Gone with the Wind: Chapter 52 Summary & Analysis

Shortly after Bonnie’s first birthday, the Butlers are gathered in the sitting room. Scarlett pores over her account books and Rhett plays with Bonnie. Wade is restless. Annoyed, Scarlett tells him to go out and play. Wade says he has no one to play with because all the boys are at Raoul Picard’s party. Rhett asks why Wade isn’t there, and Wade says he’s never invited to parties. Scarlett calls him a liar and lists off the Republican boys’ parties he’d been to. Wade says that according to Mammy, those are “white trash” parties. Scarlett is furious, but Rhett agrees with Mammy. He gives Wade money to buy candy then picks up Bonnie.

Wade asks shyly if Rhett fought in the war. Rhett says he was in the army for eight months and was with Johnston when the war ended. Scarlett laughs, saying she thought he was ashamed of his time in the army. Wade looks proudly at Rhett and asks if he had been wounded. Rhett shows him a large scar on his chest he’d gotten in a knife fight in California. Wade skips off to buy candy, deciding Rhett is as brave as his father was.

Scarlett asks Rhett why he lied to Wade, and Rhett says a boy should be proud of his stepfather. Rhett says he’d never considered how his choices would affect Wade, and he is going to make sure Bonnie never has to suffer for her parents’ choices. He plans to make sure Bonnie gets invited to parties, because that is where girls find good husbands. Wade skips back in and says Bonnie can marry Beau. Rhett says that’s true, but who will Wade marry? Wade says he won’t marry; he’ll go to Harvard and become a lawyer. Angry, Scarlett says he will go to the University of Georgia and then run her store. Rhett hushes her and tells Wade to grow brave like his father. Wade runs off again.

Scarlett tells Rhett to let her manage her own children. Rhett says she’s a poor manager for ruining her children’s reputation with good people. He says he won’t let Bonnie be rejected in respectable social circles. Scarlett insists Bonnie will be fine since their family has money, but Rhett says money can’t buy reputation. He’s going to get back in the good graces of the Old Guard by apologizing, donating to their charities, and joining the Klan if he must. He forbids Scarlett to invite Governor Bullock to their house ever again. Scarlett jeers that the speculator is turning respectable and says his first step is to sell Belle Watling’s house. Rhett laughs and thanks her for the suggestion.

It is difficult for Rhett to change his reputation. The Old Guard hates Scallawags more than ever before. The Republicans are firmly in office, and, although they can’t read or write and are “barely out of the cotton patch,” Blacks sit in the legislature and vote for their Republican friends. Tons of promoters get rich with taxpayer money that they don’t put towards railroads or schools. The railroad is now a muddy ditch and Blacks ride it for free. The governor tells Congress that Georgians attack the Blacks and need to be ruled by martial law. All Georgians want is to be left alone, but the North views them as violent rebels.

Rhett slowly wins favor with the Old Guard. He votes Democratic and attends the Democratic meetings. To everyone’s shock, he goes to church with Wade, whose religious education Scarlett has neglected. He dresses more modestly and acts humble and charming, and he donates generously to the Confederate charities.

When Mrs. Elsing questions why Rhett donates, he says he was moved by memories of his army days. He says humbly that, due to a prank while at West Point, he was only in the artillery, and that’s why he didn’t fight alongside the brave men in the infantry. She questions why he kept his service a secret, and he says that he was ashamed of his past actions. Mrs. Elsing decides Rhett isn’t so bad. One day, she sees him take the children out of the house while Scarlett throws a party for Republicans and decides he must be ashamed of Scarlett.

Rhett wins over Mrs. Merriwether by loaning her money for her bakery. He takes a job at the bank, wanting to be a hard-working citizen like his neighbors. He tells Mrs. Merriwether she deserves a loan because of how long she worked to start her business. Then, he asks her advice for how to get Bonnie to stop sucking her thumb. Mrs. Merriwether deduces from this that Scarlett is a bad mother, but that Rhett cares for his children and so can’t be bad. Atlanta loves to see him walk around with Bonnie. Bonnie’s charm helps Rhett get back on the Old Guard’s good side.

Bonnie grows up quickly, looking more and more like Gerald every day. Her only problem is that she’s afraid of the dark. Once she turns two, she can’t sleep in the dark nursery and often wakes the whole house screaming. Scarlett wants to spank her, but Rhett has her sleep in his room next to a lit lamp. The town buzzes when they hear this. It embarrassed Scarlett because it reveals that she and Rhett have separate bedrooms and that Bonnie prefers her father. She decides that Rhett is trying to punish her for banishing him from her bedroom.

One night, Rhett is out late, and Lou puts Bonnie to bed. At some point, her lamp goes out, and Bonnie wakes screaming in terror. When Rhett comes home, he runs up the stairs and takes Bonnie from Scarlett’s arms. He shouts at Scarlett that he’ll kill whoever forgot the lamp. Scarlett is jealous that Bonnie calms down in Rhett’s arms. She watches him talk gently to Bonnie about the monster that had scared her in the dark. At last, Bonnie falls back asleep.

Scarlett scolds Rhett for humoring Bonnie; If he let her scream, she’d get over her fear. Rhett says Scarlett is an “inhuman woman” and reminds Scarlett that he used to comfort her when she awoke screaming from nightmares. She tells him if he wants to be Bonnie’s “nursemaid,” he should come home earlier and sober. Following this, Rhett comes home early and puts Bonnie to sleep himself. He starts to come home sober when Bonnie smells his drunken breath one night and calls it nasty.