Gone With The Wind: Chapter 16

Chapter 16 Summary: Rhett Butler made good on his word and sold all his boats when blockading becomes to hazardous.  His current profession as a food speculator has not gone over well with his former friends and neighbors.  Scarlett survives on the memory of her kiss with Ashley and dreams of how things will work out for them once the war is over until Melanie reveals that she is pregnant.  It is only the news that Ashley is missing, presumed dead, that brings the two women back together.  Melanie neglects her delicate condition, in search of news about Ashley, and Rhett Butler must escort her home after she faints in the telegraph office.  It is only with the promise to take care of herself and Ashley's unborn child that Rhett is willing to pull some strings to discover Ashley's fate which reveals that Ashley is alive but has been sent to Rock Island, Illinois, a Northern prison camp.  Abraham Lincoln refuses to allow prisoner exchanges, so there is no hope that Ashley will return before the end of the war.  Rhett tells Melanie that Ashley had an opportunity to escape the cruel treatment at the prison camp if only he'd agreed to denounce the Confederacy and join the Union in defending its Western border from Indians.  Of course, Ashley refused this offer and Melanie's heart is ready to burst with pride at her husband's choice even if it means he could die in prison before the war is over.

KatieBug's Response:  I would like to draw some attention to a specific paragraph in this chapter.  It's when Melanie and Scarlett learn that Ashley is missing and possibly dead.

Somehow, she was in Scarlett's arms, her small breasts heaving sobs, and somehow they were lying on the bed, holding each other close, and Scarlett was crying too, crying with her face pressed close to against Melanie's, the tears of one wetting the cheeks of the other.  It hurt so terribly to cry, but not so much as not being able to cry.  Ashley is dead - dead, she thought, and I have killed him by loving him!  Fresh sobs broke from her, and Melanie somehow feeling comfort in her tears tightened her arms about her neck.

In today's world, this scene could end up very differently.  After seeing the film, I do believe that it's really about the incredible friendship between Scarlett and Melanie more so than the romance between Scarlett and Rhett.  This paragraph really supports that theory and then some.   Maybe it's just me, but I find this scene far more entertaining than all the hats Rhett Butler could possibly buy.

We also start to see the differences between Rhett and Ashley as well as Scarlett and Melanie.  Rhett and Scarlett are opportunists and survivors and therefore, MFEO.  Melanie and Ashley are tied to their honor and duty before anything else.  One wonders how honor and duty will feed the children and keep a roof over their heads when the Yankees win.  Also, does Scarlett realize what Ashley's duty-bound personality means for her imagined future with him? No matter how many hearts, with their initials in it, she draws on her Trapper Keeper he is never going to leave Melanie.  Regardless of what he feels, if he feels what she thinks he feels, he made a commitment to Melanie and will stand by it til death they do part.