Going going gone with the wind...

[Tabouli]

(lots of Gone with the Wind spoilers...)

Catherine:
> I loved the way Scarlett went from spoiled southern belle to 
ruthless business woman.  She could see exactly what to do to make money 
and was still able to deceive herself about Ashley (phooey.  what a 
wus.)  I wished the movie didn't gloss over the first kid with Melanie's 
cousin (brother?).  Showing how terrified Scarlett was on her wedding night 
would have added some depth to the movie but it was already a very long 
movie as it was.<

On reflection, one thing the book does much more and much better than the movie is show us Scarlett's vulnerability.  The wedding night with Charles (Melanie's brother, btw!) is an example.  In the book she has two other children besides Bonnie, one Charles', one Frank's.

The book gives the reader a lot of insight into how Scarlett thinks, and why.  It tells us that she a mind which is sharp, resourceful and pragmatic but totally unanalytical (I could even risk saying that she has quite a Chinese sort of outlook on life, though that could get me into trouble...): she has very little patience with and comprehension of other people's feelings and reactions, because in her view emotions are luxuries which should not be indulged to the point where they interfere with the main purpose in life, which is to achieve financial security for herself and her family (very Chinese).  In the book she initially sympathises with Mrs Tarleton over the death of her sons, because this is something she herself feels, but loses sympathy altogether when she sees that the poor, struggling Tarletons have squandered all their money on marble tombstones.  How stupid!  Have they no sense?  Why waste money on the dead while the living are starving? (less Chinese, as the Chinese are into revering their ancestors).

There's an interesting little passage right near the end, while Rhett is explaining why he's leaving.

"Suddenly she was sorry for him, sorry with a completeness that wiped out her own grief and her fear of what his words could mean.  It was the first time in her life she had ever been sorry for someone without feeling contemptuous as well, because it was the first time she had ever approached understanding any other human being."

Also:

"She had never understood either of the men she had loved, and so she had lost them both.  Now, she had a fumbling knowledge that had she ever understood Ashley, she would never have loved him; had she ever understood Rhett, she would never have lost him.  She wondered forlornly whether she had ever really understood anyone in the world".

It's also significant that in the book, she realises that she loves Rhett, not Ashley, after her fall and miscarriage, and spends the months before Bonnie's death trying to regain Rhett's love and trust, but by that stage he's been hurt enough and shuts her out.  In the movie, one mild "Rhett!  Rhett!" half-conscious moaning aside, she clings onto Ashley until the bitter end.

Rachel:
> But let it be known...even with the bad ending (the 
TaraTaraTara lines) I still weep like a baby at the end.  
Even after all these years.

Actually, the scene I find saddest isn't the end, partly because Scarlett's well and truly proven how tough she is by then, and I'm confident that she'll cope.  What I find tragic is the scene where Rhett, who's always projecting the picture of cool suave manliness, breaks down and cries in Melanie's lap when he fears Scarlett is going to die.  The terrible secret being that, as Mammy (always wise) realises, Scarlett is really a lot stronger than Rhett is, and in the end she breaks him.

But then, I've always been a sucker for men in tears... :)

Tabouli.


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