Gone With The Wind

On a raw, rainy morning, Scarlett heads for the center of town. The old firehouse has become a makeshift jail, and the home of Scarlett’s friends has been converted to army headquarters. She claims to be Rhett’s sister, and the officer in charge brings him to her. They are allowed to speak in private in the orderly room. Rhett is unshaven and unbathed, but his attitude remains jaunty. At first, Scarlett tries to keep up the pretense of prosperity until Rhett notices her work-roughened hands. He asks about Ashley and becomes jealous when he learns that Scarlett still has feelings for Ashley.

Focusing on her money woes, Scarlett finally tells Rhett the truth and asks for a loan. When he doesn’t take her earrings, she offers to become his mistress. Rhett says he has no money and will probably be hanged shortly:

 ‘You can come to my hanging [...] It’ll even up all your old scores with me [...] I’ll mention you in my will.’ ‘Thank you, but they may not hang you till it’s too late to pay the taxes,’ she said with a sudden malice that matched his own, and she meant it (751).

Sinking into despair, Scarlett walks through the rain until she bumps into Frank Kennedy, her sister Suellen’s fiancé. He escorts her home and mentions that he’s become moderately well-off by running a general store. Frank is also interested in buying a sawmill nearby. With Atlanta’s rebuilding boom, he could make a fortune. Scarlett perks up at this news. Frank is fretful and middle-aged, but he may be the answer to her prayers.

Pouring on the charm, Scarlett invites him to attend a wedding party that evening with her. At the reception, Scarlett spends some time observing her Atlanta friends:

The old days had gone but these people would go their ways as if the old days still existed, charming, leisurely, determined not to rush and scramble for pennies as the Yankees did, determined to part with none of the old ways (778).

Scarlett recognizes the stark contrast between her perspective and theirs: “She wasn’t going to sit down and [...] wait for a miracle to help her. [...] They drew their courage from the past. She was drawing hers from the future” (781). To that end, Scarlett sets her cap for Frank. She lies to him and says that Suellen is going to marry someone else because she got tired of waiting for Frank. In the days that follow, Scarlett maneuvers Frank into proposing to her.

In a private ceremony two weeks later, Scarlett marries Frank. She is careful not to let any friends or family know until it is too late to stop the wedding. Suellen is enraged and writes an angry letter to her sister, but Scarlett doesn’t care. Frank has given her the money to pay Tara’s taxes, but she must stay in Atlanta with Frank and can’t oversee the plantation herself. For his part, Frank is starry-eyed: “She made him feel, for the first time […] that he was a strong upstanding man fashioned by God in a nobler mold than other men […] to protect silly helpless women” (785).

Frank loses this illusion once Scarlett starts turning her attention to his store. Scarlett is surprised to discover what a poor businessman Frank is. He has accumulated $500 in uncollected debts from his customers. Scarlett would love to have that money to buy the sawmill, but Frank is too timid to press for payment. He is surprised and confused that his Scarlett has such a sharp head for business. While Frank is home with influenza, Scarlett spends time at the shop going over the books. To her surprise, Rhett walks in. The Yankees couldn’t make the charges against him stick. Rhett confesses that he still has money but couldn’t give Scarlett any because it would have led the Yankees to the bank where his money is hidden.

Rhett is concerned about the taxes on Tara and wants to help. Scarlett assures him that the taxes have been paid, but she mentions her interest in buying a sawmill. Again, she offers her earrings as collateral, but Rhett is willing to lend her the money as long as the mill doesn’t go toward supporting Ashley Wilkes. Scarlett agrees to his terms, and they drive out that same afternoon to acquire the property.

In the months that follow, Scarlett becomes the talk of the town as she runs the mill independently. Frank is scandalized that she didn’t consult him about the purchase. Worse yet, she’s turning a profit: “[T]his same sweet pretty little head was a ‘good head for figures.’ In fact, a much better one than his own and the knowledge was disquieting” (788). Frank deludes himself with the notion that if Scarlett had a baby to tend, she would lose interest in business and concentrate on domestic duties instead.