Gone With The Wind

Content Warning: This section reproduces racist language via a quotation and describes an instance of sexual assault.

“‘Land is the only thing in the world that amounts to anything,’ he shouted, his thick, short arms making wide gestures of indignation, ‘for ‘tis the only thing in this world that lasts, and don’t you be forgetting it! ‘Tis the only thing worth working for, worth fighting for—worth dying for.’”

Gerald is trying to make Scarlett understand the value of Tara. At this point, she brushes off his comment, not realizing how profoundly his attitude will shape her future actions. When Scarlett returns to the vandalized plantation at a later point, she is willing to do anything to hold on to her land. Tara, and its ability to sustain her family, will come to symbolize Scarlett’s core identity in the years after the war.

“It was a man’s world, and she accepted it as such. The man owned the property, and the woman managed it. The man took the credit for the management, and the woman praised his cleverness. The man roared like a bull when a splinter was in his finger, and the woman muffled the moans of childbirth, lest she disturb him.”

This quote refers to Ellen and her tireless efforts to manage her family as well as run a large plantation. She shoulders these burdens because such uncomplaining behavior is expected of a great lady. Ellen raises her three daughters to fit the same mold, but none of them will, especially not Scarlett. The world in which Ellen was brought up is gone, and her children can only survive by adapting to change rather than maintaining tradition.

“I have seen many things that you all have not seen. The thousands of immigrants who’d be glad to fight for the Yankees for food and a few dollars, the factories, the foundries, the shipyards, the iron and coal mines—all the things we haven’t got. Why, all we have is cotton and slaves and arrogance. They’d lick us in a month.”

Rhett makes this comment to the Southern planters assembled at the Wilkes barbecue. They are eager to fight the Yankees and assume they can drive the Northerners out of their territory in a matter of weeks. Their planter class mentality is based on narrow-minded arrogance. Unlike his compatriots, Rhett has seen the real world outside the confines of the plantation system.