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Chapter 58
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Gone with the Wind, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Civil War and Reconstruction
Looking Forward vs. Looking Back
Classism and Racism
Practicality, Tenacity, and Selfishness
Women and Power
Summary
Analysis
Bonnie runs wild. When Rhett took her to New Orleans, he allowed her to stay up late and have whatever she wanted. Now, no one can discipline her. Scarlett tries to stamp out some of her headstrong nature, but Bonnie is so charismatic that she always gets her way. Rhett has no desire to make her behave. Bonnie idolizes Rhett, riding on his saddle and talking to him like an adult. Scarlett smiles to see Rhett take to fatherhood so well, but a small part of her is jealous.
Part of Scarlett is jealous that Bonnie loves Rhett so much, but she is also proud of their relationship. She is also won over by Bonnie’s charm just as Rhett is. This shows that, even though Scarlett hadn’t wanted her third child, she has grown to love her just as she has grown to love Rhett more than she realizes. Bonnie’s headstrong nature also resembles how people have described Scarlett as a girl, suggesting that mother and daughter may be more alike than Scarlett consciously realizes.
Themes
When Bonnie turns four, Rhett buys her a Shetland pony that she names Mr. Butler, and Scarlett makes her a riding outfit. Bonnie demands it be made from blue velvet. She and Rhett race down the street on their horses, Rhett slowing his so Bonnie feels she is winning. When she is comfortable riding, Rhett thinks she can try jumping. He starts her out on a foot-high bar. Scarlett laughs with pride and enthusiasm listening to Bonnie’s excited yells.
Bonnie has the same headstrong, willful nature that Gerald and Scarlett shared. She is adventurous and loves to ride horses, just like Gerald. She is also charming and loves pretty things, like Scarlett. Her desire for a blue riding outfit resembles Scarlett’s fixation with the color green.
Themes
A week later, Bonnie begs for a higher bar. Rhett tells her she can’t jump higher until she’s six, but Bonnie persists until he finally gives in. Bonnie shouts for Scarlett to watch from her bedroom window. Scarlett says she’s watching and smiles, but she’s uneasy. As Bonnie gallops on her pony, Scarlett sees that her eyes are just like Gerald’s. Then she realizes Bonnie said the same thing Gerald had said just before his death: “watch me take this one, Ellen!” Scarlett screams for Bonnie to stop, but there is the sound of splintering wood and she sees a whirl of blue velvet.
Bonnie’s death mirrors Gerald’s death almost exactly. Just as he had called out to Ellen just before he fatally jumped his horse, Bonnie calls out to Scarlett. This repeated tragedy points out the fact that Scarlett never really grieved for her father. She pushed the tragedy aside and moved forward to the future. That her daughter, who is so much like Gerald, dies just like him makes Scarlett’s loss impossible for her to ignore.
Themes
Three nights after Bonnie’s death, Mammy walks to Melanie’s house. In the kitchen, Mammy says she wants to tell Melanie what’s on her mind. Melanie leads into the sitting room. Mammy cries as she explains that Bonnie’s death broke Scarlett’s heart, but Rhett is even worse off. She says Melanie must come because Rhett always listens to her and maybe she can help him. Mammy thinks Rhett has lost his mind; When Dr. Meade said Bonnie’s neck broke, Rhett shot Bonnie’s pony and then held Bonnie’s body and didn’t let anyone touch her.
Mammy relays the events of the days following Bonnie’s death because it seems that both Rhett and Scarlett are too devastated to relay them lucidly themselves. Scarlett has always been able to stand huge losses. She loved Bonnie but not as wholly as Rhett, who was transformed into a different person by his love for Bonnie. Rhett never cared about anything as much as he cared about Bonnie.
Themes
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Mammy says she thought Scarlett and Rhett would comfort each other, but then Scarlett demanded that Rhett “give [her] [her] baby that [he] killed.” Melanie says she doesn’t want to hear these awful things, but Mammy refuses to stop. Scarlett wanted to put Bonnie in the coffin in the parlor, but Rhett wanted her in his room. Rhett came home drunk and told Mammy to put candles in Bonnie’s room because Bonnie is afraid of the dark. Scarlett and Rhett then argued about when to hold the funeral. Rhett threatened to kill Scarlett and noted again that Bonnie is afraid of the dark—and graves are dark. Scarlett accused Rhett of drinking and visiting Belle Watling, but Rhett said he went to Belle because she didn’t call him the murderer of his own child.
The fact that Mammy relays these events to Melanie reveals how mean Scarlett and Rhett are to each other. Scarlett accuses Rhett of killing Bonnie, and Rhett continues to drink and visit Belle Watling. At this point, he seems to view Belle as a better person than Scarlett, despite being a sex worker, since Belle is kinder and more sympathetic than Scarlett. In this way, Belle acts as a foil for Scarlett: even one of the lowest-class persons in society is a more moral person than Scarlett even with her prestigious lineage.
Themes
Melanie is shocked. She remembers that Rhett said he had a key to Belle’s, but she also knows Rhett loves Scarlett from the way he’d cried when she was sick. And Scarlett loves Rhett, so what went wrong? Mammy continues: Mammy went into Rhett’s room to tell him it’s her fault that Bonnie’s afraid of the dark; once, when Bonnie wouldn’t go to bed, Mammy had told her a monster would get her if she didn’t. Mammy thought Rhett would hit her, but he said gently that he knows Mammy loved Bonnie. But when Mammy asked about the funeral, Rhett threw her out of the room.
Melanie is shocked by the ugliness in Mammy’s story because she always chooses to see what’s best in everyone. However, her habit of simplifying things reveals what she believes is essential to Rhett and Scarlett’s relationship: their love for each other. As Melanie sees it, the fact that the couple are at odds now suggests that whatever went wrong was a disastrous misunderstanding.
Themes
Melanie understands Rhett’s pain; she thinks how scary it would be to bury one’s own child in a dark grave. She runs through the house, hugging Beau as she goes, her napkin still in her hand. At the Butlers’ house, she bows to Suellen, Will, Scarlett, and Pittypat before going upstairs. She announces herself gently at Rhett’s door, and he lets her in. Mammy sinks into a chair outside the door. All she hears is a low humming from inside. Some time later, Melanie comes out and asks Mammy for sandwiches and cutlery. Mammy brings the food and hears Rhett taking off his boots. Melanie comes out and says to tell Scarlett the funeral will be tomorrow. Melanie says she promised to stay with Rhett all night while he sleeps. As Mammy goes to tell Scarlett, she thinks that Melanie must have angels behind her.
Melanie can simply and instantly empathize with Rhett’s pain. She sees through the complicated aspects of the situation and of Rhett’s character and understands exactly how he feels. Even though she is different from him and doesn’t understand what’s going on between him and Scarlett, this doesn’t stand in the way of her sympathy. Her blind trust and instant sympathy make her invaluable to each character. Although she misunderstands them all in some ways, she also understands them deeply and universally.
Themes
