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
Dr. Meade puts a letter in the paper that calls out Rhett Butler and those who profit from government contracts. The Yankees are sealing up the ports, so profiters are buying loads of goods and holding them to drive up prices. As Confederate money runs out, people anxiously buy luxuries. Suddenly, the boats ship in large amounts of luxuries and no necessities. It’s revealed that Rhett Butler does this with many ships. He’s also holding goods in warehouses in other cities. In the letter, Dr. Meade emphasizes the brave blockaders and compares them to the “human vultures” who offensively bring luxuries while the soldiers are suffering on the front.
Dr. Meade’s letter reveals that Rhett Butler’s profession is actually dishonest. Rhett and other profiters buy goods but hold them so that the goods become high-demand and they can they sell them for more. Since Confederate money is running out, this method embezzles the remaining money at a higher rate, leaving the soldiers with fewer and fewer supplies. Rhett’s business model is highly profitable for himself at the expense of all Southern people.
Themes
Now, Miss Pittypat’s home is the only one in Atlanta to receive Rhett Butler. Pittypat knows it is a disgrace, but she doesn’t have the courage to turn him away. Melanie defends Rhett and his patriotism, while Scarlett knows Rhett isn’t patriotic but doesn’t care. As long as Melanie defends him, Rhett can still visit with some respectability, because everyone in Atlanta loves and respects Melanie.
Neither Scarlett nor anyone else can see that Rhett has any patriotism at all—in fact, he is personally profiting at the expense of the Confederacy. However, perhaps Melanie can see something in Rhett that no one else can. The fact that Melanie’s support essentially keeps Rhett somewhat in the Southerners’ good graces speaks to how much power Melanie holds in Atlantan society.
Themes
Scarlett asks Rhett why he must say the things he feels and ruin his reputation. She’s bored of the Cause too, but she’d never admit it. Rhett says there’s no use in being patriotic because it will only leave one poor at the end of the war. England won’t help the Confederacy as everyone hopes; the Dutch queen of England would never defend an enslaver population. Scarlett knows she should be shocked, but it makes sense.
Scarlett and Rhett are both drawn to things that make practical sense. Most Southerners are so passionate about the Cause, the novel seems to imply, that they can’t examine the reality of the situation. Rhett, with his realistic point of view, can even foresee that the South has no allies, and that the war will leave everyone poor.
Themes
Rhett says he will never fight for a system that rejected him. The system of the South would’ve had him marry a foolish girl because of an accident, and it would rather he die than defend himself. The South is as antiquated as the feudal system, he says. Scarlett secretly agrees, remembering how confining her mourning was. Rhett says the system is just farsighted. He’s holding cotton in England, waiting for the price to rise. He plans to profit off the fall of the South.
Rhett’s opinion of the South suggests that it is stuck in time and hasn’t moved forward as a society as the rest of the world has. It still sticks to archaic notions of mourning, marriage, and slavery. He views the inevitable collapse of the South as an opportunity for him to build his own future in a new society.
Themes
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Rhett points out that it is inconsistent of Scarlett to still wear her mourning clothes when in all other ways, she’s back in society. But Scarlett clings to her mourning clothes to protect her reputation. Rhett insists he’ll have her out of mourning clothes in two months. A few weeks later, he brings her a big box with an ostentatious bonnet in it. Scarlett is delighted.
Rhett slowly wears away Scarlett’s good reputation by tempting her with excitement and gifts. Her black dress is the last symbol of her respect for mourning rules, but it is only superficial; in all other ways, Scarlett has escaped the rules for widows.
Themes
Scarlett tries on the bonnet. She is giddy at how beautiful it makes her look, but she’s sad when she realizes she’ll have to cover it with dark fabric. Rhett takes the bonnet back and says he won’t let her destroy it. She begs for it back. He finally gives it back, making her promise not to alter it. Then he refuses to let her pay for it. Scarlett recalls Ellen’s warning that anything that could be worn was an inappropriate gift from a man. She decides to say she paid Rhett for the materials. Rhett says he’s tempting Scarlett with beautiful gifts to lead her into a trap—he never does anything without getting something in return.
Rhett insinuates that he gives Scarlett gifts because he wants something from her, but he doesn’t say what. In some ways, it seems that he’s only trying to ruin her reputation. Since she’s started spending time with him, she has strayed farther and farther from Ellen’s ideal. Scarlett sees this and knows she’s making choices that would hurt Ellen, but she’s so selfish and enjoys Rhett’s company (and gifts) too much to stop.
Themes
Rhett’s dark eyes fall on Scarlett’s lips. Scarlett feels excited; he’s going to try to kiss her. Should she let him? She decides to let him; he might buy her more pretty things to get her to kiss him again. However, he doesn’t kiss her. Scarlett asks how Rhett expects her to pay him—she won’t marry him. Rhett laughs and says he’s not the marrying type. He also doesn’t intend to kiss her and asks why her lips are puckered in the pose for a kiss. Humiliated, Scarlett says she never wants to see him again. He dares her to stamp on the bonnet. She shields it instead.
The only thing Scarlett can imagine that Rhett wants is to either kiss her or marry her. She decides that there’s no other logical reason for his attention besides that he loves her, like most boys do. However, Rhett never gives Scarlett what she is expecting. She used to pursue boys like a mathematical formula, sure of getting the predictable result, but this method fails on Rhett.
Themes
Rhett says Scarlett’s youth makes him sad. Looking amused, he kisses her cheek. Scarlett is angry—she doesn’t know what he wants if it’s not marriage or a kiss. Rhett observes that he’s a bad influence on Scarlett; she’d still be a brokenhearted widow if it wasn’t for him. Scarlett too busy looking at herself in the mirror to hear what he’s really saying: that thanks to him, she’s no longer following Ellen’s advice about how a lady should act. She believes Rhett is in love with her and wants him to admit it.
Scarlett wants Rhett to admit that he loves her not because she loves him, but because it would make her feel triumphant. She likes to have control over people and situations, and if Rhett said that he loved her, she could control him with the knowledge. However, Rhett maintains control over Scarlett by never giving her what she expects.
Themes
Sometime later, Scarlett is trying to do her hair in a new style because Rhett is coming to dinner. Suddenly, Melanie runs up the stairs and bursts into Scarlett’s room, looking guilty. Melanie says she might faint because Uncle Peter is threatening to tell Miss Pitty that Melanie was talking to Belle Watling. Scarlett is shocked, as Belle Watling is the red-haired sex worker all respectable women avoid. Melanie says she’ll die if Pitty finds out.
Melanie and Belle Watling are opposites of each other. Belle is a sex worker—uneducated, sexual, and universally disliked. Melanie, on the other hand, is universally respected, modest, and moral—the ideal picture of a lady. At this point, it’s unclear why Melanie would speak to someone at the bottom of society, as Belle is.
Themes
Curious, Scarlett asks what Belle is like. Melanie says she’s sad and wears all black. Belle wanted to donate to the hospital but everyone else has refused her money. She was a “Confedrut” like the rest, and would Melanie let her help? Melanie holds out a heavily perfumed handkerchief and wails that at that point, Peter yelled at her. There’s $10 in gold in the handkerchief. Melanie wonders if it’s okay to use “dirty” money for a good cause.
From Melanie’s meeting with her, Belle seems to be more than what everyone assumes. She wears black clothes as if she’s mourning someone who died, and she cares deeply about donating to the hospital. In both these respects, Belle is more of a proper Southern lady than Scarlett, who neither mourns nor cares about the hospital.
Themes
Scarlett isn’t listening. The letters R.K.B. are embroidered on Belle’s handkerchief. Rhett gave Scarlett an identical handkerchief a few days before. She’s horrified that Rhett knew that “vile Watling creature.” She knows men visit sex workers, but it hasn’t occurred to her that anyone she knows would do something like that. Rhett Butler is vile! She can’t tell him that she knows, because a lady can’t mention those things. She goes to tell Peter not to tell on Melanie and throws the handkerchief in the fire on her way.
When Scarlett notices Rhett’s initials on the handkerchief, she knows that Rhett affiliates with Belle Watling. Instead of considering that Belle might not be as bad as everyone says—she donated to the hospital, after all—Scarlett feels that it is positively disgusting that Rhett associates with her. She once again decides that she wants nothing to do with Rhett.
Themes
