Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Gone with the Wind, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Civil War and Reconstruction
Looking Forward vs. Looking Back
Classism and Racism
Practicality, Tenacity, and Selfishness
Women and Power
Summary
Analysis
Scarlett O’Hara is sitting with twins Brent and Stuart Tarleton outside at Tara, the O’Hara’s plantation, in April 1961. Scarlett isn’t beautiful, but she charms everyone, including the twins. She is pale, with dark eyebrows and green eyes. Her elegance and poise are mature for a girl of 16, but her eyes are “her own” and are full of willful passion. The Tarleton twins are identical—red-haired, athletic, and cheerful. Scarlett and the twins lead easy, upper-class lives, but they have the vigor of people who’ve grown up outdoors. Like all north Georgians, they take pride in growing cotton, riding, shooting, and dancing rather than in reading and dull activities.
The opening lines of Gone with the Wind paint a picture of the South just before the Civil War begins. The Civil War officially starts on April 12, 1861, revealing that the War is mere days away from starting when the story begins at an unspecified date in April. Scarlett O’Hara and the twins lounge with no real worries. They embody the quintessential Southern teenager—wealthy, relaxed, lively, and proud. The description of Scarlett’s eyes as “her own” suggests that she’s perhaps more independent than is considered proper for a Southern lady at this time.
Themes
Brent and Stuart have just been expelled from the University of Georgia. Their brothers, Tom and Boyd, left too, refusing to stay without them. Scarlett isn’t studious herself, so she’s amused by the story. The twins claim they would’ve come home anyway to fight in the war. Scarlett scoffs, saying vaguely that Abraham Lincoln will make an “amicable agreement” about the Confederacy. The twins exclaim excitedly that the war is inevitable. Scarlett is bored; she likes to be the center of every conversation. She playfully threatens to leave if she hears the words “Abe Lincoln,” “secession,” or “war” again.
Scarlett and the twins are not very “school smart.” The twins were expelled from college because they care more about the war than they do about their studies. Their attitude shows that the South is enthusiastic and confident rather than cautious and rational when it comes to the war. On the other hand, Scarlett is bored by anything that is not about her; she yawns at some of the most significant words of the time period, suggesting that she’s naïve and perhaps lacks Southern pride.
Themes
Charmed by Scarlett, Brent and Stuart give up the subject of war. Scarlett asks how Beatrice Tarleton, the twins’ mother, reacted to their expulsion from college this time (they’ve been expelled before from a different school). The twins explain that they avoided a confrontation with her by sneaking out to visit Scarlett before their mother was awake. Beatrice never whips her horses or her enslaved persons, but she occasionally whips her sons to discipline them. She runs a big plantation and has little patience for their mischief.
In saying that Beatrice would sooner discipline her sons than her enslaved persons, they novel tries to claim that Southern enslavers were not cruel to their enslaved persons. This is not historically true and establishes the perspective from which the novel is told: from wealthy Southerners who enslave other people and see no problem with this.
Themes
The sun starts to set, giving the red clay a bloody hue. The house is like a white island in a red sea. North Georgia is a “land of contrasts,” divided into bright sun and deep shade, placid cotton fields and sinister forests. Scarlett, Brent, and Stuart hear the enslaved people coming in from the fields and setting the table. The twins linger, hoping to be invited to supper.
This image of the Southern landscape is foreboding, as bright and beautiful natural elements conceal dark and disturbing ones. This foreshadows that the South’s wealth and leisure are soon to be destroyed by the war. It also suggests that the South’s beauty is only surface level, and dependent on something awful—namely, slavery. The “bloody” hue of the clay references the enslaved Black people whose labor supports wealthy white Southerners’ idyllic way of life.
Themes
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Brent and Stuart bring up a barbecue at the Wilkeses’ the next day. They tease Scarlett, saying that if she promises to dance with them there, they’ll tell her a secret. Then Stuart spills the secret that Ashley Wilkes and Melanie Hamilton are announcing their engagement at the barbecue. Scarlett’s lips turn white. She agrees vaguely to dance with the twins, and then grows quiet. The twins eventually realize she’s stopped talking to them. They reluctantly see themselves out.
After a very lighthearted, flirtatious conversation, the name Ashley Wilkes suddenly sobers Scarlett. Scarlett doesn’t care about school or war, but she cares immensely that Ashley Wilkes is marrying Melanie Hamilton. This establishes that one of her main concerns in life is relations with men, and with this man in particular.
Themes
Brent and Stuart call for Jeems, their once playmate and now personal enslaved man, and mount their horses. Once out of sight, they stop and puzzle over why Scarlett didn’t invite them to supper. They can’t figure out what upset her. Jeems points out that she got quiet after they told her of Ashley and Melanie’s engagement. This still puzzles them, since Scarlett and Ashley have always been close friends. The twins try to think of somewhere they can have dinner, not wanting to go home to their mother. The twins are fearless when it comes to horses and guns, but their mother’s temper frightens them.
The Southern culture of slavery is perverse and cruel: Southern children play with Black people as they would with someone they considered an equal, and yet their Black playmates grow up and are forced to serve them. Jeems astutely recognizes exactly what upset Scarlett, but the twins are perhaps too naïve to read the signs. They may also take anything Jeems says less seriously, as they don’t view enslaved people like him as being intelligent or knowledgeable.
Themes
Brent suggests they go to the Wilkeses’, but Stuart doesn’t want to see India Wilkes. He’d once been her beau, but Brent thought she was boring. The twins didn’t want to fight over a girl. Then, they’d noticed Scarlett at a political event. They find her irresistible and charming because they never know where they stand with her. Stuart still feels guilty because he’d made India love him. Though he liked her, he also thought she was too dependable. Besides, the twins are happy to both love Scarlett. They haven’t considered what might happen if she chooses one of them.
Scarlett’s appeal to the twins is that she is always playing a game. She is attractive because she isn’t dependable or serious. This portrays Scarlett as someone who isn’t very serious about anyone or anything. Even if she is serious about Ashley, she is willing to play with the feelings of others anyway. This suggests that she’s selfish and doesn’t take romance seriously, as it’s just a game to her.
Themes
Brent then suggests they go to the Cade Calvert’s. Stuart, however, doesn’t want to see his Yankee stepmother; she still hasn’t gotten over the time Stuart shot her stepson Cade in the leg. Brent points out that Beatrice had made jokes when Tony Fontaine shot him in the leg. The twins consider going home again. Stuart realizes gloomily that their expulsion probably cost them the trip to Europe their parents promised them. Brent says he doesn’t care; he’d rather be around to fight in the war anyway.
The twins do not want to go to the Calverts’ because Mrs. Calvert is a Yankee. This shows that, even before the war has officially started, Southerners dislike people from the North. The novel also drives home how much the twins welcome the war and hope it will happen. They are happy to have missed out on worldly opportunities so they can fight for the South.
Themes
Stuart says they should go see Able Wynder, the elected lieutenant of the “Troop” (the Confederates). Jeems pipes up that Able is “po’ w’ite trash” and won’t have suitable food for them. Stuart admonishes him for his frank disdain of the lieutenant, explaining that Able is a small farmer, but that he isn’t “trash.”
Jeems looks down on poor white people even more than the twins do. This shows that Jeems—as an enslaved man with no rights—holds himself above white people of a lower class than his enslavers. He may gain more power by sticking close to the twins.
Themes
The “Troop” was organized three months before when Georgia seceded from the Union. Ashley Wilkes was elected captain and Able Wynder lieutenant. Able is kind and honorable, although the women and enslaved persons resent him because he isn’t a gentleman. Since there aren’t many wealthy planters, the Troop recruited many small farmers instead. All were eager to fight, but the small farmers couldn’t afford to outfit and arm themselves. To solve this, a few of the wealthiest planters donated fancy, antique weapons. The Troop met twice a week to practice drills, tell stories, and pray for the war to begin. The meetings often ended in the saloons where fights would break out. At one of these fights, Tony Fontaine shot Brent, and Stuart shot Cade Calvert. Their mother then sent them to school, where they had missed the excitement of the meetings.
Life feels easy and wonderful for Scarlett, Brent, and Stuart, all of whom are from wealthy, prominent planter families. But really, class struggles are roiling the South. Wealth is concentrated among a few extremely wealthy planters, leaving many more poor farmers. Although many poor farmers have great character, they are looked down upon as less than “gentlemen” because they don’t have money. The war reveals this divide, as some Southerners are able to contribute monetarily to the Confederate Cause while others are not. The war has already started to destabilize the South’s hierarchical class structure.
Themes
Brent and Stuart decide to go to Able’s. When Jeems complains, Stuart tells him to go to Beatrice and tell her they won’t be home for supper. Jeems says he’d rather stay out all night and be caught by patrollers than deal with Beatrice when she’s angry. The twins agree to bring him to Able’s as long as he behaves. While cutting through Mr. O’Hara’s plantation, the twins wonder again why Scarlett didn’t invite them to supper.
It’s extremely infantilizing of the twins to agree to bring Jeems with them if he behaves—this reads as something one might say to a misbehaving child, which speaks to how wealthy white Southerners see enslaved Black people. Some, like Jeems, might be able to express their opinions, but white Southerners see them as naïve and in need of white guidance, not freedom.
Themes
