Gone with the Wind: Chapter 54 Summary & Analysis

After the party, Scarlett undresses and thinks of how awful it was to stand between Ashley and Melanie and greet the guests. She shakes from the stress of the evening. Rhett had sent her home alone, and she’s relieved. She doesn’t care if he’s at Belle Watling’s as long as he isn’t here scaring her with his anger. Tomorrow, she’ll think of some way to explain herself. Tomorrow, she’ll think of Ashley’s broken face. It was humiliating to see how much Melanie trusts her. Wanting a drink, she goes downstairs. A light is on in the dining room.

Scarlett starts back upstairs, but the door opens and Rhett appears. He asks her to join him, his voice thunderous. Scarlett is terrified. He mockingly bows her into the dining room where a single candle is lit, throwing dark shadows. A decanter of brandy is on the table. He tells her to sit. A new fear fills Scarlett. For years she’d thought nothing mattered to him. But now, his nonchalance is gone, and she can feel in her stomach that this incident matters a lot to him.

Rhett offers Scarlett a drink. She refuses, but he pours one anyway and forces her to drink it. She downs the glass and he grins; he knows she drinks in secret. He tells her to sit so they can discuss the evening. His voice is somehow violent. Rhett forces Scarlett into a chair, pain and anger in his eyes. He sits across from her and pours another drink. After a long silence, he says the evening was an amusing comedy with all the characters—the wronged wife glossing over the scandal, the wronged husband supporting his wife, the assembled village, and the lover looking like a “damned fool.” Rhett says he imagines Scarlett still thinks Melanie is a fool for loving Scarlett too much to see the truth. He’s not interested in explanations; he knows that while she’s been denying Rhett sex, she’s been lusting after Ashley.

Rhett asks if Scarlett would happily bear Ashley’s children and pass them off as Rhett’s. At this, Scarlett jumps up. Rhett lunges at her and forces her back in her chair. He tells her he could banish Ashley from her mind by exploding her head between his hands. He caresses her hair. Suddenly courageous, Scarlett tells him to get his hands off her. He says he admires her spirit, even when she’s cornered. She draws her robe around her and says she’s not cornered because Rhett can’t understand her or Ashley; all he can understand is “hardness and dirt.”

Rhett laughs and presses Scarlett’s shoulders against the wall. He says he’s laughing because he’s sorry for her. He is so close she can smell the whiskey on his breath. He says he knows she’s been physically faithful to him, because Ashley is what she calls a “gentleman.” But Scarlett has wanted Ashley this whole time. Ashley only wants Scarlett’s body, but Rhett says he wants her mind and heart. He’s sorry for her because she’s thrown away happiness for a man who will never make her happy. If she had Ashley, she’d never know him. She could have been happy with Rhett because they were so alike. Rhett says he loves Scarlett because he knows her deeply.

Rhett releases Scarlett and staggers back to the whiskey. Scarlett wonders if he really loves her or is only joking. She runs into the hall. Rhett runs after her and wraps his arms around her under her robe. He insists he won’t sleep alone tonight and carries her up the stairs. He feels to her like a mad stranger. Once upstairs, he kisses her savagely. Scarlett feels joy and excitement. For the first time, she’s experiencing something stronger than herself. Darkness envelops her.

When Scarlett wakes the next morning, Rhett is gone. Last night, she realized she didn’t know Rhett even though she’s lived with him for years. She tries to hate him for carrying her up the stairs last night, but she loved it. She should be ashamed but instead she’s excited. It feels amazing that Rhett loves her! She has him at last! She can hold the fact that he loves her over his head now. Scarlett feels excited like a bride.

But Rhett is gone for days. Scarlett becomes worried and looks for him everywhere. Then one morning, he comes into his room and says hello casually. She wonders how he can greet her this way after their romantic night. She asks where he’d been and finds out that he was at Belle Watling’s. She is aghast that he went to another woman after being with her. Rhett mockingly apologizes for getting carried away the other night. Scarlett wants to cry; it was foolish to think Rhett loved her. He used her, just like he used a woman at Belle’s house. She vows to hide how excited she was. Rhett explains that he’s been living with Belle ever since Scarlett asked for separate bedrooms. She tells him to leave, saying she’ll lock the door after how “disgusting” he was the other night.

Rhett says that if he is “disgusting” then Scarlett can divorce him. She says she’ll never disgrace her family with a divorce. He announces he’s going to New Orleans and is taking Bonnie with him. When Scarlett insinuates that he’ll take Bonnie to places like Belle’s, he shouts that he’d never do that to his daughter. He says Scarlett is a horrible mother and she ruined her children, but he won’t let her ruin Bonnie. He goes to the children’s room and they greet him joyfully.