Gone with the Wind

The summer after the war ends, Tara has lots of visitors, as Confederate soldiers ride the railroad to Atlanta and make their way south on foot. For the most part, they aren’t bitter, and are happy to be going home after a hard fight. Old and young, rich and poor, half-starving and lice-ridden, many missing limbs or bearing scars, they stop at Tara for rest and food.

Mammy boils blackberry roots for the soldiers’ indigestion, saying it wasn’t the Yankees who beat them but their bowels. She has the lice-ridden soldiers strip and wash with lye soap while she boils their clothes, and she doesn’t let them in the beds. They sleep in the parlor, destroying the velvet rug with their boots. The girls ask the soldiers for news of Ashley, but there is none. The soldiers try to comfort Melanie by saying it’s a long walk from Rock Island, and maybe Ashley had no boots. Scarlett hates to think of Ashley without boots, reduced to the level of these other dirty soldiers.

One afternoon Scarlett, Melanie, Mammy, and Prissy are about to cut into a watermelon when they hear a horse coming. They argue over whether to hide the melon or share it. Scarlett takes charge and hides it. Prissy cries that it’s Uncle Peter. They all run to greet him. Peter starts scolding Melanie and Scarlett for not returning to Atlanta to keep Miss Pitty company. He says they should be ashamed. Melanie and Scarlett burst out laughing that Peter rode all this way just to scold them. Mammy and Peter argue as Melanie and Scarlett laugh. Finally, Melanie asks if Miss Pitty asked Peter to bring the girls back with him. Peter then remembers his real reason for coming: he has a letter for Melanie. Ashley is alive and walking home.

Melanie faints and Mammy catches her, telling Peter not to touch her. Everyone swarms around Melanie, but Scarlett looks at the letter Peter waves. She snatches it, tears it open and reads the words addressed to Melanie: “Beloved, I am coming home to you.” Tears pour down Scarlett’s face. She runs to Ellen’s office and collapses on the sofa, kissing the letter, and repeating its words

It could be months before Ashley reaches Tara, but everyone hangs around in the house because they don’t want to miss him when he arrives. The weeks drag on, and Scarlett fears something happened to Ashley. When she first read his letter, she felt his words were for her. But as time goes on, she knows they were really for Melanie. She wishes Melanie had died in childbirth so that Scarlett and Ashley could marry and raise Beau—Melanie’s son—together. Soldier after soldier comes through Tara. Scarlett resents that they eat Tara’s food and waste her time.

Scarlett set the table sparely when soldiers came. Once, she catches Melanie giving her food to the soldiers. Scarlett tells her to stop; Melanie is too weak not to eat. Melanie says being generous with the soldiers gives her hope that someone is being a kind hostess to Ashley on his journey home. Scarlett is ashamed and puts more food on the table after this. Once, a young soldier dies on their porch. As they bury him, Melanie cries and wonders if somewhere, someone is burying Ashley.

A soldier named Will Benteen arrives with pneumonia and has to be put to bed. He has a wooden leg, and Scarlett and Melanie can tell he’s of a lower class. When he recovers, he wakes to Carreen praying beside him. Careen sits with him throughout his recovery, praying constantly. This annoys Scarlett, who believes praying is useless—God only gave her hardship and feels she owes God nothing. Once, when Scarlett complains to Will about this, he explains that Carreen finds comfort in praying for Ellen and for Brent, whom she got engaged to while Scarlett was in Atlanta. Scarlett had no idea. She insists Carreen will get over it, just like Scarlett got over Charles, but Will disagrees. Will stays at Tara after he recovers to pay the women back for caring for him. Scarlett hopes he’ll marry Carreen, but Carreen is too heartbroken to marry.

One day, Will, Scarlett, and Melanie sit on the veranda. Melanie has been happier since she heard from Ashley, but she’s still weak and sickly. Dr. Meade has said that another baby would kill her. Will pulls 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 of a poem written on the back that told of “a storm-cradled nation that fell,” meaning “nothing on God’s earth now.” Melanie is touched and wants to save it forever. Scarlett scoffs, saying she hopes she has lots of Greenbacks to give Wade when he grows up.

Looking up, Will sees a soldier coming. Scarlett grouses that hopefully this one isn’t hungry, but Melanie rises and turns white. Scarlett grabs her but Melanie throws off her hands and runs down the drive. Scarlett’s heart stops as she sees Ashley with his blonde beard. She takes a step forward, but Will restrains her. Will reminds Scarlett that Ashley is Melanie’s husband, looking at Scarlett with pity.