Mammy Character Analysis in Gone with the Wind

Mammy is initially enslaved by the O’Haras; after the Civil War, she continues to work for them. She is large and old, with small shrewd eyes, and came with Ellen to Tara from Charleston. She feels as though she owns the O’Haras, and she always knows all their secrets. She shows her love and pride for the family through scolding each of its members and holding herself above free Blacks and poor white families like the Slatterys. After Ellen dies, Mammy follows Scarlett closely. Although she disapproves of Scarlett offering to be the “scoundrel” Rhett Butler’s mistress for money, she is fine with Scarlett marrying the gentleman Frank Kennedy for practical reasons. When Scarlett first marries Rhett, Mammy hates him, and criticizes both him and Scarlett for thinking they can better themselves by earning lots of money. However, when she sees how wonderful Rhett is with children, her feelings change. After Bonnie dies, Mammy goes back to Tara, insisting she heard Ellen’s voice tell her to do so. At the end of the story, Scarlett feels that Mammy is “the last link to the old days.”

Mammy Quotes in Gone with the Wind

The Gone with the Wind quotes below are all either spoken by Mammy or refer to Mammy . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

The Civil War and Reconstruction Theme Icon

There was something exciting about this town with its narrow muddy streets, lying among rolling red hills, something raw and crude that appealed to the rawness and crudeness underlying the fine veneer that Ellen and Mammy had given her. She suddenly felt that this was where she belonged, not in serene and quiet old cities, flat beside yellow waters.

Related Characters: Scarlett O’Hara , Ellen O’Hara , Mammy

Related Symbols: Atlanta, Tara

Page Number and Citation: 159

Explanation and Analysis:

Mammy Character Timeline in Gone with the Wind

The timeline below shows where the character Mammy appears in Gone with the Wind. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...the ugly, boring Melanie Hamilton when she knows that he really loves her. She hears Mammy, the O’Hara’s enslaved woman, approaching, and she quickly dries her eyes. If Mammy sees she’s... (full context)

Practicality, Tenacity, and Selfishness Theme Icon

While Mammy gets Scarlett’s shawl, Scarlett decides to go down the drive to meet her father, Gerald... (full context)

Scarlett and Gerald have a special bond because they keep secrets for each other from Mammy and Ellen. Gerald, for instance, isn’t supposed to be jumping his horse after injuring his... (full context)

Mrs. O’Hara and Mammy are standing on the porch. They’re headed to the Slatterys to baptize a newborn baby... (full context)

...her to leave her memories of Savannah behind. She left for his country plantation with Mammy and 20 enslaved house staff. (full context)

...preferred to play with boys and the enslaved children rather than her sisters. Ellen and Mammy joined together in trying to get Scarlett to behave like a girl. She learned to... (full context)

Mammy and Ellen admire Scarlett’s charm and spirit, but they fear that her headstrong nature will... (full context)

...her daughter, then offers Prissy to Scarlett as her personal maid. Scarlett declines, saying that Mammy has always been her maid. With dignity that surpasses even Mammy’s, Dilcey says that Mammy... (full context)

...on the sofa. Finally, though, Scarlett hears her mother’s carriage. Ellen enters soon after with Mammy close behind her. Ellen explains that the Slattery baby was both baptized and dead. Gerald... (full context)

Ellen goes to the mantle and takes out her rosary beads. Mammy insists on fixing Ellen a plate of food before she prays. She lumbers off to... (full context)

...it makes Gerald happy to talk about it. Ellen is too tired to eat, but Mammy insists Ellen eat anyway. When Ellen is finished, the lamp is lit above the table... (full context)

Scarlett calls for Mammy to come lace her waist, which is only 17 inches around. Mammy lumbers into the... (full context)

When Mammy sees what Scarlett plans to wear, she says it’s inappropriate. Scarlett protests that if she... (full context)

...the Wilkeses’ house, Twelve Oaks, carrying Scarlett, Suellen, Carreen, and Gerald. Scarlett is glad neither Mammy nor Ellen are with them; she’ll have the freedom to do what she wants. Gerald... (full context)

Suddenly, Scarlett remembers Mammy and Ellen’s warnings and wishes she’d never confessed her love for Ashley. She springs to... (full context)

Ellen and Mammy worry about Scarlett’s state and send her to visit family. But James and Andrew are... (full context)

...and so she’s shocked by the bustling city and lets the baby cry. Scarlett misses Mammy. Even in Scarlett’s arms the baby cries. Irritated, Scarlett instructs Prissy to silence the baby... (full context)

Looking Forward vs. Looking Back Theme Icon

...excites her because it isn’t covered by the thin veneer of politeness that Ellen and Mammy maintained. As they approach the end of town, Scarlett sees Miss Pittypat’s red-brick house. Plump... (full context)

...and deferential. Scarlett soon discovers that Peter’s expectations about Scarlett’s behavior are even stricter than Mammy’s. Scarlett slowly regains her youthful energy. She’s jealous of Melanie and dislikes Miss Pittypat, but... (full context)

...when youth is so short and codes of conduct are so strict. She recalls what Mammy and Ellen taught her about being a young girl. With old ladies, she was supposed... (full context)

...can across the face. Melanie cries for Scarlett. Scarlett tries to remember everything Ellen and Mammy did when she was having Wade. Remembering a few things, she sends Prissy for supplies.... (full context)

...Scarlett like a “dutiful dog.” She asks him who else is here. He says only Mammy and Dilcey are here; all the “trashy niggers” left with the Yankees. Scarlett asks if... (full context)

...will both live. When the women hear a clunk outside, Dilcey explains that it's just Mammy getting water. Scarlett knows what the well sounds like, but her nerves are so tense... (full context)

The hall shakes as Mammy comes up the stairs. Mammy enters and smiles when she sees Scarlett. Scarlett runs to... (full context)

Scarlett asks Mammy about Ellen. Tears fall from Mammy’s eyes as she starts to sponge down Carreen and... (full context)

Scarlett finds herself alone in her moonlit room. Mammy and Dilcey undress her and bathe her feet. She is drunk and tired. She knows... (full context)

Scarlett grabs Mammy’s bonnet and thinks of the pretty green bonnet Rhett gave her. The road to Twelve... (full context)

...and slaps him. Wade bawls and Melanie tries to comfort him, but Scarlett is firm. Mammy looks on disapprovingly. (full context)

...on the same level as the Slatterys. However, no one else wants to pick it. Mammy and Pork declare they aren’t “yard niggers.” Scarlett sends them to pick anyway, but they... (full context)

Mammy boils blackberry roots for the soldiers’ indigestion, saying it wasn’t the Yankees who beat them... (full context)

One afternoon Scarlett, Melanie, Mammy, and Prissy are about to cut into a watermelon when they hear a horse coming.... (full context)

Melanie faints and Mammy catches her, telling Peter not to touch her. Everyone swarms around Melanie, but Scarlett looks... (full context)

...shows them a Confederate bill he found in town. Confederate money is worth nothing now; Mammy is using it to seal cracks in the attic. But Will brought the bill because... (full context)

...curtains. Then, she pulls over a table and climbs up to take down the curtains. Mammy comes in and asks what Scarlett is doing with the curtains. They argue for a... (full context)

Mammy sends Ashley and Will out so that the women can fit Scarlett in the dress.... (full context)

The next afternoon, Scarlett and Mammy step from the train in Atlanta. The depot is a pile of ruins. Instinctively, Scarlett... (full context)

...the people Scarlett sees aren’t familiar. They are Black people who stare at them “insolently.” Mammy kicks “black trash” out of her way and declares she doesn’t like this town full... (full context)

...red-haired head of Belle Watling appears at the window. She looks at Scarlett with dislike. Mammy asks who she is. Scarlett replies that she is the town’s “bad woman.” Mammy’s jaw... (full context)

...get all his money after he’s hanged and will never have to deal with him. Mammy walks in, suspicious, and suggests Scarlett go to bed. Scarlett says she feels a cold... (full context)

The next morning, Scarlett stays in bed faking sickness until Pitty, Mammy, and Uncle Peter leave. Then she jumps up and puts on her new dress. She... (full context)

When Frank and Scarlett get to Miss Pitty’s house, Mammy is standing outside looking angry. But when she sees Frank, she smiles. She goes to... (full context)

Scarlett looks at her messy hair and pale face in a mirror. She tells Mammy to get the five-dollar gold piece from her purse and buy her some rouge and... (full context)

Frank gives Scarlett $300, so Scarlett sends Mammy to Tara to deliver the money and bring Wade back. Scarlett wonders what Ashley thinks... (full context)

...The Yankee woman says she doesn’t trust her babies with a Black person. Scarlett, remembering Mammy’s gentle hands, thinks how these strangers had no idea how comforting Black people are. She... (full context)

...do with them. Scarlett trusts “darkies” more than she trusts white people. She thinks of Mammy, Dilcey, and Pork who have stuck by her despite the promises the Freedman’s Bureau made... (full context)

...house while things are so dangerous and locks the horse and buggy in the stable. Mammy and Frank also find the money Scarlett hid in the house and deposit it in... (full context)

...sofa and asks if he can close the door. Scarlett consents because she doesn’t want Mammy to overhear them. Rhett sits by her and asks why she’s so upset. His blank... (full context)

However, it hurts Scarlett that Mammy also dislikes Rhett. Mammy says she watched Scarlett do lots of things that would’ve hurt... (full context)

While on honeymoon in New Orleans, Scarlett tells Rhett that Mammy said they were mules. Rhett laughs and says Mammy is one of the few people... (full context)

...fashions, and Scarlett buys extravagant gifts for her family. When Rhett asks what she’ll get Mammy, Scarlett says Mammy has been too mean to deserve a present. Rhett decides to make... (full context)

...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... (full context)

...realizes she should’ve told Rhett the disappointing news that his baby is a girl. But Mammy comes out of the bedroom and says Rhett took the news well. In fact, he... (full context)

Wade is very scared the day Scarlett gives birth. That morning, Mammy rushed him to Pitty’s house saying his mother was sick and Wade shouldn’t bother her.... (full context)

Mammy enters the room, smiling widely. Wade is delighted to see Mammy being nice to his... (full context)

...mistreating his baby. He sends for Prissy and Lou, Uncle Peter’s great niece, tactfully telling Mammy that they’ll be her helpers (Mammy is getting old). Scarlett is ashamed of Rhett’s pride,... (full context)

...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... (full context)

Three nights after Bonnie’s death, Mammy walks to Melanie’s house. In the kitchen, Mammy says she wants to tell Melanie what’s... (full context)

Mammy says she thought Scarlett and Rhett would comfort each other, but then Scarlett demanded that... (full context)

...way he’d cried when she was sick. And Scarlett loves Rhett, so what went wrong? Mammy continues: Mammy went into Rhett’s room to tell him it’s her fault that Bonnie’s afraid... (full context)

...before going upstairs. She announces herself gently at Rhett’s door, and he lets her in. Mammy sinks into a chair outside the door. All she hears is a low humming from... (full context)

Mammy leaves for Tara, saying Ellen’s voice told her it’s time to go home. Scarlett tries... (full context)

...the white house, the raw red earth, and feels the country twilight in her mind. Mammy will be there, the last link to the old days. Tomorrow at Tara, she’ll think... (full context)

Mammy Character Analysis

Mammy Quotes in Gone with the Wind

Chapter 8 Quotes

Mammy Character Timeline in Gone with the Wind