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.
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