terrified of giving too much of himself away. Rhett has always seemed so suave and cool and calm, but the reader suddenly realizes that our fearless hero is basically walking a tightrope of emotion. And we also realize for the first time that it's conceivable that Scarlett has the capacity to push him over the edge.
Yikes.
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Chapter 49: Caveat Emptorium/"Rhett saw through them and they knew it."
(Well, it's been a while, hasn't it?
My sister got married, so I was busy for most of August this year. And when I wasn't helping with the wedding planning I've been working between 12 and 16 hours per day. Plus I've had terrible sinus headaches and blah, blah, blah. You know what? I've got no excuse. I should be writing more. I'm sorry. Thanks for sticking with me.)
Chapter 49 begins in a unexpected place, doesn't it?
Chapter 48's honeymoon setting was highly predictable given all that had come immediately before. Scarlett agrees to marry Rhett at the end of Chapter 47, so a honeymoon sequence is a logical next step. Chapter 48 is mostly ambiguous and the reader (and Scarlett) has trouble deciding whether the Butler marriage was a good idea. But chapter 48 ends with a truce between our two leads, so the first time I read GWTW I expected the next few bits to contain even more scenes from the Butler marriage.
And whatever I was expecting, I certainly wasn't expecting....this.
Mitchell is very, very good at not tipping her hand. She knew she was playing with a royal flush of a plot, so she pauses, pivots, and holds back during the first half of Chapter 49. Instead of immediately showing her cards and giving us more fireworks from the Butler honeymoon, MM slow plays us and deliberately decides to hoist the reader into the hotly contested discussion at the....Ladies' Sewing Circle for the Widows and Orphans of the Confederacy.
Hmmmph.
That's moxie though, isn't it?
You've got to be really confident to leave Scarlett and Rhett's bedroom where all sorts of undoubtedly interesting and incredible stuff is happening and retreat into a gossipy discussion with a bunch of tertiary characters. Melly is at this meeting of course, but Melly isn't in the first few pages of this discussion, so this Chapter functions as a call-back to Rhett's earlier comment about learning gossip from a ladies sewing circle and as a brilliant way for MM to reintroduce the Atlanta ladies who are going to make the next few years of Scarlett's life into a living hell of suspicion and acrimony. I do realize that Scarlett has been living in Atlanta with Frank Kennedy for some time now, but up to this point Mrs. Elsing, Mrs. Merriweather, Mrs. Bonnell, Mrs. Meade, and the entire rest of the Old Guard gang have been nothing more than window dressing. They're our Confederate Greek Chorus, really. For much of the novel they are just the old biddies who shake their heads at Scarlett's increasingly outrageous behavior.
But now they're absolutely gobsmacked by the marriage. Like, the fact of the marriage itself is troubling to them. How dare he/she/them? And when you read their words you begin to see the other side of the Scarlett/Rhett/Scallawag/morality situation. We understand why Scarlett marries Rhett. And we understand (or we think we understand) Rhett and his dicey politics and his symbiotic relationships with Carpetbaggers and Governor Bullock and all those other people. We understand and our understanding makes us love Scarlett and Rhett. But the other people in Atlanta don't understand it at all. And while Mrs. Meade and Mrs. Elsing and the rest of the gang don't have that Rhett/Scarlett/Jay-z/Beyonce money, they're all surviving and thriving in the New Atlanta without having to compromise their morals and ideas.
Double hmmph.
Anyway, MM also uses the Old Guard's discussion in the beginning of this chapter to sew the seeds of the upcoming conflict between India, Melly, Scarlett, and Ashley. Interestingly enough, MM makes it clear that everyone including Melly believes that India hates Scarlett because Scarlett stole Stuart Tarleton from her. But in reality, India also hates Scarlett because she is fast. And because "India was torn between the desire to shield Ashley by her silence and to extricate him by telling all her suspicions to Melanie and the whole world. That would force Scarlett to release whatever hold she had on Ashley."
And isn't that interesting?
There are times in GWTW when you start to believe that the whole Scarlett/Ashley thing is all in Scarlett's head. And then of course there are situations where other people call Scarlett out on her obvious devotion toward Mr. Wilkes, but even when Will and Rhett comment on the Scarlett/Ashley relationship they're usually only scolding Scarlett for having a crush on Melly's husband. But I think this is the very first time we hear that Ashley might actually have the hots for Scarlett, isn't it? Most of the time the other characters ask Scarlett about her relationship with Ashley ("is he trifling with you?" Gerald asks during the beginning of the book and the movie), and Scarlett is never really in a position to speak honestly about her interactions with Mr. Wilkes. And even on those rare occasions when she does blurt out the truth about Ashley's "love" we learn quickly to take it all with a grain of salt because, while Scarlett is an amazing character who we love to pieces, she isn't a reliable narrator when it comes to Ashley. Scarlett is a pessimist and a cynic most of the time, but when it comes to Ashley she's all sunshine and flowers and hope.
But now things take an interesting turn because even an impartial observer like India thinks there's something a little "extra" about the relationship between Mrs. Butler and Mr. Wilkes. The Scarlett/Ashley relationship cooled considerably during the Frank Kennedy years, but MM is now turning up the heat and moving it to the front burner, and I think this increases anticipation and anxiety for the reader in a unexpected way. The Ashley/Scarlett (non) affair is finally coming to the forefront so that's sort of a relief, but it's also terrifying since Scarlett is now married to Rhett. And if the previous honeymoon chapter taught us anything, it's that Rhett Butler is out of his goddamn mind.
"Rhett had said that the Old Guard would never surrender and he was right," MM tells us at the start of the 2nd section of chapter 49, after Melly works her magic and convinces the other ladies in the sewing circle to be polite to the Butlers. And isn't it interesting how right Rhett Butler is for the first 80% of GWTW, and how very, very wrong he is throughout the last 20% of the book? Rhett is a bad boy who breaks all the rules, but I would argue that he only succeeds in situations when he encounters rules he's memorized. Rhett is from upper-class Charleston, so he knows everything about the Old Guard and the Atlanta social scene, so he knows exactly which rules to break for maximum fun and profit. But there are no rules for being married to Scarlett and I think that explains why things go so poorly for him during the final chapters of GWTW. He has a talent for making money and making enemies, but he's all thumbs when it comes to earning Scarlett's devotion and I get the sense that he's constantly surprised by her antipathy. Rhett has been rock steady throughout the book, but now that he's married to Scarlett his personality starts to change.
He starts talking to himself, for one thing.
Which....I mean, his conversational style has always been sort of strange. But he was also normally direct and honest with his words. But after Scarlett builds her crazy mansion he starts making snide remarks (i.e. the house has more mirrors than Belle Watling's establishment), then he calls the house a nightmare. And then:
"A stranger without being told a word about us would know this house was built with ill-gotten gains," he said. "You know, Scarlett, money ill come by never comes to good and this house is proof of the axiom. It's just the kind of house a profiteer would build."
How's that for foreshadowing? Rhett is kidding here, of course. But he's such a natural, talented prognosticator he almost accidentally foreshadows the disasters to come.
Incidentally, this chapter also contains one of my favorite little lovely nuggets from GWTW. The bit where Rhett advises Scarlett to rename her store Caveat Emptorium (which is Latin for "Buyer Beware"), and where Scarlett actually gets the sign drawn up before Ashley quietly tells her the real meaning. This is such a lovely paragraph because not only does it give us a nice little laugh at Scarlett's expense--and not only does it give us an opportunity to see just how embittered Rhett is becoming, but it also gives us a link between Rhett and Ashley. These guys are opposites in almost every way, but MM reminds us explicitly via this anecdote that the two men speak the same language despite their differences. And the connection and understanding between the two men is what makes their actions later in the novel so believable.
GWTW the movie is in theaters this weekend in celebration of the 75th. I'm giving up football on Sunday to watch Clark Gable on the big screen, and you should too.
My sister got married, so I was busy for most of August this year. And when I wasn't helping with the wedding planning I've been working between 12 and 16 hours per day. Plus I've had terrible sinus headaches and blah, blah, blah. You know what? I've got no excuse. I should be writing more. I'm sorry. Thanks for sticking with me.)
Chapter 49 begins in a unexpected place, doesn't it?
Chapter 48's honeymoon setting was highly predictable given all that had come immediately before. Scarlett agrees to marry Rhett at the end of Chapter 47, so a honeymoon sequence is a logical next step. Chapter 48 is mostly ambiguous and the reader (and Scarlett) has trouble deciding whether the Butler marriage was a good idea. But chapter 48 ends with a truce between our two leads, so the first time I read GWTW I expected the next few bits to contain even more scenes from the Butler marriage.
And whatever I was expecting, I certainly wasn't expecting....this.
Mitchell is very, very good at not tipping her hand. She knew she was playing with a royal flush of a plot, so she pauses, pivots, and holds back during the first half of Chapter 49. Instead of immediately showing her cards and giving us more fireworks from the Butler honeymoon, MM slow plays us and deliberately decides to hoist the reader into the hotly contested discussion at the....Ladies' Sewing Circle for the Widows and Orphans of the Confederacy.
Hmmmph.
That's moxie though, isn't it?
You've got to be really confident to leave Scarlett and Rhett's bedroom where all sorts of undoubtedly interesting and incredible stuff is happening and retreat into a gossipy discussion with a bunch of tertiary characters. Melly is at this meeting of course, but Melly isn't in the first few pages of this discussion, so this Chapter functions as a call-back to Rhett's earlier comment about learning gossip from a ladies sewing circle and as a brilliant way for MM to reintroduce the Atlanta ladies who are going to make the next few years of Scarlett's life into a living hell of suspicion and acrimony. I do realize that Scarlett has been living in Atlanta with Frank Kennedy for some time now, but up to this point Mrs. Elsing, Mrs. Merriweather, Mrs. Bonnell, Mrs. Meade, and the entire rest of the Old Guard gang have been nothing more than window dressing. They're our Confederate Greek Chorus, really. For much of the novel they are just the old biddies who shake their heads at Scarlett's increasingly outrageous behavior.
But now they're absolutely gobsmacked by the marriage. Like, the fact of the marriage itself is troubling to them. How dare he/she/them? And when you read their words you begin to see the other side of the Scarlett/Rhett/Scallawag/morality situation. We understand why Scarlett marries Rhett. And we understand (or we think we understand) Rhett and his dicey politics and his symbiotic relationships with Carpetbaggers and Governor Bullock and all those other people. We understand and our understanding makes us love Scarlett and Rhett. But the other people in Atlanta don't understand it at all. And while Mrs. Meade and Mrs. Elsing and the rest of the gang don't have that Rhett/Scarlett/Jay-z/Beyonce money, they're all surviving and thriving in the New Atlanta without having to compromise their morals and ideas.
Double hmmph.
Anyway, MM also uses the Old Guard's discussion in the beginning of this chapter to sew the seeds of the upcoming conflict between India, Melly, Scarlett, and Ashley. Interestingly enough, MM makes it clear that everyone including Melly believes that India hates Scarlett because Scarlett stole Stuart Tarleton from her. But in reality, India also hates Scarlett because she is fast. And because "India was torn between the desire to shield Ashley by her silence and to extricate him by telling all her suspicions to Melanie and the whole world. That would force Scarlett to release whatever hold she had on Ashley."
And isn't that interesting?
There are times in GWTW when you start to believe that the whole Scarlett/Ashley thing is all in Scarlett's head. And then of course there are situations where other people call Scarlett out on her obvious devotion toward Mr. Wilkes, but even when Will and Rhett comment on the Scarlett/Ashley relationship they're usually only scolding Scarlett for having a crush on Melly's husband. But I think this is the very first time we hear that Ashley might actually have the hots for Scarlett, isn't it? Most of the time the other characters ask Scarlett about her relationship with Ashley ("is he trifling with you?" Gerald asks during the beginning of the book and the movie), and Scarlett is never really in a position to speak honestly about her interactions with Mr. Wilkes. And even on those rare occasions when she does blurt out the truth about Ashley's "love" we learn quickly to take it all with a grain of salt because, while Scarlett is an amazing character who we love to pieces, she isn't a reliable narrator when it comes to Ashley. Scarlett is a pessimist and a cynic most of the time, but when it comes to Ashley she's all sunshine and flowers and hope.
But now things take an interesting turn because even an impartial observer like India thinks there's something a little "extra" about the relationship between Mrs. Butler and Mr. Wilkes. The Scarlett/Ashley relationship cooled considerably during the Frank Kennedy years, but MM is now turning up the heat and moving it to the front burner, and I think this increases anticipation and anxiety for the reader in a unexpected way. The Ashley/Scarlett (non) affair is finally coming to the forefront so that's sort of a relief, but it's also terrifying since Scarlett is now married to Rhett. And if the previous honeymoon chapter taught us anything, it's that Rhett Butler is out of his goddamn mind.
"Rhett had said that the Old Guard would never surrender and he was right," MM tells us at the start of the 2nd section of chapter 49, after Melly works her magic and convinces the other ladies in the sewing circle to be polite to the Butlers. And isn't it interesting how right Rhett Butler is for the first 80% of GWTW, and how very, very wrong he is throughout the last 20% of the book? Rhett is a bad boy who breaks all the rules, but I would argue that he only succeeds in situations when he encounters rules he's memorized. Rhett is from upper-class Charleston, so he knows everything about the Old Guard and the Atlanta social scene, so he knows exactly which rules to break for maximum fun and profit. But there are no rules for being married to Scarlett and I think that explains why things go so poorly for him during the final chapters of GWTW. He has a talent for making money and making enemies, but he's all thumbs when it comes to earning Scarlett's devotion and I get the sense that he's constantly surprised by her antipathy. Rhett has been rock steady throughout the book, but now that he's married to Scarlett his personality starts to change.
He starts talking to himself, for one thing.
Which....I mean, his conversational style has always been sort of strange. But he was also normally direct and honest with his words. But after Scarlett builds her crazy mansion he starts making snide remarks (i.e. the house has more mirrors than Belle Watling's establishment), then he calls the house a nightmare. And then:
"A stranger without being told a word about us would know this house was built with ill-gotten gains," he said. "You know, Scarlett, money ill come by never comes to good and this house is proof of the axiom. It's just the kind of house a profiteer would build."
How's that for foreshadowing? Rhett is kidding here, of course. But he's such a natural, talented prognosticator he almost accidentally foreshadows the disasters to come.
Incidentally, this chapter also contains one of my favorite little lovely nuggets from GWTW. The bit where Rhett advises Scarlett to rename her store Caveat Emptorium (which is Latin for "Buyer Beware"), and where Scarlett actually gets the sign drawn up before Ashley quietly tells her the real meaning. This is such a lovely paragraph because not only does it give us a nice little laugh at Scarlett's expense--and not only does it give us an opportunity to see just how embittered Rhett is becoming, but it also gives us a link between Rhett and Ashley. These guys are opposites in almost every way, but MM reminds us explicitly via this anecdote that the two men speak the same language despite their differences. And the connection and understanding between the two men is what makes their actions later in the novel so believable.
GWTW the movie is in theaters this weekend in celebration of the 75th. I'm giving up football on Sunday to watch Clark Gable on the big screen, and you should too.
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Chapter 48 (part 2): "She learned everything about him except what he really was."
"In fact, in those two weeks in New Orleans, she learned everything about him except what he really was."
Well, what is he?
GWTW is full of excellent sentences and wonderful paragraphs and little turns of phrase that blow my mind every time I read this novel. But no collection of words in GWTW has anything close to the impact and the weight of this particular line, delivered at this particular time, in this particular situation. So as I break down the last half of this chapter, I think it's imperative that I start by unpacking the true meaning of this line.
First of all, let's begin by acknowledging the absurdity of Scarlett's statement. She's only been married to Rhett for a little more than two weeks, yet she actually thinks that she knows everything about him after such a short amount of time? Granted, Scarlett and Rhett have spent a lot of time together since April of 1861, and Scarlett has picked up quite a bit about him over the course of their friendship, but you get the sense that she actually believes that two weeks are all she needs to understand every facet of Rhett's personality. She has been studying Ashley closely for ages and she still can't quite figure out what makes him tick, and Ashley is practically an open book compared to Rhett. The man's a professional poker player, for goodness sakes! You'd think Scarlett would realize that Rhett doesn't let her see anything he doesn't want her to see, but Scarlett had always overestimated her own smarts, hasn't she? She's brainy but she's the least emotionally perceptive person in the novel, and her conclusions about other people and their true selves and their motives are always a little bit off base.
But the real interesting part of this sentence is the use of the word what.
MM says that Scarlett "learned everything about him except what he really was."
Why does she use what instead of who?
What does what really mean?
According to Google, what is a word with a lot of meaning. Who has an easy answer, I think. Who is about someone's permanent identity, right? Let's try it:
Okay, that was easy enough.
I've often come back to my idea that romance novels/romantic stories are really just mysteries. But unlike regular mysteries that are about solving crimes, the mystery in romance novels always winds up being the everlasting passion the hero has for the heroine. The POV in women's fiction is usually planted firmly inside the heroine's head. We understand her motives, her desires, her fears, her loves better than she knows herself, but at the same time the hero's behavior is erratic and impossible to understand until, of course, you realize that he's been behaving so strangely only because he's madly in love with the heroine. It's a story as old as Pride and Prejudice, but I would argue that it goes back even to the bible. After all, God spends the entire Old Testament behaving erratically and doing super weird stuff all the time (apples, floods, wars, famine, fire, falling towers, etc), but once Jesus shows up to explain that God is only doing this because he "so loves the world," we begin to see God's actions in the Old Testament clearly, as the actions of a deity who is in love with us. Or anyway, I think that's what we're supposed to get out of it. So what is Rhett in this chapter?
He's:
12. A Man
Through and through. I'm not sure how Scarlett would define manhood, but for our purposes let's rely on Google's basic definition: A man is an adult human male. Which is to say, not a child. Scarlett then goes on to compare him to the other males she's known, men like her father and the Tarleton's and the Fontaines and Charles and Frank. They were masculine and they were all very good at doing all the things men are supposed to do, but the were all sort of childish in Scarlett's eyes. MM calls them "boys at heart," full of antics and fun and silliness. Actually, I think Scarlett does indeed define manhood in this section, doesn't she?
"Only Ashley and Rhett eluded her understanding and her control for they were both adults, and the elements of boyishness were lacking in them."
So Scarlett equates manhood with...elusiveness? She believes that a male is only a man if she can't control him through her usual sexy tricks? And what does it say about our heroine when we realize that the only two men she respects are also the only two men who don't play her game?
Hmmph.
So far, the Butler honeymoon as been idyllic despite all the drinking and carousing. But then things go pear shaped all of a sudden on the last full night in the honeymoon when Rhett uses his spidey-sense or his vulcan-mind-meld capabilities and realizes that Scarlett is dreaming about Ashley as she drifts off to sleep in his arms. And he gets mad.
Like, really mad.
The final pages of their honeymoon plays out as brilliant foreshadowing for the events of the rest of their ill-fated marriage.
Rhett catches Scarlett dreaming about Ashley which causes Rhett's "heavy arm beneath her neck [to] become like iron," which causes him to swear ("May God damn your cheating little soul to hell for all eternity" which isn't, like something you'd exactly say off the cuff, is it?) which causes him to leave the room in a huff (despite Scarlett's questions and protests) which causes him to reappear the next morning drunk and sarcastic which causes Scarlett to be "quite cool to him" which causes him to get even angrier as "she dressed under his bloodshot gaze and went shopping," which causes him to be gone when she returns which means that he does not appear again until it's time for supper which causes Scarlett to eat her large meal in silence which causes her to over indulge which causes her to drink way too much which eventually triggers her nightmare.
And, sadly and predictably, Rhett is drunk or hungover when he comes in to rescue Scarlett from her nightmare. It's a very sweet scene as written, a sweet scene that most probably launched several generations of women into puberty. What's better than a well-dressed Rhett Butler coming to Scarlett's rescue in Atlanta just before the town burns to the ground? How about a disheveled, hungover Rhett rescuing Scarlett from her nightmare in the darkness of the wee hours? After all, the real world holds a number of scary dangers, but nothing is more terrifying than unspecified, imagined threats. Scarlett can face down armies and shoot a deserter in the face, but her dream shakes her to her core.
Poor thing.
Good thing she's got such a strong, incredibly sexy, incredibly capable husband around to help!
His face is still unreadable, but his shirt is open to the waist (drool), and his brown chest is covered with thick black hair (double drool), and....when I was a young girl my taste ran to squeaky voiced, safe boys like Michael Jackson (Thriller era, of course), and Joey McIntyre. But ever since I first read GWTW I've had a soft-spot for hairy guys with mustaches and drinking problems. I think this scene is probably the reason, more than any other. He's just smoking hot here, really. And then to top it off, he doesn't calm Scarlett by talking about dream and love and nightmares or anything silly like that. Instead he brings her back to reality by discussing money, investments, and real estate.
Sigh.
Now, the reality is that Rhett has been on a bender for at least 24 hours by the time we arrive at this conversation. His eyes were crazy bloodshot yesterday morning, and they're still bloodshot by the time he calms Scarlett's fears, and that's not a good look, you guys. For the sake of analysis, let's say Rhett has been doing roughly one shot per hour for the past 24. If we assume that Rhett has the same height and weight as Clark Gable (6'1" & 200lbs), then his BAC on that night would have been about 0.481%. Which is in the staggering/alcohol poisoning/sudden death range. He can handle his liquor, but if he continues to drink like this he is totally doomed. I think Mitchell draws our attention to his bloodshot eyes in this chapter because she wants us to contrast this Rhett (still young, still with it Rhett) with the bloated, totally destroyed man who dumps Scarlett at the end of the book. Here he's clearly alcohol dependent, but you get the sense that he can control his drinking. But by the end of GWTW the liquor controls him, and his downfall is sad and heartbreaking.
Well, what is he?
GWTW is full of excellent sentences and wonderful paragraphs and little turns of phrase that blow my mind every time I read this novel. But no collection of words in GWTW has anything close to the impact and the weight of this particular line, delivered at this particular time, in this particular situation. So as I break down the last half of this chapter, I think it's imperative that I start by unpacking the true meaning of this line.
First of all, let's begin by acknowledging the absurdity of Scarlett's statement. She's only been married to Rhett for a little more than two weeks, yet she actually thinks that she knows everything about him after such a short amount of time? Granted, Scarlett and Rhett have spent a lot of time together since April of 1861, and Scarlett has picked up quite a bit about him over the course of their friendship, but you get the sense that she actually believes that two weeks are all she needs to understand every facet of Rhett's personality. She has been studying Ashley closely for ages and she still can't quite figure out what makes him tick, and Ashley is practically an open book compared to Rhett. The man's a professional poker player, for goodness sakes! You'd think Scarlett would realize that Rhett doesn't let her see anything he doesn't want her to see, but Scarlett had always overestimated her own smarts, hasn't she? She's brainy but she's the least emotionally perceptive person in the novel, and her conclusions about other people and their true selves and their motives are always a little bit off base.
But the real interesting part of this sentence is the use of the word what.
MM says that Scarlett "learned everything about him except what he really was."
Why does she use what instead of who?
What does what really mean?
According to Google, what is a word with a lot of meaning. Who has an easy answer, I think. Who is about someone's permanent identity, right? Let's try it:
- Question: Who is Rhett Butler?
- Answer: A Charleston-born aristocrat who rebelled against the old south and forged his own wicked path toward power and money. He has black hair, a swarthy complexion, and a mustache. Maybe you've heard of him?
Okay, that was easy enough.
- Question: What is Rhett Butler?
- Answer: What do you mean by what?
I've often come back to my idea that romance novels/romantic stories are really just mysteries. But unlike regular mysteries that are about solving crimes, the mystery in romance novels always winds up being the everlasting passion the hero has for the heroine. The POV in women's fiction is usually planted firmly inside the heroine's head. We understand her motives, her desires, her fears, her loves better than she knows herself, but at the same time the hero's behavior is erratic and impossible to understand until, of course, you realize that he's been behaving so strangely only because he's madly in love with the heroine. It's a story as old as Pride and Prejudice, but I would argue that it goes back even to the bible. After all, God spends the entire Old Testament behaving erratically and doing super weird stuff all the time (apples, floods, wars, famine, fire, falling towers, etc), but once Jesus shows up to explain that God is only doing this because he "so loves the world," we begin to see God's actions in the Old Testament clearly, as the actions of a deity who is in love with us. Or anyway, I think that's what we're supposed to get out of it. So what is Rhett in this chapter?
He's:
- A Raconteur (he tells all kinds of stories about "courage and honor and virtue and love in the odd places he had been, and follow them with ribald stories of coldest cynicism.");
- A Lover ("ardent...tender...");
- A Mocking Devil ("who ripped the lid from her gunpowder temper, fired it and enjoyed the explosion");
- A Maid (he feeds her and brushes her hair which is sort of sweet, but also deeply strange in my opinion);
- A tease (tickling her feet and tearing her "rudely out of deep slumber" when she least expects it);
- A good listener;
- A bad listener;
- An incredibly sardonic and sarcastic companion;
- Flippant;
- Daring;
- A bad boy in church;
- A good boy at the theater;
12. A Man
Through and through. I'm not sure how Scarlett would define manhood, but for our purposes let's rely on Google's basic definition: A man is an adult human male. Which is to say, not a child. Scarlett then goes on to compare him to the other males she's known, men like her father and the Tarleton's and the Fontaines and Charles and Frank. They were masculine and they were all very good at doing all the things men are supposed to do, but the were all sort of childish in Scarlett's eyes. MM calls them "boys at heart," full of antics and fun and silliness. Actually, I think Scarlett does indeed define manhood in this section, doesn't she?
"Only Ashley and Rhett eluded her understanding and her control for they were both adults, and the elements of boyishness were lacking in them."
So Scarlett equates manhood with...elusiveness? She believes that a male is only a man if she can't control him through her usual sexy tricks? And what does it say about our heroine when we realize that the only two men she respects are also the only two men who don't play her game?
Hmmph.
So far, the Butler honeymoon as been idyllic despite all the drinking and carousing. But then things go pear shaped all of a sudden on the last full night in the honeymoon when Rhett uses his spidey-sense or his vulcan-mind-meld capabilities and realizes that Scarlett is dreaming about Ashley as she drifts off to sleep in his arms. And he gets mad.
Like, really mad.
The final pages of their honeymoon plays out as brilliant foreshadowing for the events of the rest of their ill-fated marriage.
Rhett catches Scarlett dreaming about Ashley which causes Rhett's "heavy arm beneath her neck [to] become like iron," which causes him to swear ("May God damn your cheating little soul to hell for all eternity" which isn't, like something you'd exactly say off the cuff, is it?) which causes him to leave the room in a huff (despite Scarlett's questions and protests) which causes him to reappear the next morning drunk and sarcastic which causes Scarlett to be "quite cool to him" which causes him to get even angrier as "she dressed under his bloodshot gaze and went shopping," which causes him to be gone when she returns which means that he does not appear again until it's time for supper which causes Scarlett to eat her large meal in silence which causes her to over indulge which causes her to drink way too much which eventually triggers her nightmare.
And, sadly and predictably, Rhett is drunk or hungover when he comes in to rescue Scarlett from her nightmare. It's a very sweet scene as written, a sweet scene that most probably launched several generations of women into puberty. What's better than a well-dressed Rhett Butler coming to Scarlett's rescue in Atlanta just before the town burns to the ground? How about a disheveled, hungover Rhett rescuing Scarlett from her nightmare in the darkness of the wee hours? After all, the real world holds a number of scary dangers, but nothing is more terrifying than unspecified, imagined threats. Scarlett can face down armies and shoot a deserter in the face, but her dream shakes her to her core.
Poor thing.
Good thing she's got such a strong, incredibly sexy, incredibly capable husband around to help!
His face is still unreadable, but his shirt is open to the waist (drool), and his brown chest is covered with thick black hair (double drool), and....when I was a young girl my taste ran to squeaky voiced, safe boys like Michael Jackson (Thriller era, of course), and Joey McIntyre. But ever since I first read GWTW I've had a soft-spot for hairy guys with mustaches and drinking problems. I think this scene is probably the reason, more than any other. He's just smoking hot here, really. And then to top it off, he doesn't calm Scarlett by talking about dream and love and nightmares or anything silly like that. Instead he brings her back to reality by discussing money, investments, and real estate.
Sigh.
Now, the reality is that Rhett has been on a bender for at least 24 hours by the time we arrive at this conversation. His eyes were crazy bloodshot yesterday morning, and they're still bloodshot by the time he calms Scarlett's fears, and that's not a good look, you guys. For the sake of analysis, let's say Rhett has been doing roughly one shot per hour for the past 24. If we assume that Rhett has the same height and weight as Clark Gable (6'1" & 200lbs), then his BAC on that night would have been about 0.481%. Which is in the staggering/alcohol poisoning/sudden death range. He can handle his liquor, but if he continues to drink like this he is totally doomed. I think Mitchell draws our attention to his bloodshot eyes in this chapter because she wants us to contrast this Rhett (still young, still with it Rhett) with the bloated, totally destroyed man who dumps Scarlett at the end of the book. Here he's clearly alcohol dependent, but you get the sense that he can control his drinking. But by the end of GWTW the liquor controls him, and his downfall is sad and heartbreaking.
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Chapter 48 (part 1): "Between them, Scarlett and Rhett had outraged every tenet of [the] code..."
I've been working too hard on other things that are not this blog, and this is the first free weekend I've had since the very start of summer. I could have spent this weekend drinking shandies and reading on my back porch, but instead I've decided to carve out some time to update my blog. So, welcome back everybody!
Chapter 48 of GWTW covers the Butler honeymoon in New Orleans. New Orleans has loomed fairly large over the course of the novel, and it functions as an off-stage, anti-Atlanta, all fun times and scandal and rivers and brothels while Atlanta has been nothing but hard times and gossip and red-dirt since the beginning of the book. It's no coincidence, of course, that New Orleans comes into focus during the Butler honeymoon. As Rhett reminds Scarlett and the reader in this chapter, he was "engaged in some of [his] nefarious schemes [in New Orleans] during the war," so we'd be forgiven for assuming that Rhett got up to some of his shady business dealings in Louisiana whenever he wasn't bugging Scarlett/saving Scarlett's life in Atlanta. New Orleans is the one place in the south (and perhaps the world) where Rhett can just be Rhett, so the Butler honeymoon functions as a nice little window into the actual life of Rhett.
So what do we learn?
Quite a bit, actually. Mitchell drops several bombs in this chapter, filling out many details of Rhett's background which is refreshing since she's given us such a fuzzy sketch for so long. Rhett sticks out like a sore thumb in Atlanta because of his flashy clothes, loose morals, and all that gambling and whoring (and, you know, proudly owning a whore house), but he fits right in in New Orleans where Scarlett meets many, many men who "had the same hard reckless look Rhett wore. Their eyes were always alert, like me who have lived too long with danger to be ever quite careless." Now Rhett's eyes are usually described as bland/blank, but he's also very observant and watchful as a rule. Although I never quite get the sense that he's looking out for danger, but instead it seems as though he's just scanning his environment for information that can help him get over in his next scheme. I'm not faulting him for that, by the way. Just sayin'.
Anyway, Rhett and his homies trade gossip and stories about:
- Cuba
- Nassau in the blockade days
- the Gold Rush (California)
- Gun running
- Filibustering
- Nicaragua
- William Walker/Truxillo
- Jesse James/Frank James/Quantril's band
Come to think of it, all four of the major characters in GWTW have a multi-layered, multi-faceted relationship to the southern cause, don't they? Scarlett didn't care one way or another about the Civil War at all--she pretended to care, of course, but she never really bought into the Southern cause. Mostly because she thought it was a waste of time, energy, resources, and men. Melly spent most of the war devoted to Ashley, but she was never really a die-hard about the whole state's rights thing. Ashley fought on the front lines with Bobby Lee for most of the conflict, but he was always a reluctant soldier from the very beginning. But of course, one of the most wonderful things about GWTW is that everybody in the story is wonderfully complex and conflicted almost all the time. MM doesn't spend much time helping us learn the thoughts and motives of the other characters in GWTW, but you do get the sense that she wanted us to realize that very few southerners were absolute, rabid supporters of the confederacy. Everybody supported the war and all the men eventually joined up (or tried to join like poor Gerald), but everyone had their own motives and ideas about the general direction of the war.
Anyway, Scarlett likes New Orleans. She really, really, really likes New Orleans. She likes the clothes, she likes the jewels, she likes the alcohol, and she likes the food. MM actually performs a very clever and sophisticated maneuver by having Scarlett go on and on about food in this chapter. After all, we could never forget how hungry they all were after the war, but--that was a long time ago now. Scarlett has been married to Frank for some time, and the casual reader (i.e. one who didn't finish the book in three days like yours truly) would be forgiven for forgetting all about Scarlett's vow to Never Go Hungry Again.
But MM hasn't forgotten. And she uses this honeymoon interlude as a well-designed call-back to Scarlett's days of hardship. Scarlett has been living a fairly cozy middle-class life in Atlanta for years now, but our heroine still can't quite shake the feeling that poverty will return. This is what drives her through the last twenty percent of the book (we're at 82% here in this chapter!), the thing that makes her greedy and selfish even after she marries Rhett and she can afford to be kind and sensible. Of course every character in the book has faced immense hardship, but I think the other characters in the book fail to see just how unique Scarlett's situation was after Sherman blew through Atlanta.
Scarlett has tried hard to forget how tough things were back at Tara after the war. But I think of all the characters in the book, Scarlet's path after the fall of Atlanta was the most difficult because there were no obvious answers or solutions to her problems. Rhett was in the Confederate army throughout most of 1864 and 1865, and nobody doubts the difficulty of fighting a war that has already been lost, but his objective during that time was pretty clear: don't die. Ashley was in prison during the latter half of the war, but all he had to do was survive. I'm not saying survival in a POW camp during the 19th century was easy, but it's also not complicated. Melly had just given birth to her baby during the Fall of Atlanta and she is very weak during 1864, 1865, and 1866. But again, her only objective was to stay alive.
Not so for Scarlett.
No, Scarlett O'Hare couldn't even consider the idea of falling over and expiring. Once she got back to Tara she was in a world of trouble, and she had to spend her days and nights figuring out how to feed her family, how to avoid the scavengers in the neighborhood, how to keep Tara safe from harm. Melly spent that time teetering between life and death, but Scarlett didn't have that luxury. The entire world--or anyway, the entire world of Scarlett's novel--depended on her, and the thought of giving up and dropping dead was never part of her program. She was the captain of a sinking ship and she spent all her time focused on keeping Tara afloat.
Scarlett doesn't have true battle scars, but she does have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. However, unlike the soldiers in the novel who probably cower at every loud bang they hear, Scarlett's PTSD is centered on food and money. And while you might be able to avoid loud noises for the rest of your life, Scarlett encounters food and money every single day and she seems to take stock of her financial progress every time she sits down to a meal.
And so, after the last chapter featured nothing but blanc mange (yuck!) and cheap liquor, this chapter is all about decadence and excess and all the deliciousness New Orleans has to offer. We read details about the meals, as a matter of fact. We don't get any details about the Butler wedding, but we get a lot of information about the honeymoon meals.
In the space of one paragraph Scarlett eats:
- Gumboes
- Shrimp Creole (this link will take you to the Yelp page for my all-time favorite New Orleans restaurant!)
- Doves in Wine (Huh?Ew!)
- Oysters in crumbly patties full of cream sauce
- Mushrooms
- Sweetbreads (which are totally not what you think they are)
- Turkey livers
- Fish "baked cunningly in oiled paper and limes"
- Pastries with chocolate and meringue
- Champagne
Atlanta: New Orleans as: (Choose One, if you can)
A. Scarlett: Belle
B. Ashley: Rhett
C. South: North
D. Melly: Scarlett
E. All of the Above
Answer: A, B & E. But not necessarily C or D, for reasons that will become clearer as we get closer to the end of the book.
Alright, I'm going to drink beer on my deck. I'll post my thoughts and analysis on the rest of this all-important chapter next time, gang.
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Chapter 47: What the hell is a blanc mange anyway?
What's a blanc mange?
We recently passed the 78th anniversary of GWTW's original publication. The novel is older than my parents and the events of Scarlett's life take place approximately 150 years before the present day, but MMs word choice is strikingly modern, isn't it? The Civil War and the Reconstruction era are practically ancient history to us today, yet there are very few phrases in this novel that leave me scratching my head in confusion. I spent the past month watching The World Cup and it is much more difficult for me to understand the rules of soccer and the worldwide fascination with all those flopping pretty-boys with funny names than it is for me to understand Scarlett and the gang. To put it another way, at this point I think I'd have a much better conversation with Ashley and Melly than I ever could with Messi and Neymar.
Except--
What's a blanc mange?
Chapter 47 of GWTW opens with a very bummed out, fairly drunk Scarlet ruminating on her sins on the day of Frank's funeral. She's feeling down and lonely, which is understandable given that 1.) her husband is dead, 2.) it's sort of all her fault, and 3.) even if it's not her fault, everybody else thinks it's all her fault. Scarlett never has had any girlfriends in the novel beside Melly, and even Melly isn't there to comfort the recently widowed protagonist. Everybody paid their respects to Frank, and in doing so many, many of the Atlanta town's folk brought blanc mange. I had to google blanc mange in order to figure out what it was, and precisely what message MM was trying to send by emphasizing this particular dessert. And here's what I found:
Blancmange (/bləˈmɒnʒ/ or /bləˈmɑːndʒ/, from French blanc-manger French pronunciation: [blɑ̃mɑ̃ʒe]), also known as shape, is a sweet dessert commonly made with milk or cream and sugar thickened with gelatin, cornstarch or Irish moss[1] (a source of carrageenan), and often flavored with almonds. It is usually set in a mould and served cold (WIKIPEDIA).
Blanc mange looks like a big white blob. I tried to convince my mother to help me make some this weekend, but she declined. Because who in the hell would want to eat something so bland and unappetizing? It's almost as if blanc mange is the Frank Kennedy of desserts, something that's just sort of boring and bland and there. I'm not exactly certain what other desserts people in that part of the world traditionally eat during times of bereavement, but...it wouldn't have killed the neighbors to bring over some peach pie, right? I realize it's winter and peaches are therefore probably out of season, but still.
No wonder our girl hasn't had much to eat, right?
So perhaps Scarlett's inebriation in this scene isn't really her fault. The first rule of drinking is to eat something first in order to coat your stomach and avoid getting tipsy too fast, and who in the hell would want to eat blanc mange?
Every college student in America knows that you have to pace yourself when you binge, but in the 19th century nobody apparently told women when and how to drink because, as we learn later, there was absolutely no possibility that a woman like Scarlett (i.e. upper class, white, attractive, feminine) would ever turn to hard liquor to escape the pressures of her life. Lots of men were alcoholics I guess, but the men Scarlett knows are cultured, mannered alcoholics in the style of the boys from Southern Charm, not the sullen, dangerous drunks our girl encountered the day Sherman took Atlanta. Actually, come to think of it, I'm not sure if we're supposed to think that Scarlett is actually the only female alcoholic in upper class Atlanta. After all, we know very, very little about the private lives of the women in this novel, and there's a distinct possibility that every single one of them drinks booze for breakfast.
Anyway, so here we are.
The stage is set, isn't it? Frank Kennedy is dead, Scarlett is on the cusp of retiring and heading home to Tara, and she's actually sort of remorseful for once. As a matter of fact, Scarlett's depression and binge drinking have combined to give her a sort of clear-eyed sobriety that allows her to step outside of herself and her own problems and her obsession with Ashley for a few precious moments. Scarlett normally doesn't pay much attention to Rhett whenever he's around. She rarely takes much time to consider his motivations or evaluate his words, and she's always sort of distracted whenever he starts talking. But not here. And as their conversation unfolds Scarlett has a few of her rare moments of insight.
"Sometimes she thought that all the people she had ever known were strangers except Rhett."
And this is where...I mean, just think about that for a moment. Scarlett loved both of her parents, she loves Ashley, and she loves/respects Melly, but all those relations are strangers except Rhett. Of course Scarlett muddies the waters almost immediately by padding this observation with a spot-on but somehow off base evaluation of Rhett as "someone who was bad and dishonorable and a cheat and a liar," and yes he is all of those things. Or is he?
He may be bad. I'll give you that. He owns a whorehouse and gambles for a living, so he's not exactly an angel. But whom has he dishonored? And didn't the folks he cheated sort of deserve to be cheated? Interestingly enough, of all the characters in GWTW who are supposed to be honorable, Rhett is the only one who's not a slave owner. I realize MM's views on the institution probably differ from mine (probably), but surely that counts for something? And as for lying...actually, I've found that Rhett tells more truths per sentence than anybody else in the novel. He talks in riddles most of the time, but what's wrong with that? Even Jesus spoke in riddles and metaphors to get his point across, ya'll.
So Scarlett's assessment of Rhett is incorrect. But she thinks it's correct because she is still unable to see him clearly, because she cannot see the true nature of things, because she is still caught up in doing a weird comparison between Rhett and Ashley. Ashley is supposed to be the honorable one, so Rhett therefore must be a horrible cheat and all of that, I guess.
So anyway, this is going to be a long post because Chapter 47 contains another one of those lengthy conversations that form a linchpin in the novel. The flow of the conversation goes like this:
I. Scarlett confesses her sins. Rhett makes her feel better.
II. Scarlett explains away all her bad behavior by telling him about her nightmare.
III. Rhett asks Scarlett to marry him. She says no. Because she doesn't love him.
IV. He kisses her.
V. She changes her mind. After all, he's rich and she's "fond" of him.
He's quite the kisser, isn't he?
I don't love everything about GWTW the movie, but Gable and Leigh do a great job with this scene. Gable looks very debonair when he arrives in Pitty's parlor, but he's also very physical and imposing and masculine which is quite a difficult combination. Very few actors can manage to be charming, funny, sexy-as-sin, dominating, and dominated all in the same scene but he does it here. Maybe Steve McQueen, maybe Indian Jones/Sabrina Harrison Ford, definitely Robert Redford, but other than that I can't think of anybody off the top of my head who could have pulled this off. And Leigh is just as good, saucy and scatter-brained and vulnerable but still incredibly strong, standing up for herself and charting her own course even when it's clear that her character has absolutely no idea what in the hell is happening. Because--
Why does Rhett want to marry Scarlett?
Really. I'm asking. Because I honestly don't know.
At the end of the book, when Melly's dead and he's leaving and they're both sitting down at the Table of Honesty, he tells us that he wanted to marry her because he was in love with her and wanted to make her happy. And I think it's clear at this point in the novel to all but the most obtuse and naive reader (i.e. readers like me when I was 16) that Rhett is definitely infatuated with Scarlett. He likes talking to her, likes messing with her head, thinks she's pretty, etc. And he certainly wants to have sex with her, although he's clearly a sensual being and he owns a whorehouse so it's not like his libido is a big surprise. But why does he want to marry her?
Really. I'm stumped.
The Rhett at the end of the book says this was all about love, but by the time GWTW ends Rhett is an old man remembering a much earlier period in his life. I mean he's not really old and not all that much time passes between this scene and the end of the novel, but he's practically a senior citizen by the time 1873 rolls around. There's a certain inevitability about earlier events that sets in as you age, and there's a lot of back dating and misremembering. Lines get blurry and it can be very, very difficult to remember exactly why you did something and why you felt the way you did. I can't find the exact quote, but Ernest Hemingway once said that visiting your own battlefield is just as difficult as visiting an old love affair. You can remember what you did and how you did it, but it's almost impossible to reconnect with your old feelings be they terror and rage on the Western Front or passion and desire in a former relationship. 1873 Rhett says he was madly in love with Scarlett from their first meeting back at 12 Oaks, but I'm not so certain he's a reliable narrator in this case.
I guess I should wrap this one up now, because I could probably go on forever recapping an analyzing this conversation. I think this scene definitely encapsulates everything that goes wrong between the two of them: Scarlett is devoted to Ashley and an independent woman who is convinced that Rhett is too bad to love, and Rhett is the blank-faced poker player who never explains his motives or admits to feeling anything besides lust for Scarlett. It's all very strange. This is a marriage proposal scene, and marriage is supposed to be a meeting of the minds just like any other contract, but neither of the principals appear to have any idea about what they want from this relationship. And they certainly don't negotiate. They just agree to marry and...that's a recipe for disaster.
We recently passed the 78th anniversary of GWTW's original publication. The novel is older than my parents and the events of Scarlett's life take place approximately 150 years before the present day, but MMs word choice is strikingly modern, isn't it? The Civil War and the Reconstruction era are practically ancient history to us today, yet there are very few phrases in this novel that leave me scratching my head in confusion. I spent the past month watching The World Cup and it is much more difficult for me to understand the rules of soccer and the worldwide fascination with all those flopping pretty-boys with funny names than it is for me to understand Scarlett and the gang. To put it another way, at this point I think I'd have a much better conversation with Ashley and Melly than I ever could with Messi and Neymar.
Except--
What's a blanc mange?
Chapter 47 of GWTW opens with a very bummed out, fairly drunk Scarlet ruminating on her sins on the day of Frank's funeral. She's feeling down and lonely, which is understandable given that 1.) her husband is dead, 2.) it's sort of all her fault, and 3.) even if it's not her fault, everybody else thinks it's all her fault. Scarlett never has had any girlfriends in the novel beside Melly, and even Melly isn't there to comfort the recently widowed protagonist. Everybody paid their respects to Frank, and in doing so many, many of the Atlanta town's folk brought blanc mange. I had to google blanc mange in order to figure out what it was, and precisely what message MM was trying to send by emphasizing this particular dessert. And here's what I found:
Blancmange (/bləˈmɒnʒ/ or /bləˈmɑːndʒ/, from French blanc-manger French pronunciation: [blɑ̃mɑ̃ʒe]), also known as shape, is a sweet dessert commonly made with milk or cream and sugar thickened with gelatin, cornstarch or Irish moss[1] (a source of carrageenan), and often flavored with almonds. It is usually set in a mould and served cold (WIKIPEDIA).
Blanc mange looks like a big white blob. I tried to convince my mother to help me make some this weekend, but she declined. Because who in the hell would want to eat something so bland and unappetizing? It's almost as if blanc mange is the Frank Kennedy of desserts, something that's just sort of boring and bland and there. I'm not exactly certain what other desserts people in that part of the world traditionally eat during times of bereavement, but...it wouldn't have killed the neighbors to bring over some peach pie, right? I realize it's winter and peaches are therefore probably out of season, but still.
No wonder our girl hasn't had much to eat, right?
So perhaps Scarlett's inebriation in this scene isn't really her fault. The first rule of drinking is to eat something first in order to coat your stomach and avoid getting tipsy too fast, and who in the hell would want to eat blanc mange?
Every college student in America knows that you have to pace yourself when you binge, but in the 19th century nobody apparently told women when and how to drink because, as we learn later, there was absolutely no possibility that a woman like Scarlett (i.e. upper class, white, attractive, feminine) would ever turn to hard liquor to escape the pressures of her life. Lots of men were alcoholics I guess, but the men Scarlett knows are cultured, mannered alcoholics in the style of the boys from Southern Charm, not the sullen, dangerous drunks our girl encountered the day Sherman took Atlanta. Actually, come to think of it, I'm not sure if we're supposed to think that Scarlett is actually the only female alcoholic in upper class Atlanta. After all, we know very, very little about the private lives of the women in this novel, and there's a distinct possibility that every single one of them drinks booze for breakfast.
Anyway, so here we are.
The stage is set, isn't it? Frank Kennedy is dead, Scarlett is on the cusp of retiring and heading home to Tara, and she's actually sort of remorseful for once. As a matter of fact, Scarlett's depression and binge drinking have combined to give her a sort of clear-eyed sobriety that allows her to step outside of herself and her own problems and her obsession with Ashley for a few precious moments. Scarlett normally doesn't pay much attention to Rhett whenever he's around. She rarely takes much time to consider his motivations or evaluate his words, and she's always sort of distracted whenever he starts talking. But not here. And as their conversation unfolds Scarlett has a few of her rare moments of insight.
"Sometimes she thought that all the people she had ever known were strangers except Rhett."
And this is where...I mean, just think about that for a moment. Scarlett loved both of her parents, she loves Ashley, and she loves/respects Melly, but all those relations are strangers except Rhett. Of course Scarlett muddies the waters almost immediately by padding this observation with a spot-on but somehow off base evaluation of Rhett as "someone who was bad and dishonorable and a cheat and a liar," and yes he is all of those things. Or is he?
He may be bad. I'll give you that. He owns a whorehouse and gambles for a living, so he's not exactly an angel. But whom has he dishonored? And didn't the folks he cheated sort of deserve to be cheated? Interestingly enough, of all the characters in GWTW who are supposed to be honorable, Rhett is the only one who's not a slave owner. I realize MM's views on the institution probably differ from mine (probably), but surely that counts for something? And as for lying...actually, I've found that Rhett tells more truths per sentence than anybody else in the novel. He talks in riddles most of the time, but what's wrong with that? Even Jesus spoke in riddles and metaphors to get his point across, ya'll.
So Scarlett's assessment of Rhett is incorrect. But she thinks it's correct because she is still unable to see him clearly, because she cannot see the true nature of things, because she is still caught up in doing a weird comparison between Rhett and Ashley. Ashley is supposed to be the honorable one, so Rhett therefore must be a horrible cheat and all of that, I guess.
So anyway, this is going to be a long post because Chapter 47 contains another one of those lengthy conversations that form a linchpin in the novel. The flow of the conversation goes like this:
I. Scarlett confesses her sins. Rhett makes her feel better.
II. Scarlett explains away all her bad behavior by telling him about her nightmare.
III. Rhett asks Scarlett to marry him. She says no. Because she doesn't love him.
IV. He kisses her.
V. She changes her mind. After all, he's rich and she's "fond" of him.
He's quite the kisser, isn't he?
I don't love everything about GWTW the movie, but Gable and Leigh do a great job with this scene. Gable looks very debonair when he arrives in Pitty's parlor, but he's also very physical and imposing and masculine which is quite a difficult combination. Very few actors can manage to be charming, funny, sexy-as-sin, dominating, and dominated all in the same scene but he does it here. Maybe Steve McQueen, maybe Indian Jones/Sabrina Harrison Ford, definitely Robert Redford, but other than that I can't think of anybody off the top of my head who could have pulled this off. And Leigh is just as good, saucy and scatter-brained and vulnerable but still incredibly strong, standing up for herself and charting her own course even when it's clear that her character has absolutely no idea what in the hell is happening. Because--
Why does Rhett want to marry Scarlett?
Really. I'm asking. Because I honestly don't know.
At the end of the book, when Melly's dead and he's leaving and they're both sitting down at the Table of Honesty, he tells us that he wanted to marry her because he was in love with her and wanted to make her happy. And I think it's clear at this point in the novel to all but the most obtuse and naive reader (i.e. readers like me when I was 16) that Rhett is definitely infatuated with Scarlett. He likes talking to her, likes messing with her head, thinks she's pretty, etc. And he certainly wants to have sex with her, although he's clearly a sensual being and he owns a whorehouse so it's not like his libido is a big surprise. But why does he want to marry her?
Really. I'm stumped.
The Rhett at the end of the book says this was all about love, but by the time GWTW ends Rhett is an old man remembering a much earlier period in his life. I mean he's not really old and not all that much time passes between this scene and the end of the novel, but he's practically a senior citizen by the time 1873 rolls around. There's a certain inevitability about earlier events that sets in as you age, and there's a lot of back dating and misremembering. Lines get blurry and it can be very, very difficult to remember exactly why you did something and why you felt the way you did. I can't find the exact quote, but Ernest Hemingway once said that visiting your own battlefield is just as difficult as visiting an old love affair. You can remember what you did and how you did it, but it's almost impossible to reconnect with your old feelings be they terror and rage on the Western Front or passion and desire in a former relationship. 1873 Rhett says he was madly in love with Scarlett from their first meeting back at 12 Oaks, but I'm not so certain he's a reliable narrator in this case.
I guess I should wrap this one up now, because I could probably go on forever recapping an analyzing this conversation. I think this scene definitely encapsulates everything that goes wrong between the two of them: Scarlett is devoted to Ashley and an independent woman who is convinced that Rhett is too bad to love, and Rhett is the blank-faced poker player who never explains his motives or admits to feeling anything besides lust for Scarlett. It's all very strange. This is a marriage proposal scene, and marriage is supposed to be a meeting of the minds just like any other contract, but neither of the principals appear to have any idea about what they want from this relationship. And they certainly don't negotiate. They just agree to marry and...that's a recipe for disaster.
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