The many marriages of Scarlett O'Hara

The many marriages of Scarlett O’Hara

 

Her first marriage was to mitigate a sense of humiliation. Injured pride caused her to rush into marriage with a boy (in those days they married young - a century or two back) who was surprised by her sudden and unexpected change in attitude towards him. Her second marriage was for money. She needed money to pay taxes on Tara. So, she married her sister’s suitor assuming correctly that once married he would pay those taxes. Rhett was rich and willing to spend money on her. So, she went along for the ride. That was her third marriage. Luckily enough, after some time she begins to realize that she’s actually in love with Rhett. Unfortunately though, it appears that by this time Rhett has had enough of her, and so he leaves her. The book ends with her vowing to win him back. The great thing about this book is that it ends ambiguously enough and with enough wiggle room that the reader is free to come up with the real ending in his or her own mind. In my mind, Rhett after a while begins to realize that he is in fact still in love with her. Nothing like a little absence to make the heart grow fonder. You cannot seriously tell me that he’s been madly in love with her for more than a decade and now that she’s about to reciprocate those feelings he’s just going to walk away from her. She’s still relatively young. He’s middle-aged but not ancient. They’re married to boot. Call me a romantic, but I’m pretty sure they get back together and live happily ever after. :)