Gone With The Wind: Chapter 24

Summary:
Scarlett awakens in the wagon the next morning and recalls the trials and tribulations of the previous evening after Rhett abandoned them.  For a moment, she fears that Melanie has died in the night but then sees her breathing.  Looking around them, she recognizes the Mallory place though it has been burned to the ground by the Yankees.  As they travel along the road to Tara, they discover all of their neighbor's homes have met the same fate and Scarlett starts to worry that Tara has also been a victim of the war.  A cow is found along the way and it seems that at least they've had some small luck on this fool's errand.

Scarlett, Prissy, Wade, Melanie and her baby all arrive at Tara to discover that while the building still stands, the heart is gone out of Tara.  Ellen, who'd been sick with Typhoid, had died the previous day leaving Mr. O'Hara lost in his grief.  The news comes as a shock and Scarlett almost loses her composure, but pushes aside her own grief to take care of the remaining family.  After taking stock of the remaining assets at Tara, she learns what has taken place in her absence.  While the Yankees are responsible for the destruction of the fields and their livelihood, they are also responsible for the survival of her sisters and her childhood home as the Yankees used Tara for their headquarters when they learned the residents were too ill to be moved.

She immediately takes charge in the absence of Ellen's leadership and makes sure everyone has something to eat and her father has some whisky.  She has a little herself, to calm her nerves, and proceeds to get drunk as she goes through the house.  Scarlett checks in on her sisters and catches up with Dilcey and Mammy.  Mammy explains how Ellen and the girls became sick, but it's Dilcey who reveals Ellen's final words: "Philippe."  Faced with daunting circumstances, Scarlett begins to make plans to break up the family and send her sisters to live with her mother's family but realizes that it would be admitting defeat.  O'Hara's never surrender and Scarlett will not be the first.  Her doubts and fears start to creep in, but she forces them all away saying she will think of it "tomorrow" and then proceeds to pass out.

Katiebug's Response:
We're beginning to see Scarlett's pattern of not dealing with things that bother her.  It seems to be how she can cope in the face of all this devastation.  She knows that she should mourn her mother, but there are so many people relying on her to be strong that she pushes it down.  Falling apart is not going to help anyone survive.  I have a feeling that this is going to come back to bite her eventually.  Though with this much calamity the only way she might be able to get through it is to be completely numb.

I think it's interesting how she steps right in to fill the head of household role.  Her father isn't capable in his grief and her sisters are still unconscious upstairs.  A few loyal servants have stayed with the family to nurse them through and Scarlett is maybe too gruff with them in her misplaced anger.  She'd been thinking that Tara would be her safe haven and has discovered it will be just as difficult as things were in Atlanta.  While hard work is not in her nature, I think she will excel at the challenges this new world presents.

I also think it's sad that Ellen's last words were for her long lost lover and that Gerald has lost his mind with grief at her death.  They had a partnership that worked but her heart always belonged to another.  I begin to wonder if a similar fate will befall Scarlett.