Gone with the Wind: Chapter 43 Summary & Analysis

On a sunny day in December, Scarlett sits on the porch with Ella, wearing a new green dress trimmed with black. She hears hooves and looks up to see Rhett Butler approaching. He’s been gone for months and Scarlett missed him, but right now, she doesn’t want to see him. She has a feeling he wants to talk about Ashley. She greets him as he comes up the walk and he pretends to be surprised she has a new baby. He takes the baby from her arms and commends her on it being a girl, saying boys are a nuisance.

Scarlett asks where Rhett’s been. Rhett hands the baby back to Scarlett and says he was in Cuba and New Orleans, working. She laughs at the idea of him working hard when she knows all he does is bribe Yankees. He laughs and says that meanwhile, she’s getting rich off convicts. Rhett says he went to the Girl of the Period Saloon last night and heard of her new business plan. He says Johnnie Gallegher is a “cold little bully,” and that he’ll work the convicts to death.

Scarlett changes the subject, asking if he has a fiancé in New Orleans. She says she doesn’t want to lose his friendship. Rhett asks her to look at him and says he will only marry when he finds a woman he wants badly enough. His words make her remember the time he asked her to be his mistress. Rhett says he goes to New Orleans to take care of a little boy he’s in charge of. Scarlett says she can’t picture him as a guardian. He asks her not to tell anyone about the little boy.

Scarlett asks where else Rhett’s been. Rhett says he was in Charleston because his father died, but he’s not sad because he and his father had a poor relationship. Rhett could never be what his father wanted. His father was a Southern gentleman who resented that Rhett supported himself instead of starving proudly during the war. His father refused to see Rhett, forbade Rhett’s mother and sister from seeing Rhett, and refused money Rhett sent, thereby letting Rhett’s mother and sister go hungry. Thankfully, Scarlett’s Aunt Eulalie, a friend of Rhett’s mother, takes care of Rhett’s mother and sister secretly.

Scarlett says Aunt Eulalie has nothing except what Scarlett sends her. Rhett promises to reimburse Scarlett and laughs at how her eyes light up when at the mention of money. She asks how his father died, and Rhett says, “genteel starvation,” but that he’d really “died” when Lee surrendered. He wasn’t like Uncle Henry and Mr. Merriwether, who were industrious after the war; rather, he was one of those people who only thought of the old days.

Rhett says there’s a matter he wants to discuss with Scarlett: In short, he thought he could trust her, but he was wrong. As he was riding over, he ran into Melanie. She told him they’d moved to Atlanta because Scarlett had graciously given Ashley a partnership in her mill. Rhett says that when he lent Scarlett the money, it had been on the condition that she spend none of it on Ashley. Scarlett asks why he hates Ashley so much, and if he’s jealous of him. Rhett laughs. He says he doesn’t hate Ashley; he pities him.

Rhett says people like Ashley wish they were dead so they don’t have to face real life problems; Ashley is unhappy not because he lost his money but because he lost his world. He was raised in a certain way, and now that those ways are gone, he’s useless. Rhett guesses that Scarlett has lost money since Ashley started running her mill. He calls Scarlett a “little cheat,” says he won’t lend her money again, and vows to prevent all the banks from ever lending to her. Scarlett says he’s cruel for picking on struggling people like her and Ashley. Rhett argues that Scarlett is nothing like Ashley; she’s determined and smart. Scarlett insists that Ashley is scrupulous and honorable. But Rhett says he’s not so honorable that he won’t take charity from a woman.

Scarlett remembers something Ashley said in the orchard about the “dusk of the gods” when the strong come through and the weak don’t. Scarlett says she won’t let Ashley be left behind. Rhett says he’ll never give Scarlett money again, and he asks why she’s profiting off the poor (the convicts) instead of the rich. She says, hesitating, that it’s easier to steal from the poor.

Rhett calls Scarlett a “rogue.” This hurts her. She thinks of Ellen—a great lady—and feels sick. She says coolly that she knows she’s a rogue, but what else could she be? She’d been trying so hard to stay afloat that she’s cast aside the things that don’t matter, like manners. She says she’ll be well-mannered when she has money again. Rhett says it’s hard to pick back up what one’s put aside. He stands to go. Looking down at Ella, he says Frank must be proud. He tells Scarlett to tell Frank to stay home at night more often.