It's another snowy, rainy, cold, dreary day here in Chi-town, so instead of celebrating St. Patrick's Day/celebrating Scarlett's heritage, I'm indoors writing on this blog. Yay Midwest!
So....Part 2 of Chapter 6 undoubtedly Mitchell's hinge for this section of the novel. It's the point where all of Scarlett's best laid plans come to naught, the spot where all her hopes and dreams of becoming Mrs. Ashley Wilkes turn to dust and blow away. I'd like to say that Scarlett begins this section as a girl but ends it as a woman, but that would be grossly inaccurate--and far too pat a turnaround for Mitchell's sophisticated approach. In any other book (and with any other characters) the Showdown in the Wilkes' library between Scarlett and Ashley (and eventually Rhett and Scarlett) would have caused the lead character to reconsider her actions. But Ashley's flat out rejection of Scarlett doesn't actually do anything but stiffen her spine and make her decide to get Ashley if it's the last thing she does. Which is amazing, but...there you have it.
I read 50 Shades of Grey last summer (just like everybody else in America), and I hated every word in that book. I hated the heroine for putting up with that crap (you know what crap I mean!), because "Scarlett O'Hara would never..."
Except you know what? I'm not so sure that she wouldn't. Scarlett is smart and dominant, but there's some part of her that apparently enjoys being hurt--and makes her come back for more. Ashley hurts her feelings in this section by denying his love for her but that just makes her like him more. And Rhett hurts her even more than that (up for debate, but yeah) 10 or so years later, and that sends her into a tizzy of desire. So...maybe she isn't so different from Anastasia after all?
Alright, so Scarlett sneaks into the Wilkes library, a big room full of books where (she notes) "the seven-foot sofa, Ashley's favorite seat, reared its high back, like some huge sleeping animal." What a wonderful, wonderful little throwaway description! Made all the more wonderful, may I add, when you realize that Rhett Butler is hidden on the other side of the sofa, taking a nap. He's such an animal that even the furniture he sleeps on is turned into something big and alive. LOVELY!
This is one of the few scenes in the book that nearly made it whole into the movie. Mitchell blocks the scene pretty well, and it's a nice little set piece that reads like something out of a play. Except, and here's where GWTW is awesome, Rhett Butler KNOWS HE'S IN A PLAY. He comes off the couch laughing at the scene that he's just overheard, and he even throws Scarlett a "bow of exaggerated politeness," as though he just realized he's been accidentally assigned the 2nd lead in Our American Cousin. If the first five chapters hadn't taught us that the life and times of Scarlett O'Hara are going to be totally different from everything we've ever read before, Rhett's behavior in this scene--and Scarlett's reaction to him (the famous:"Sir, you are no gentleman" and then his "And you, Miss, are no lady")--make it clear that this book is going to be different from everything else on the shelf.
The party guests are asleep during this scene, but the County gets word that the War has begun almost as soon as Scarlett leaves the library. All the men get excited (Rhett and Ashley being the exceptions, as usual) and run off in a million different directions to hurry up and go play soldier. And Scarlett is so depressed she accepts a marriage proposal from Charles Hamilton for reasons even she barely understands ("he only squeezed her hand until he drove her rings into the flesh"). And...the plot is now solidly in motion. The War has started, Scarlett is going to be married to Melanie's brother, and all the men she grew up with are dashing off to join the CSA. Good luck guys!
(Not!)
Showing posts with label Ashley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ashley. Show all posts
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Friday, March 15, 2013
Chapter 6, ya'll....
Chapter 6 (Part 1):Scarlett Makes Plans--God Laughs....
Chapter 6 of GWTW picks up right where Chapter 5 left off. It's been close to two years since I've written in this blog, so I'm clearly not as good at consistency as Margaret Mitchell is, but at least I'm trying....
Anyway, as chapter 6 begins, Scarlett, her sisters, and her father are pulling up to the Wilkes Plantation and are greeted by a "haze of smoke hanging lazily in the tops of the tall trees," and she "smelled the mingled savory odors of burning hickory logs and roasting pork and mutton." These sentences seem merely descriptive at first blush, but Mitchell then takes the time to contrast John Wilkes hospitality (his bbq that morning will be held "on the gentle slope leading down to the rose garden, a pleasant, shady place") with the Northern/Yankee rudeness of Mrs. Calvert who hates the smell of bbq and makes her guests sit far away from the house whenever she has parties. GWTW is a sprawling book and it can be very difficult to keep track of the tertiary folks with walk-on parts like Mrs. Calvert and John Wilkes, but it is clear that Mitchell herself always had a clear idea about the story arcs of even the smallest bit players in her book. It's a minor detail at this point for Mrs. Calvert to dislike bbq, but that little idea does highlight the difference between Mrs. Calvert and the rest of her neighbors--a difference that will become more important later in the book.
Anyway, the food at this bbq is absolutely delicious. One thing I've always loved about books in the South is that the characters always know how to cook and eat, and GWTW is no exception to this rule: bbq sauce, Brunswick stew, hoecakes and yams (for the servants)...yummers!
But--forget the food!
Mitchell has set a beautiful scene of Scarlett going on the attack at the Wilkes house. She is frantically searching for Ashley (and for Melanie and Charles), and she's flirting with every man she sees in her ultimately misguided (I was going to say unsuccessful, but that would have been going too far) attempt at making Ashley jealous. But none of that matters because, ladies and gentleman, A Stranger From Charleston has now entered the story.
"....her eyes fell on a stranger, standing alone in the hall, staring at her in a cool impertinent way that brought her up sharply with a mingled feeling of feminine pleasure...and an embarrassed sensation that her dress was too low in the bosom. He looked quite old, at least thirty-five. He was a tall man and powerfully built...[and he had] wide shoulders, so heavy with muscles, almost too heavy for gentility. When her eye caught his, he smiled, showing animal-white teeth below a close-clipped black mustache. He was dark of face, swarthy as a pirate, and his eyes were as bold and black as any pirate's appraising...a maiden to be ravished..."
Oh my!
It has taken five and a half chapters, but Mitchell has finally introduced the man who would ultimately become Scarlett's 3rd husband and bitterest foe. The first time I read GWTW I had absolutely no idea how the story was going to play out in the end. I'd heard Rhett Butler's name a million times and Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh were on the cover of my paperback copy, but I certainly didn't know what role he would play in the story. And to Mitchell's credit, she doesn't tip her hand in the slightest in this initial description. Scarlett herself does not have a particular reaction to Rhett Butler's appearance. In the movie Leigh and Gable give each other a fairly flirtatious going over in the hall at Twelve Oaks, but in the book it's not clear if Rhett is going to be a major character or a minor character, friend or foe.
Hell, he doesn't even speak a word of dialogue for another several hundred words.
He just looks at Scarlett, she looks at him, and then he's called away to another room.
That's pretty doggone amazing, isn't it?
We do learn more about Rhett Butler when Scarlett meets up with Cathleen Calvert (Mrs. Calvert's step-daughter!) and begins gossiping. We learn that Rhett is a scamp with a bad reputation, that he isn't received (Oh Dear!), that he was expelled from West Point, and that Rhett took a Charleston girl out buggy riding, got her into a compromising situation when their buggy broke down, came home and refused to marry her, and then shot the girl's angry brother in a duel....
And then Mitchell closes this description with a little internal dialogue from Scarlett. It seems that instead of being horrified by Rhett Butler's actions in Cathleen's story, Scarlett respects Rhett for not marrying a fool and wishes that she had somehow thought of a way to get Ashley to compromise her. Which is amazingly progressive and hugely funny, and also wonderful foreshadowing for all the tricky things Scarlett will do during the rest of the book.
In addition to Rhett Butler's grand entrance, chapter 6 also includes the (much less grand) entrance of Miss Melanie Hamilton, Ashley's future wife and Scarlett's nemesis. Melanie is Scarlett's foe in this section of the story, so she gets quite a bit more description than Rhett--although not much more, to tell the truth. She has "too large brown eyes" and a "cloud of curly dark hair" and a sweet, timid, plain face. Her body is childishly undeveloped (FORESHADOWING!), and she's having a quiet chat with her fiance in a corner of the yard, much to Scarlett's chagrin.
GWTW is a story about the South during and after the Civil War, and it succeeds on many levels. But I think chapter 6--and, indeed, most of the first part of the book--are amazing because they mimic the way life feels when you are a teenager. The characters Scarlett encounters in this book remind me of the people you meet during your first year of college. They are all strangers and it's impossible to tell straight away which ones will be in your life for the long haul and which ones will disappear after a year or two. It's impossible to know which ones will be friends, which will be foes, and which will exist forever in the murky gray areas between those two extremes.
Chapter 6 of GWTW picks up right where Chapter 5 left off. It's been close to two years since I've written in this blog, so I'm clearly not as good at consistency as Margaret Mitchell is, but at least I'm trying....
Anyway, as chapter 6 begins, Scarlett, her sisters, and her father are pulling up to the Wilkes Plantation and are greeted by a "haze of smoke hanging lazily in the tops of the tall trees," and she "smelled the mingled savory odors of burning hickory logs and roasting pork and mutton." These sentences seem merely descriptive at first blush, but Mitchell then takes the time to contrast John Wilkes hospitality (his bbq that morning will be held "on the gentle slope leading down to the rose garden, a pleasant, shady place") with the Northern/Yankee rudeness of Mrs. Calvert who hates the smell of bbq and makes her guests sit far away from the house whenever she has parties. GWTW is a sprawling book and it can be very difficult to keep track of the tertiary folks with walk-on parts like Mrs. Calvert and John Wilkes, but it is clear that Mitchell herself always had a clear idea about the story arcs of even the smallest bit players in her book. It's a minor detail at this point for Mrs. Calvert to dislike bbq, but that little idea does highlight the difference between Mrs. Calvert and the rest of her neighbors--a difference that will become more important later in the book.
Anyway, the food at this bbq is absolutely delicious. One thing I've always loved about books in the South is that the characters always know how to cook and eat, and GWTW is no exception to this rule: bbq sauce, Brunswick stew, hoecakes and yams (for the servants)...yummers!
But--forget the food!
Mitchell has set a beautiful scene of Scarlett going on the attack at the Wilkes house. She is frantically searching for Ashley (and for Melanie and Charles), and she's flirting with every man she sees in her ultimately misguided (I was going to say unsuccessful, but that would have been going too far) attempt at making Ashley jealous. But none of that matters because, ladies and gentleman, A Stranger From Charleston has now entered the story.
"....her eyes fell on a stranger, standing alone in the hall, staring at her in a cool impertinent way that brought her up sharply with a mingled feeling of feminine pleasure...and an embarrassed sensation that her dress was too low in the bosom. He looked quite old, at least thirty-five. He was a tall man and powerfully built...[and he had] wide shoulders, so heavy with muscles, almost too heavy for gentility. When her eye caught his, he smiled, showing animal-white teeth below a close-clipped black mustache. He was dark of face, swarthy as a pirate, and his eyes were as bold and black as any pirate's appraising...a maiden to be ravished..."
Oh my!
It has taken five and a half chapters, but Mitchell has finally introduced the man who would ultimately become Scarlett's 3rd husband and bitterest foe. The first time I read GWTW I had absolutely no idea how the story was going to play out in the end. I'd heard Rhett Butler's name a million times and Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh were on the cover of my paperback copy, but I certainly didn't know what role he would play in the story. And to Mitchell's credit, she doesn't tip her hand in the slightest in this initial description. Scarlett herself does not have a particular reaction to Rhett Butler's appearance. In the movie Leigh and Gable give each other a fairly flirtatious going over in the hall at Twelve Oaks, but in the book it's not clear if Rhett is going to be a major character or a minor character, friend or foe.
Hell, he doesn't even speak a word of dialogue for another several hundred words.
He just looks at Scarlett, she looks at him, and then he's called away to another room.
That's pretty doggone amazing, isn't it?
We do learn more about Rhett Butler when Scarlett meets up with Cathleen Calvert (Mrs. Calvert's step-daughter!) and begins gossiping. We learn that Rhett is a scamp with a bad reputation, that he isn't received (Oh Dear!), that he was expelled from West Point, and that Rhett took a Charleston girl out buggy riding, got her into a compromising situation when their buggy broke down, came home and refused to marry her, and then shot the girl's angry brother in a duel....
And then Mitchell closes this description with a little internal dialogue from Scarlett. It seems that instead of being horrified by Rhett Butler's actions in Cathleen's story, Scarlett respects Rhett for not marrying a fool and wishes that she had somehow thought of a way to get Ashley to compromise her. Which is amazingly progressive and hugely funny, and also wonderful foreshadowing for all the tricky things Scarlett will do during the rest of the book.
In addition to Rhett Butler's grand entrance, chapter 6 also includes the (much less grand) entrance of Miss Melanie Hamilton, Ashley's future wife and Scarlett's nemesis. Melanie is Scarlett's foe in this section of the story, so she gets quite a bit more description than Rhett--although not much more, to tell the truth. She has "too large brown eyes" and a "cloud of curly dark hair" and a sweet, timid, plain face. Her body is childishly undeveloped (FORESHADOWING!), and she's having a quiet chat with her fiance in a corner of the yard, much to Scarlett's chagrin.
GWTW is a story about the South during and after the Civil War, and it succeeds on many levels. But I think chapter 6--and, indeed, most of the first part of the book--are amazing because they mimic the way life feels when you are a teenager. The characters Scarlett encounters in this book remind me of the people you meet during your first year of college. They are all strangers and it's impossible to tell straight away which ones will be in your life for the long haul and which ones will disappear after a year or two. It's impossible to know which ones will be friends, which will be foes, and which will exist forever in the murky gray areas between those two extremes.
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