Gone with the Wind

Gone with the Wind

by

Margaret Mitchell

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Gone with the Wind: Chapter 29 Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
In April, General Johnston (who’d been reappointed General) surrenders in North Carolina and the war ends. Tara hears the news two weeks later, after Pork rides to Macon for three weeks and returns with seeds, food, and most of the money he left with—he likely stole most of what he brought back. Everyone at Tara is busy rebuilding sheds, seeding cotton, checking traps, and milking the cow. Soon after Pork gets back, Tony and Alex Fontaine stop at Tara on their way home from the army and share that the South lost.
The South officially loses the Civil War. While Scarlett has been so focused on saving Tara and procuring food, the war has fallen into the background. The South’s defeat feels anticlimactic coming at this time when Scarlett and her family have already been trying to pull themselves out of the poverty and the mess caused by the war. 
Themes
The Civil War and Reconstruction Theme Icon
While Scarlett has this conversation, Suellen, Melanie, and Carreen cry over the lost Cause. Scarlett is relieved the Cause was lost. Now she doesn’t have to lie awake at night thinking she hears the Yankees coming back to burn Tara. The war has always seemed foolish to her; she’s never felt patriotic love for the Cause the way others did. The war has cut her life in two. She will never again be Scarlett O’Hara, the rich belle of the County. The war has made her a practical woman. As the girls cry, Scarlett plans her cotton crop. But then she realizes that with the war over, Ashley will come home if he’s still alive. Days pass, but Scarlett hears nothing from Ashley.
Unlike everyone else, Scarlett resents the war because it ruined her life and changed who she is. When she visited the burn site of Twelve Oaks, she decided to leave the past behind her. In this way, she has already mourned the loss of the Cause and of the South. Melanie, Suellen, and Carreen cry about the lost Cause, suggesting that they will have trouble moving on to the future. On the other hand, all Scarlett thinks of is the future, and building a new life.
Themes
The Civil War and Reconstruction Theme Icon
Looking Forward vs. Looking Back Theme Icon
During this time, Suellen asks to use the horse to visit neighbors, but Scarlett argues that the horse is only for work. Truthfully, Scarlett doesn’t want to visit the neighbors; their hardships depress her. At the Fontaines’, Dr. Fontaine is recovering slowly from a lost arm, and Tony and Alex are trying to work in the fields. Money is tight, and Sally Fontaine looks particularly hopeless. At the Calverts’, Cade is home, but he’s dying. Cade and Cathleen live with Mrs. Calvert and their overseer, Hilton, who’s been acting like an equal ever since his Yankee accent helped save the house from being burned. Mrs. Calvert doesn’t know how to be a Southerner after all this time and wants to go North to be with her people.
Although Scarlett isn’t sad about the lost Cause, she is depressed by the lost dignity of her neighbors. Everyone is reduced to what she considers an embarrassing level of poverty; the Calvert’s are even on equal with their low-class overseer, Hilton. In this way, Scarlett doesn’t believe that her neighbors’ dignity has survived the war. Instead, she starts to realize that they could only be dignified if they were wealthy. She is starting to view money as the only thing that endows a person with dignity.
Themes
Looking Forward vs. Looking Back Theme Icon
Practicality, Tenacity, and Selfishness Theme Icon
After these visits, Scarlett doesn’t want to see the Tarletons. But Suellen insists, so one day, Scarlett, Melanie, Suellen, and Carreen go to the ruins of the Tarleton house. Beatrice Tarleton sits on the fence staring moodily into space. The stables, usually full of horses, are empty. She says she doesn’t know what to do without her darlings, and she means her horses. Jim Tarleton greets them, trying to be cheerful. They stay for supper, eating a little of the Tarletons’ scant food. Everyone tries to be merry, but the house feels empty without the Tarleton boys.
Everyone except Scarlett seems to take comfort in the company of their neighbors. Everyone at this supper has lost people in the war, but sharing this grief isn’t cathartic for Scarlett: it just makes her aware of how miserable and how poor everyone is now. This makes her more convinced that money is important for a person’s dignity.
Themes
The Civil War and Reconstruction Theme Icon
Practicality, Tenacity, and Selfishness Theme Icon
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After the meal, Carreen whispers something to Mrs. Tarleton. Mrs. Tarleton puts her arm around Carreen and they walk outside together. Scarlett follows. They walk over to two tombstones, one engraved for Brent and the other for Stuart. Scarlett’s sympathy for the Tarletons disappears—they must have spent a fortune on the tombstones. Scarlett thinks this was a foolish investment, but Carreen says the tombstones are lovely.
Scarlett views the tombstones as an extravagant expense because there are solely sentimental and not useful. Naturally unsentimental, the war has led Scarlett to be even more practical, unable to value anything that doesn’t help a person meet their basic needs.
Themes
The Civil War and Reconstruction Theme Icon
Practicality, Tenacity, and Selfishness Theme Icon
On the way back, Scarlett thinks of all the sad neighbors’ homes she’s seen. Weeds are taking over the cotton fields. How can everyone plant enough cotton to live? The South has lost all its enslaved persons, but worse yet, they’ve lost their young men. Scarlett realizes that if she wants to marry, there isn’t anyone to marry. She says out loud that Southern girls will all die with no husbands or children. Suellen starts to cry; she hasn’t heard from Frank since Christmas. Scarlett shushes Suellen and Melanie says they must raise their boys to be like the men they lost. Thinking of Brent, Carreen says the men can’t be replaced.
The pre-war South was characterized by chivalry and happy, athletic young men like Brent and Stuart Tarleton, but the war has taken most Southern men and disfigured many others. Melanie wants to build the future in the image of the past, but Carreen suggests that there are some things about the South that won’t come back.
Themes
The Civil War and Reconstruction Theme Icon
Looking Forward vs. Looking Back Theme Icon
One night, Cathleen Calvert rides up to Tara. She looks unhappy, very different from the Cathleen Scarlett used to gossip with at parties. Cathleen says she’s getting married but no one at Tara is invited. She is marrying Hilton, the Calverts’ Yankee overseer. Cade is dying and Mrs. Calvert is moving north. As Cathleen rides away, Scarlett thinks that she can’t be in love with that “white trash.” Melanie says Cathleen doesn’t have to marry; there’s nothing wrong with being a “spinster.” She suggests they invite Cathleen to live at Tara. Scarlett is tired enough with Melanie as a burden and doesn’t want to take on Cathleen too.
To everyone, including Cathleen, marrying a Yankee is the lowest a person can fall. It is even worse than remaining an unmarried old woman (a spinster), something that the narration characterizes as a disgrace. Scarlett also feels that this is low of Cathleen, but she doesn’t care enough to help her out. More than Melanie, Scarlett understands that marriage has a practical purpose now. 
Themes
Classism and Racism  Theme Icon
Practicality, Tenacity, and Selfishness Theme Icon