Grandma Fontaine is Tony and Alex Fontaine’s crotchety, opinionated grandmother. She often intimidates Scarlett, but when Scarlett borrows food from the Fontaines after the war, Grandma Fontaine guesses that Scarlett has experienced more hardship than she is letting on. She tells Scarlett never to think she can lay down her burdens. At Gerald’s funeral, Grandma Fontaine takes Scarlett inside and praises her tenacity through hard times, saying she is much different from Ashley. Scarlett thinks Grandma Fontaine is annoying but recognizes that she’s only trying to help.
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Grandma Fontaine— Character Timeline in Gone with the Wind
The timeline below shows where the character Grandma Fontaine— appears in Gone with the Wind. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 26
...better after her baby’s birth. The sight of the Fontaines’ yellow house makes Scarlett happy. Grandma Fontaine , Young Miss, and Sally step out to greet her. The Yankees hadn’t reached them...
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...cotton burned; all they have now is a few acres, and nobody to pick it. Grandma Fontaine suggests Scarlett pick it. Scarlett says that would make her a “white trash” field hand....
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...in “yellow babies.” The Calverts’ house was saved because Mrs. Calvert has a Yankee accent. Grandma Fontaine says Cathleen Calvert has no pride and was embarrassed, just like a Yankee.
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As Scarlett leaves, Grandma Fontaine steps out with her and asks what’s wrong at Tara. Scarlett decides she can tell...
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Grandma Fontaine says after a woman has faced the worst, she doesn’t fear anything anymore. When she...
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Chapter 28
...everyone at Tara is hungry again. Scarlett thinks how wrong she’d been when she told Grandma Fontaine she’d already known the worst. Life gets worse every day. The cotton is gone, most...
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Chapter 40
...than murder Gerald by trying to make him break loyalty to the South. Mr. McRae, Grandma Fontaine , and Mrs. Tarleton—Gerald’s closest friends—are particularly angry at her. Will and Ashley talk in...
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...humiliated that Will has drawn attention to her pregnancy. Mrs. Tarleton takes her inside, and Grandma Fontaine goes with them.
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Grandma Fontaine says Will was really just trying to remove her and Mrs. Tarleton before they said...
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...her tight bodice and looks at the portrait of Grandma Robillard with her breasts half-out. Grandma Fontaine asks if Will is serious about marrying Suellen. Scarlett says he is, and Tara is...
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Grandma Fontaine says Southerners always stand back up after being beaten, because Southerners are like ripe buckwheat...
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Scarlett is angry that Grandma Fontaine is insulting Ashley. Grandma says Ashley is so different from Scarlett, who went to Atlanta...
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