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
At a Ladies’ Sewing Circle meeting at Melanie’s, Mrs. Elsing waits until Melanie has gone into the kitchen before she says she won’t visit Scarlett and Rhett. Mrs. Merriwether agrees, saying her husband was nagging her to be polite to the man who’d put him in Belle Watling’s awful place. Mrs. Bonnell says all the men who were out that night will call once out of politeness. She wants to call on Scarlett out of respect to Ellen, whom she knew when she was a girl. Mrs. Merriwether says she won’t visit a girl who married less than a year after her husband died. India maliciously adds that she definitely won’t call on the person who killed Frank.
None of the Old Guards Atlantans want anything to do with Rhett and Scarlett because they see the couple as betraying the Southern traditions in a variety of ways. This suggests that Scarlett was wrong when she decided that wealth made someone powerful and popular. She always planned to be a great lady like Ellen when she became rich again, but now it seems she won’t have the chance; she’s broken too many Southern traditions and lost too many friends on her way to getting wealthy.
Themes
Suddenly, Melanie stands in the door. The ladies are shocked to see her gentle eyes flash with anger. Melanie accuses India of being jealous of Scarlett. India says she isn’t sorry, thinking of how Scarlett trapped Stuart and Charles, and how it seemed she wanted to trap Ashley too. Melanie says Scarlett is closer to her than a blood sister ever could be. Scarlett stayed with her in Atlanta, helped her give birth, saw her safely through the siege to Tara, cared for her, and got Ashley a job. And Rhett Butler saved Ashley’s life! Melanie accuses the other ladies of being mean to Scarlett and ungrateful to Rhett, who saved their husbands. Melanie demands an apology from them all.
Though Melanie defends Scarlett, she doesn’t know that Scarlett selfishly did these things for Ashley, not for her. However, Melanie sees something in Scarlett that no one else can see. Even though Melanie is loyal to tradition, she looks beyond how Scarlett has betrayed tradition and focuses on her bravery and generosity. That Melanie feels comfortable standing up to all these ladies shows how powerful Melanie is—but unlike Scarlett, Melanie gains power by embodying the quintessential Southern woman who’s quiet and generous.
Themes
Mrs. Elsing jumps up, saying Melanie is ill-bred. Melanie says Mrs. Elsing is just bitter because Hugh was demoted from Scarlett’s mill. Mrs. Elsing says it’s sad to hear Melanie—a girl she watched grow up—defend a girl like Scarlett O’Hara. Melanie declares that anyone who won’t visit Scarlett can’t visit her anymore. Mrs. Elsing cries and she and Melanie embrace, but Melanie is firm. Mrs. Merriwether cries and Pitty faints. India slips quietly out. Later that night, in the Girl of the Period Saloon, Grandpa Merriwether tells Uncle Henry what happened at the sewing circle. Henry says the ladies are right; Scarlett is terrible. But Melanie is also right that everyone should visit them; Scallawag or not, Rhett saved everyone and Scarlett was family.
Melanie defends Scarlett to such a degree that she cuts ties with people who she’s known much longer than she’s known Scarlett. This suggests that she feels something stronger than respect and gratitude for Scarlett. Melanie and Scarlett survived the siege of Atlanta together, killed and buried a Yankee, and put out the fire that almost burned Tara. It seems that in these acts, the two women—who are very different—developed a bond that can’t be broken by differences of value, money, or political affiliation.
Themes
While in New Orleans, Rhett had predicted that the “Old Guard” wouldn’t visit him and Scarlett when they returned, and he’s right. The Klan members Rhett saved call a few times to be polite, but never invite the Butlers to their own homes. Scarlett doesn’t care because she’s surrounded by exciting new people. At the hotel, there are many wealthy Republicans who came to the South to profit off the crumbling society. The wives of Rhett’s Scallawag friends often call on Scarlett to play games. However, she’s often too busy building her new house to spend time with visitors.
At first, Scarlett doesn’t care that no one from the Old Guard will visit her. She looks down on them because they are all stuck in the past and content with poverty. She is so determined to leave the past behind that she doesn’t find comfort in the Old Guard’s nostalgia for the days. Her forward-thinking mindset has led her to desire the company of people who don’t come from the old South—the past.
Themes
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Scarlett’s red house is much grander than any house on Peachtree Street, even Governor Bullock’s. Scarlett spends her time at the lot bickering with the builders. The house has a huge ballroom, balconies, turrets, and a wraparound veranda. Benches, gazebos, and sculptures fill the yard. Inside, there are red plush carpets, red velvet drapes, carved furniture, and gilt mirrors like Belle Watling’s. Thinking of the cold emptiness of Tara, Scarlett loves her house. Rhett says a person can tell it’s a house bought with “dirty money,” but Scarlett ignores him.
Scarlett’s house is extravagant to the point of being garish. Its lavish decorations resemble Belle Watling’s brothel, suggesting that Scarlett’s house is decorated in bad taste. Even Rhett thinks that the house is a vulgar display of wealth that hasn’t been honestly earned. This suggests that he is starting to think that his money is indecent and superficial.
Themes
When they get back from New Orleans, Scarlett and Rhett start to fight. Rhett has opinions about Scarlett’s new house and friends that are hard for her to ignore. Also, it makes her angry that Rhett is obedient to Mammy when Mammy has insulted to them both. Once, Rhett says when the Democrats are back in power, Scarlett won’t have any friends. Scarlett insists the Democrats will never be back in power; all they do is run around “Ku Kluxing.” Rhett says Georgians are “bull-headed” and will get power back. Scarlett says she wants the Democrats to be in power, but even if that happens the Republicans won’t lose money.
Before they were married, Rhett and Scarlett were very similar. They loved money and were practical to the point of ruthlessness. After they marry, their views of the political situation in the South differ. Scarlett believes and accepts that the Republicans have overtaken Georgia. Rhett, on the other hand, believes the Democrats will come back. This shows that Georgia is in limbo as the Old South and the New South fight for supremacy.
Themes
Rhett says the Republicans’ money does them no good; money didn’t succeed in making Scarlett a horse instead of a mule. This remark incites such a bad fight that Rhett goes to New Orleans. When he comes back, Scarlett swallows her anger; she just wants to have a good time after so many years of hardship. It’s fun to be rich! She doesn’t understand how Rhett can say money doesn’t matter.
Scarlett believes that having money means that her hardships are finally over. She never has to worry about food, and she has all the fine clothes she wants. On the contrary, Rhett agrees with Mammy that money hasn’t made them anything special. This suggests that Rhett may be moving more into alignment with the Old South, as represented by Mammy.
Themes
Scarlett invites her friends, old and new, to her house-warming reception. Only Ashley, Melanie, Pitty, Uncle Henry, and the Meades of the Old Guard came. A few others reluctantly agree to come when Melanie insists, but when they hear Governor Bullock will be there, they refuse. Scarlett is infuriated when the ones who come leave when the governor enters.
When Scarlett invites Governor Bullock to her party, it is the last straw for the Old Guard Atlantans. Governor Bullock represents the “final degradation” of Georgia to the Southerners—that is, a Republican government that is supported by Black voters.
Themes
The next day, Scarlett yells at Melanie for disrespecting her at the party. Melanie says that she wouldn’t have attended if she knew the governor would really be there. Melanie says she loves Scarlett, but how can Scarlett forget what the North did to them, killing Charles and burning so many homes? Doesn’t Scarlett remember the Yankees robbing Tara? Melanie will never let her children forget what the Yankees did. Scarlett says she remembers, but the past is the past and some Republicans are nice. Melanie disagrees. Melanie hugs Scarlett and says they’ll always visit each other, just not when Republicans are present. Scarlett leaves in a huff.
Scarlett is so determined to keep the past in the past that she disregards all the bad things that Yankees and Republicans have done to her. She wants the future and the money she can earn in the future, and so she doesn’t care if she or her children forget the horrors of the Civil War. Melanie, on the other hand, remains tied to the past. This begins to drive a rift between the two women, and it suggests that a showdown between these two ways of thinking may be coming.
Themes
Scarlett is hurt that none of her old friends invite her to their parties. She’s unwittingly cut ties with old friends and the old days, and people lump her in with Bullock and the Republicans and hate her. Over time, she stops caring. Melanie still comes with Ashley, and Scarlett makes new friends. These new friends are rich Carpetbaggers, gamblers, and members of the Freedman’s Bureau who profit off Black wage labor. She also befriends prestigious people from the North and Yankee schoolmarms who came South to educate poor Blacks. Nobody else accepts these people. Meanwhile, the Old Guard becomes even more patriotic, and the Lost Cause becomes a “fetish.” Atlanta is severely divided by class. The rich think nothing of the poor whites but do everything to help the poor Blacks.
As the South rapidly changes, the Old Guard clings more and more tightly to the Lost Cause, becoming obsessed with it. This obsession seems likely to lose against the new wealthy and glamorous high class. The Carpetbaggers, Yankees, and Freedmen’s Bureau members are all people who profit off the fall of Southern civilization, as Rhett had once predicted. Scarlett is just like these people, making money selling goods at a high price to people in need. Those who resist this new wave of society are forced to remain poor out of principle.
Themes
Occasionally, Scarlett thinks of how unlike Ellen she is now, but since the day she stood in the parlor at Tara and decided to be Rhett’s mistress, she’s become too unlike Ellen to go back. Besides, she’s having too much fun drinking champagne and throwing parties. Hypocritically, she’s friendly with Republicans but is outright rude to the garrison officers because of their blue uniforms. The blue uniforms remind her viscerally of the war.
Scarlett starts to realize that she isn’t like Ellen at all, even though she’s rich. For a long time, she imagined she’d be just like Ellen—kind and loving—as soon as she had money again. However, she now realizes that when she decided to sacrifice morals for money, the consequences were irreparable. And though she doesn’t really pick up on it, her reaction to the blue uniforms suggests she can’t actually forget the war, echoing what Melanie said.
Themes
The ladies Scarlett associates with come from obscure beginnings, having made their money in unconventional or dishonest ways. They view Scarlett as a symbol of the wealth and class they don’t naturally possess, and they strive to be like her. To them, she is society. The men, although rich, are ill-bred at heart and make drunken spectacles at Scarlett’s parties. She dislikes them but enjoys the excitement they bring. Rhett embarrasses them all because of how well he sees through their prestige to their humble upbringings. The women think Rhett is vulgar. Scarlett becomes convinced that nothing will ever please him, but all that matters to her is that he pays the bills.
All the rich people who Scarlett befriends were poor when they were born and have since done what Scarlett did after the war, earning their place in upper-class society. Southerners believe these people will never actually be upper class, and interestingly, Rhett seems to agree—when he’s always been supportive of earning money before. Rhett’s priorities, it seems, are changing as the times change.
Themes
