Gone with the Wind

Scarlett feels that everything is wrong. Even as her anguish fades into dull acceptance, the ground seems to crumble under her feet. She knows she can stand anything; she still has money and Ashley, but she feels she is living in her nightmare in which she is a lost child seeking a haven in the fog. Rhett has always been able to make her feel better, but now he is only friendly and distant. She’s lonely and wants to cry in his arms, but she can’t make herself break through his blankness.

Scarlett and Rhett have the unbreakable bond of two people who birthed and buried a loved child. Only Rhett’s arms can heal Scarlett, but to lie in them now would feel like lying in the arms of a stranger. He’s hardly ever home, and when he is, he’s drunk. He starts to look unwell. Scarlett assumes he spends his time with Belle. Once, she runs into Belle in town. Belle gives Scarlett a pitying stare that makes Scarlett blush. She feels like she can’t blame Rhett or apologize to him for saying he killed Bonnie.

Mammy leaves for Tara, saying Ellen’s voice told her it’s time to go home. Scarlett tries to stop her, but Rhett says no one wants to live in their house. When Scarlett asks Dr. Meade if Rhett has lost his mind, Dr. Meade recommends she and Rhett have another baby. Scarlett would happily have babies to get close to Rhett again. She leaves her door open, but he never visits. The neighbors grieve for Rhett’s loss and think that Scarlett is heartless. Nobody knows how hard Scarlett works to feel better after Bonnie dies. Her new friends drift away, not understanding the hardships she’s experienced. She wants to talk with her old friends, like Mrs. Merriwether and Mrs. Elsing, about hard times and tragedy. She understands now why ex-Confederates like to meet: they’re all veterans. She yearns for her people, but they’ve slipped away. Rhett is slipping away too.