Final Check-in: Gone with the Wind Readalong

THIS IS IT, FRIENDS! We did it! We read Gone with the Wind — all 800 pages of it, or more depending on your edition.

I can’t believe its over? On one hand, I’m glad it is, but on the other hand, what do I read now? For almost an entire month I was reading this one book and now I don’t know what to read 😅.

This novel was a wild ride. I was promised a classic love story, and I don’t feel as though I received that? What I got instead was an almost 800-page manifesto by a white woman, trying to explain that the white southerners in the Civil War suffered more than anyone else … and of course, that black people were happier as slaves. I wish I were kidding.

Even so, Margaret Mitchell’s writing was very easy to read and there were moments where I liked Scarlett and Ioved Rhett, Melanie and Ashley, which is what kept me reading.

I have plenty of thoughts on the last two hundred pages of this book — so please bear with me when I swear and scream.

Here we go with the final discussion post!

Thoughts/Notes™

• When we last left Scarlett, she had been assaulted by a white man and a black man, while travelling by herself from her sawmill back home. Big Sam, a former slave of hers, manages to save her and they travel back to her home in Atlanta.
• Scarlett is scared and screaming down the house. She gets upset that no one is taking her seriously and that Frank is going to a “political meeting.”
• It takes her a while to realise that the “political meeting” is the Ku Klux Klan. Frank is a member of the Ku Klux Klan. And so is my love Ashley. He is dead to me now.
• India, Ashley’s sister, is proud that they’re part of the Klan.
• India is a bitch.
• Rhett randomly shows up and gets out of Melanie that Frank and Ashley are gone with the Klan to MURDER an entire community of black people, in response to the attack on Scarlett.
• Yeah … but the white Southerners are the real victims of the war, right?
• The police come and wait for Frank and Ashley to come back so they can arrest them … you know, instead of going to the town and preventing them from murdering any black people first.
• Rhett brings Ashley home and they pretend to be drunk, which fools the police.
• Rhett reveals that Frank was killed.
• Everyone in the town begins to blame Scarlett for what happened, kind of like how everyone blamed Suellen that Gerald died. Guess everything has to be a woman’s fault and not the fault of the men who were about to commit mass murder.
• Apparently, it’s Scarlett’s fault because she shouldn’t have been travelling by herself — she shouldn’t have a job in the first place, because its unwomanly.
• Good grief. The men who were involved pretended they went to Belle Watling’s brothel instead and one of the men, Dr Meade, is embarrassed because “decent men” never visit prostitutes. Right. Sure. No man in the South, aside from scoundrels like Rhett, ever paid for sex. That totally happened.

• Scarlett now believes she is the reason Frank was killed. She starts regretting how she treated him and bullied him. Is Scarlett growing as a person??
• Rhett comes over and is like “you’re only sorry because you’re worried about yourself” because she thinks she’s going to hell.
• Ok, so no growth.
• *spits out tea* RHETT JUST PROPOSED??
• RHETT PROPOSED??
• HOLY SHIT I’M SCREAMING
• It’s so obvious that Rhett genuinely loves her but Scarlett has just admitted she still doesn’t love him. In fact, she doesn’t want to be married again because she doesn’t want children and doesn’t want to be beholden to a man. But the main reason? Can you possibly guess the main reason?
• Yep. It’s because of Ashely.
• But she says yes anyway.
• Okay.
• Rhett goes to England and comes back with a massive, gaudy ring for Scarlett.
• A lot of people in the town are angry that Scarlett and Rhett are engaged because it’s too early since Frank died, and Rhett is a massive scoundrel.
• But Scarlett gives a big middle finger up to the town and marries him anyway.
• GET THAT COIN, GIRL!
• They get married and go to New Orleans for a honeymoon.
• And now we’re up to Part 5!!

• Ughhhh
• So Rhett and Scarlett are living it up in New Orleans.
• Rhett’s a bit of a conundrum. He’s possessive at one point then indifferent the next then loving the next. I can’t deal.
• Um, excuse me?? Where’s my description of their sex life? Come on, even just a little bit.
• We get massive descriptions of the war even though Scarlett doesn’t care about it, but you can’t get us a little snippet of their sleeping together?
• Melanie is hosting tea at her home, with Mrs Merriweather, Mrs Elsing and India. All of these women hate Scarlett, except for Melanie, and they really bitch about her. I’m loving this.
• LMAO OMG. Scarlett plans a massive party and invites everyone to come but no one does because she invited some Republican governor. Even Melanie leaves early.
• The other families in the town stop calling on her, and Scarlett doesn’t really care because she has new friends — Yankees.
• BITCH IS PREGNANT! I knew she would be.
• Woooooooaahhhhhhh Scarlett said she wants to have an abortion and Rhett gets angry because he knew a woman who died from getting one.
• Low-key impressed a book set in the American South mentioned abortion — and not completely in a negative way? Rhett doesn’t seem to care that Scarlett would be terminating a pregnancy — and he’s the father — just that she could get hurt.
• Anyway, she has the baby — it’s a girl called Eugenie Victoria, but they nickname her Bonnie.
• AWWW RHETT LOVES HER SO MUCH!! This is so cute!
• He says that this is the first time someone has ever “belonged to him”.
• Okay, we’re about to get into the scene that pissed me off so freaking much.
• Ashley and Scarlett get to talking and Scarlett gets into her head that she has to show Ashley how much she still loves him — how does she do that?
• Wanna know how?
• She decides to stop having sex with Rhett. Yeah, because that makes sense.

• Rhett gets pissed off, but he respects her decision. He does tell her that he will seek sex with other women and Scarlett gets pissed off. I can’t.
• She’s such a fucking idiot.
• So now it’s almost a year later. Little Wade, Scarlett’s first child, is upset because he wasn’t invited to a birthday party, and he was the only kid who wasn’t.
• Rhett vows he won’t let that happen to his daughter, and so he starts being nice to all the women in the town.
• It starts to work, a lot of the women begin to like Rhett again but they still hate Scarlett. But that’s because he throws Scarlett under the bus a lot — like he doesn’t explicitly say she’s a bad mother and a bad wife, but he lets them come to that conclusion.
• Rhett and Bonnie are really close — like super close and Scarlett is embarrassed by this because a father isn’t supposed to care that much about his daughter.
• Aww Bonnie is scared of the dark and so Rhett lets her sleep in his room to comfort her.
• So its Ashley’s birthday and it’s going to be a surprise party. Scarlett is sent to stall him at the sawmill and while there, they hug and India, Mrs Merriweather and Archie catch them! Hugging! How scandalous.
• Rhett is really angry but he forces her to go to the party.
• LMAO at Rhett calling her an adulterer even though she just hugged Ashley while Rhett is sleeping with another woman.
• Wow, Rhett calls her and child and says he feels sorry for her because Ashley will never love her back.
• Ooh ok oh no, this is bad.
• Rhett basically forces her to sleep with him. Like it’s not rape, but he is violent and picks her up and sleeps with her. Scarlett says she enjoys it but the beginning was definitely assault?
• GOOD FUCKING LORD! She finally realises that Rhett genuinely loves her! Omg too little, too late.
• Oh shit, I knew it was too late. Rhett has just told her here’s been sleeping with Belle Watling. He’s treating her the way she’s treated him.
• HE WANTS A DIVORCE? And he wants Bonnie.

• Rhett goes on an extended trip and takes Bonnie with him.
• Scarlett gains a conscience? She tries to tell Melanie that her and Ashley have been “in love” for years but Melanie refuses to believe it.
• Melanie is too good for Scarlett.
• Melanie actually broke her friendship with the women and Archie for Scarlett.
• Okay so Melanie and India are having a full on feud over Scarlett and people in the town are taking sides.
• Its kind of annoying how many people are hating on Scarlett considering she saved so many of them with the money of her sawmill while everyone else was crying for the good old days. They owe so much to her and just hate on her.
• Rhett’s back! And Scarlett is pregnant again??
• Ok, here’s the sad part, I’m actually really upset.
• She tells him she’s pregnant again and he says “Who’s the father?”
• Scarlett gets pissed and says “Yours but I wish it weren’t” and he replies “WELL MAYBE YOU’LL MISCARRY!” HOLY FUCK WHAT A LINE.
• She tries to hit him, but he pushes her aside and she falls down the stairs!!
• I’m FREAKING OUT
• Scarlett has a miscarriage and a broken rib.
• That’s quite sad because she actually wanted this child, because she thought it would bring her and Rhett back together.
• Rhett has spent days crying in his room and drinking. He confesses to Melanie about how he’s been treating Scarlett, and she kinda doesn’t believe him because she has a particular world view of men and women.
• Scarlett goes to Tara to convalesce.
• Rhett goes to Melanie and asks Melanie to get Ashley to buy the mill off of Scarlett because she needs to rest.
• Wow — Rhett has continually stated he never wants Ashley to get any part of his money and here he is giving Ashley a goldmine basically. He must really love Scarlett.
• Scarlett sells to him! And they fight because he says he’ll never use convicts, he’ll hire free black people.
• OMG here we go! Its racist time again!
• Ashley: I can’t make money from the enforced labour and misery of others.
  Scarlett: But you owned slaves!
  Ashley: They weren’t miserable.
• OMG

• “Sometimes Scarlett thought that if Rhett had given her one half the attention and tenderness he lavished on Bonnie, life would have been different.”
• BUT HE DID YOU DUMB BICTH!!! WHAT THE FUCK, WHERE WERE YOU FOR THE PAST 800 PAGES??? What a dipshit.
• Oh no it got sad again! Bonnie fell off a horse and she died!! She was only 4.
• Mammy goes to Melanie’s house to seek her help and tells Melanie that Rhett has lost his mind. And Scarlett has been blaming Rhett, calling him a murderer.
• Jesus Scarlett. That’s so fucking horrible. The only person Rhett has ever loved in his life was Bonnie and now you’re blaming her accidental death on him? Fuck you.
• Scarlett: The funeral is tomorrow
  Rhett: To that and I’ll kill you tomorrow.
• 👀
• They have the funeral.
• OMG
• OMG
• OMG
• OMG
• OMG
• OMG
• OMG
• OMG
• OMG
• OMG
• OMG
• OMG
• OMG
• OMG
• OMG
• OMG
• OMG
• NO
• NO
• NO
• NO
• NO
• YOU CAN’T TAKE MELANIE AWAY FROM ME!!
• MELANIE DIED WTF WTF WTF
• I’M CRYING
• “Who would have thought of small plain Melanie as a tower of strength?” I DID! And literally everyone else did you stupid bitch.
• “And now, as Scarlett looked sadly back, she realised that Melanie had always been there beside her with a sword in her hand, unobtrusive as her own shadow, loving her, fighting for her with blind passionate loyalty, fighting Yankees, fire, hunger, poverty, public opinion and even her beloved blood kin.”
• Well, about time you fucking realised that, Scarlett.
• Ashley and Scarlett finally have a much-needed talk and Scarlett finally understands he never loved her: he only wanted to sleep with her.
• Okay, I kind of agree with Scarlett when she accuses Ashley of leading her on, because he had. If he had just fucking told her “No, I don’t like you”, it would have been over. But no, he kept telling her he loved her but they couldn’t be together, but subtly leading her on. What a bitch. And to think I loved him.
• Guys.
• Scarlett just realised she has always loved Rhett.
• Sigh.
• Better late than never I guess.
• “What a fool I’ve been … I’ve wished Melly was dead so I could have him. And now she’s dead and I don’t want him.”
• Now if Scarlett really wants to be with Rhett, she needs to suck up her pride and be truthful with him, for once in her life.
• Well. She’s already yelling at him while trying to explain to him that she loves him. Jesus wept.
• Omg she’s too late!
• HE DOESN’T LOVE HER ANYMORE!! I’M CRYING
• “You’re so brutal to those who love you, Scarlett.” THAT’S WHAT I’VE BEEN SAYING! She can’t except to be horrible to everyone and then for those same people to still love her?
• He knew she didn’t love him when they got married, but hoped she would change her mind 😭
• OOOOF.
• He just revealed he’s been sleeping with Belle and prefers her to Scarlett. Yikes.
• “My darling, you’re such a child. You think that be saying, ‘I’m sorry’, all the errors and hurts of years past can be remedied.”
• Bitch, have I or have I not been saying that?
• Wow look at this line:
  Scarlett: But I love you
  Rhett: That’s your misfortune.
• He doesn’t care about her anymore! Nothing about her! He literally says “My dear, I don’t give a damn.”

• Ok here it ends!!
• It ends with Scarlett claiming that she’ll get Rhett back one day because …

FRIENDS, IT’S DONE! Its over!

I have officially finished this book and I’m quite proud of myself! It was a struggle to read at times, but for the most part, I’m glad I persevered and finished it!

What are your thoughts on Gone with the Wind? Have you read this book? Or will you? Or will you just watch the movie?

I think I might watch the movie, actually! And maybe I’ll write a post up!