Gerald O’Hara Character Analysis

Gerald O’Hara is Scarlett’s father and the master of Tara. He is a short, stocky man with a loud voice and a raucous lifestyle. Although he had a rough exterior—he’s always gambling, drinking, shouting, and jumping horses—he has a soft heart. He immigrated from Ireland after his family lost their fortune there, hoping to make his own wealth in America. He won Tara—a wide expanse of wilderness in rural northern Georgia—in a poker game. He slowly transformed Tara into a sprawling plantation, and married Ellen O’Hara of Charleston. Throughout the story, Scarlett confides in her father more than in her mother because she and Gerald understand each other; they are both “passionate and earthy.” Gerald is deeply devoted to Ellen, but he goes behind her back, getting drunk and dangerously jumping his horse whenever he has the chance. After Ellen dies, Gerald loses his mind and is unable to cope without her. However, he maintains a fierce streak of patriotism until the end, refusing to comply with Suellen who wants him to sign an oath of Yankee cooperation. He dies when he rides home drunk, falls off his horse, and breaks his neck.