Gone with the Wind: Chapter 56 Summary & Analysis

Rhett stays in New Orleans for three months and doesn’t contact Scarlett the whole time. Sometimes she wonders if he’ll ever come back. Scarlett doesn’t feel well, but Melanie insists that she keep running her businesses. However, Scarlett’s heart isn’t in it; she has nasty fights with Johnnie Gallegher and never goes to Ashley’s mill. She sees Ashley often at Melanie’s, but they never speak; his sadness and helplessness irritate her. When Scarlett’s anger at Rhett calms down, she starts to miss him. She also misses Bonnie.

Scarlett tries to spend more time with Wade and Ella, but she realizes that Rhett was right—she was too busy making money when they were little, and now she doesn’t know them. Ella’s short attention span irritates her, and Wade is afraid of her. But when Wade is at Melanie’s, he is happy and talkative.

When Dr. Meade tells Scarlett she’s pregnant, she can’t believe it. Then she thinks of that night with Rhett. For the first time ever, she’s glad she’s pregnant and she hopes it’ll be a boy. She thinks of writing Rhett, but she doesn’t want him to know she missed him.

Scarlett gets news of Rhett when her Aunt Pauline writes to say Rhett visited her in Charleston with Bonnie. She writes that she’d heard Rhett was a brute and a cheat, but was pleasantly surprised to find him a gentleman, and very devoted to Bonnie and Scarlett. Pauline raves about Bonnie. Then she says Rhett told her that Scarlett does business at a lumber yard. She advises Scarlett to quit these “unwomanly” dealings; Ellen would be ashamed that Scarlett was in trade, and Scarlett’s children will grow up ashamed of her too. Scarlett scowls, thinking it’s her “unwomanliness” that enables her to send Aunt Pauline money every month.

One day, Rhett and Bonnie return. Scarlett runs from her room to greet Bonnie and hugs and kisses her daughter, looking over her at Rhett. His face is blank. Without greeting her, Rhett says she looks pale and asks if it means she missed him. His expression angers her, and she says it’s his fault she’s pale: she’s pregnant. Rhett asks if the happy father is Ashley. Scarlett screams that she wishes it was anyone’s baby but Rhett’s. She’s happy to see that this hurts him. Rhett says maybe she’ll have a miscarriage and starts up the stairs. She lunges at him, but loses her balance and falls down the stairs, feeling a stab of pain in her ribs.

Scarlett is so sick that she’s on the brink of death. Even in her pain, she is devastated to learn that she lost her baby. She can’t remember why she wanted it so badly and she desperately wants Rhett. Death seems close as she remembers how scared he looked when he picked her up off the floor after she fell. After that, all she remembers are voices and people running. Melanie comes when Scarlett screams, and death seems further away with Melanie there. Scarlett believes Melanie is pregnant and the Yankees are coming, and she believes Melanie is the one screaming. Dr. Meade says Scarlett is delirious. Scarlett starts to whisper Rhett’s name but stops, remembering that he doesn’t want her. Rhett sits in his room, gaunt, unshaven, and smoking.

At last, Melanie goes to tell Rhett that Scarlett is better. He looks at her, weeping, and asks if she’s dead. Melanie is frightened by his tears. She gathers her courage and steps in, closing the door. He puts his arms around her and cries into her lap. She strokes his head and he starts to talk, telling truth for the first time in his life. He mutters things Melanie had never heard even a woman say. He says something about Belle Watling and about killing Scarlett, and that she hadn’t wanted this baby or any of his babies. He says that if she’d written him to come home, he would have instantly.

Then Rhett tells Melanie what he’d said about Scarlett having a miscarriage just before Scarlett fell. Melanie’s eyes widen with horror. Looking down at his powerful hands, she thinks she’s never seen anyone so powerful and yet so weak. She wonders if Rhett heard the cruel lie about Ashley and Scarlett and got jealous. She decides he’s just drunk; the crazy things he’s saying can’t be true. Melanie comforts him, but he says Scarlett doesn’t love him. Rhett stops himself from saying who he thinks Scarlett loves. Melanie just strokes his hair and says Scarlett will get well.