Reading Envy Readers discussion
Readalong: Gone with the Wind
>
GwtW: Week 4 - May 19 - 25 - Part 4
date
newest »
newest »
It's a reading miracle - I'm on track.Am I the only one who is mad/frustrated with Scarlett for throwing herself at Ashley in the orchard? How can she be so strong in providing and making things work - yet delusional about this imagined love affair. And FTR - I'm no fan of Ashley either. He complicates it by being so wishy-washy.
It was in this part that I finally saw some change that seems to be sticking. This is to say, I found a little room for empathy, like the room I found when she went back home and worked so hard, but then after the war she reverted... I'm hoping there isn't that same tendency to revert in what follows.
Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "So if you made it through part 3, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that you are 3/5 of the way through in terms of parts. The bad news is that by virtue of pages, you are only halfwa..."Your "good news, bad news" comment made me laugh out loud. I had such a feeling of accomplishment after completing part 3. On to part 4!
Wow, Scarlett is throwing herself at ALL the men now, Ashley, Rhett and now Frank. I am back to disliking her. The way she lies to Frank is shocking, I don’t think she can get much lower than that.
Well there was a lot of kind of boring discussion of lumber and mills in that part.
This was probably my favorite part of the book. So much happened. I thought the saddest scene in the whole book was when Scarlett and Uncle Peter encountered the Maine carpetbagger woman and her friends. She ridiculed and humiliated the loyal Peter and called him the worst name possible - the first time he had been called that by a white person. The whole thing was upsetting to listen to. Like Shatterlings said, Scarlett really ramped up the manipulation in this part. I lost some respect for Ashley for not putting the kibosh on this odd, simmering, under-the-table romance with Scarlett. He keeps giving her a reason to remain interested in him romantically. I think it's pathetic. Scarlett making up the lie about her sister and marrying Frank was about as low as it gets. And of course, her attempt to put on an act for the incarcerated Rhett went up in flames as Rhett saw through hear per usual. And now she'll make him pay!
I rather liked all the business talk and Frank's lament over Scarlett's "un-womanly" behavior. Sheesh. She was motivated and a shrewd businessperson, and this part made my Scarlett pendulum swing back to the positive side.
The historical parts of the book are fascinating. Seeing what is going on during Reconstruction through southern eyes is eye-opening. The South was really getting taken advantage of, no question about it. The "tragic necessity" of the Ku Klux Klan? Wow.
My Scarlett pendulum swung ever further to the favorable side with her "I hate babies" quip. Ha, ha! Get her kids the hell out of the way...........she's got money to make. No time to be a mother.
I could go on and on. There was so much I liked about this part.
Finished Part 4 last night and just wow. So much was packed into that part of the story. Scarlett keeps going working hard in a man's world, manipulating Frank into marrying her, having another baby, which she does not want.. Death and another marriage this woman just powers through all to get what she wants in the end - money and all the luxuries she had in the past. Couldn't stop and went on ahead to part 5!
Mod
I thought to myself in earlier sections, when they were discussing the loss of the men, that maybe the reason the south is still so damn nostalgic about this time period is because of the women. And I feel like this section makes it clear. Melly idolizes her (somewhat lackluster) husband and endlessly cares for every rogue homeless soldier that comes through. She is involved in cleaning cemeteries and so on. I don't want to say that nostalgia is a feminine trait because I don't think anything needs to be classified by gender... but maybe in this case, it had that kind of effect?
Interesting that hiring convicts is seen as below Scarlett yet she does it anyway. I feel like so much of prison culture in our present day has this belief that we can treat prisoners however we want because they aren't human. There's this moment where she knows her hired manager is mistreating and she almost fixes it and then she backs down because it's... too much trouble? Agonizing. And at least in this section, because of what happens later in the day, she does not remedy the situation.
I had to take a break when they used Jew as a verb. Wow.
So it could have happened that Rhett and Scarlett would be too proud to end up together but by the end of chapter 4, there they go, without really discussing anything needing discussing, and pissing off the entire town in the process. Kind of funny, really.
Mod
“We bow to the inevitable. We’re not wheat, we’re buckwheat! When a storm comes along it flattens ripe wheat because it’s dry and can’t bend with the wind. But ripe buckwheat’s got sap in it and it bends. And when the wind has passed, it springs up almost as straight and strong as before. We aren’t a stiff necked tribe. We’re mighty limber when a hard wind’s blowing, because we know it pays to be limber. When trouble comes we bow to the inevitable without any mouthing, and we work and we smile and we bide our time. And we play along with lesser folks and we take what we can get from them. And when we’re strong enough, we kick the folks whose necks we’ve climbed over. That, my child, is the secret of the survival.” (page 691 for me)
I like the idea of flexibility and coming back after a storm, but stepping on the necks of your neighbors... well....
Here is the place for discussion of part 4.