Tara Symbol in Gone with the Wind

The O’Haras’ plantation, Tara, represents survival. Before the war, in an attempt to comfort a heartsick Scarlett, Gerald tells Scarlett that land (rather than love) is the only thing that lasts. At that point, she’s too upset that Ashley is going to marry Melanie to believe him—but when she returns to Tara near the end of the Civil War, she realizes he’s right. By this point, Ellen has died, Gerald has gone mad with grief, and Ashley is married to Melanie and they have a child together. When Scarlett is at her lowest point and Ashley hands her a lump of Tara’s red clay, Scarlett is inspired to keep going: the plantation is all she has left, and if she means to survive, she must revive it and make it into a moneymaking enterprise once again.

Scarlett ultimately does just that. Returning Tara to a functional state both helps Scarlett survive (by enabling the property to make money through farming) and gives Scarlett a reason to keep trying to do more to ensure her family’s continued ownership of the land. Some of what Scarlett must do to support Tara, such as run Frank’s mills and use her sexuality to try to manipulate men into helping her, aren’t considered ladylike in post-Civil War Southern society—but to Scarlett, stepping outside the confines of traditional gender roles in service of her family’s plantation is necessary. Tara, Scarlett believes, is the only thing she has in the world that will always be there for her—if she loses it, she’ll lose the one thing, aside from money, that makes her feel powerful.

Tara Quotes in Gone with the Wind

The Gone with the Wind quotes below all refer to the symbol of Tara. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

The Civil War and Reconstruction Theme Icon

“Land is the only thing in the world that amounts to anything, for ‘tis the only thing in the world that lasts.”

Related Characters: Gerald O’Hara (speaker), Scarlett O’Hara , Ashley Wilkes

Related Symbols: Tara, Atlanta

Page Number and Citation: 55

Explanation and Analysis:

It was a man’s world, and she accepted it as such. The man owned the property, and the woman managed it. The man took the credit for the management, and the woman praised his cleverness.

Related Characters: Scarlett O’Hara , Gerald O’Hara , Ellen O’Hara , Frank Kennedy

Related Symbols: Tara

Page Number and Citation: 75

Explanation and Analysis:

There was something exciting about this town with its narrow muddy streets, lying among rolling red hills, something raw and crude that appealed to the rawness and crudeness underlying the fine veneer that Ellen and Mammy had given her. She suddenly felt that this was where she belonged, not in serene and quiet old cities, flat beside yellow waters.

Related Characters: Scarlett O’Hara , Mammy , Ellen O’Hara

Related Symbols: Atlanta, Tara

Page Number and Citation: 159

Explanation and Analysis:

What a little while since she and everyone else had thought that Atlanta could never fall, that Georgia could never be invaded. But the small cloud that appeared in the northwest four months ago had blown up into a mighty storm and then into a screaming tornado, sweeping away her world, whirling her out of her sheltered life, and dropping her down in the midst of this still, haunted desolation.

Was Tara still standing? Or was Tara also gone with the wind that had swept through Georgia?

Related Characters: Scarlett O’Hara

Related Symbols: Tara, Atlanta

Page Number and Citation: 380

Explanation and Analysis:

“I’ll think of it all tomorrow, at Tara. I can stand it then. […] After all, tomorrow is another day.”

Related Characters: Scarlett O’Hara (speaker), Rhett Butler , Ashley Wilkes , Ellen O’Hara , Johnnie Gallegher

Related Symbols: Tara

Page Number and Citation: 959

Explanation and Analysis:

Tara Symbol Timeline in Gone with the Wind

The timeline below shows where the symbol Tara appears in Gone with the Wind. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Scarlett O’Hara is sitting with twins Brent and Stuart Tarleton outside at Tara, the O’Hara’s plantation, in April 1961. Scarlett isn’t beautiful, but she charms everyone, including the... (full context)

Back at Tara, Scarlett is miserable. For the first time in her life, she isn’t getting her way.... (full context)

Looking Forward vs. Looking Back Theme Icon

...He’s “moonstruck,” like all the Wilkeses. Gerald suggests Scarlett marry Cade Calvert and live at Tara after Gerald passes away. Scarlett says that she doesn’t want Cade or any plantation—she secretly... (full context)

...and stands much taller than her husband. She’s proud and serious and oversees matters at Tara with grace. Next to Gerald’s chaotic presence, she’s a calm “pillar of strength.” When her... (full context)

After Scarlett, Susan Elinor (Suellen) and Caroline Irene (Carreen) were born. Ellen transformed Tara, bringing to it dignity, order, and grace. She planted wisteria around the house, which added... (full context)

...the white family’s prayers, they are spiritually moved by them. Ellen prays for those at Tara, her family far and wide, and those in Purgatory. Despite her anguish, Scarlett is soothed.... (full context)

...eat without belching from her tight corset. Twelve Oaks, which Scarlett loves even more than Tara for its stately beauty, comes into view. The driveway is full of carriages, and the... (full context)

Scarlett wishes she could be magically back at Tara. She quietly backs away from the napping room, runs downstairs, and goes onto the porch.... (full context)

...take care of Wade, since Ellen needs all the other enslaved women to labor at Tara. Prissy has never left Tara, and so she’s shocked by the bustling city and lets... (full context)

...Meades and continue on. Scarlett already feels that Atlanta is less boring and lonely than Tara. Atlanta excites her because it isn’t covered by the thin veneer of politeness that Ellen... (full context)

Scarlett misses the masculinity, fighting, and rowdiness of Tara. Here, everyone is polite and deferential. Scarlett soon discovers that Peter’s expectations about Scarlett’s behavior... (full context)

Practicality, Tenacity, and Selfishness Theme Icon

...will come to Atlanta the next day, speak to Rhett, and escort Scarlett back to Tara. Scarlett is frightened of her parents’ anger, and she doesn’t want to leave Atlanta. (full context)

...to defend Scarlett as best she can. No one wants Scarlett to go back to Tara; they love having her too much. (full context)

...They’d always adored each other till Scarlett stole him. And Brent is courting Carreen at Tara. Scarlett, upset to lose two beaus who had been obsessed with her, protests that Carreen... (full context)

Scarlett lies awake that night, dreading facing Ellen at Tara. Then, she hears the familiar sound of Gerald coming home drunk, singing raucously as he... (full context)

Scarlett pays brief and disappointing visits to Tara. Ellen and Gerald are so busy running the war commissary that Scarlett has no time... (full context)

...another woman is having Ashley’s baby. The next morning, she decides to go back to Tara. But, at breakfast, a telegram comes from Ashley’s servant Mose saying that Ashley is missing.... (full context)

...of nursing that she tells Mrs. Merriwether that Ellen wants her to go home to Tara, but Mrs. Merriwether says she’ll write to Ellen and say that Scarlett is needed. Scarlett... (full context)

...carriage and Scarlett looks curiously at the group. She recognizes Big Sam, the foreman at Tara. Recognizing her as well, Big Sam smiles and greets her. The white officer, Captain Randall,... (full context)

...and the Confederates fight to hold the railroad to Jonesboro. Scarlett realizes with terror that Tara—which seemed like a safe haven compared to Atlanta—is only 5 miles from Jonesboro. (full context)

...to break her promise to Ashley, so she says Melanie can come with her to Tara. However, Dr. Meade insists that Melanie must stay in Atlanta due to her pregnancy. He... (full context)

...deliver many babies. Scarlett wants the birth over with so she can go home to Tara. Ellen wants Wade to go to Tara too. Happy to be rid of him, Scarlett... (full context)

...fighting is serious. Henry says it is. Scarlett asks if the fighting will get to Tara. Ignoring how selfish this question is, Henry says that Tara is safe. But he has... (full context)

...nearly at Jonesboro. Gerald sends a letter reassuring Scarlett that the Yankees haven’t gotten to Tara. Gerald boasts about the bravery of the Confederates and mentions that Carreen has typhoid fever.... (full context)

...let him on the porch because she was feeling sad. When Scarlett admits she misses Tara, Rhett warns her that the typhoid fever there is more dangerous than the Yankees—the Yankees... (full context)

...Sherman plans to attack Jonesboro for the fourth time, since Jonesboro is so close to Tara. As she receives news of the battle’s progress, she also receives letters from Gerald informing... (full context)

...be stuck with Wade and Melanie. Scarlett daydreams about the miles of white cotton at Tara, and the enslaved boys running around. If it weren’t for Melanie, she’d ride the train... (full context)

...the signal that Atlanta has fallen. All Scarlett can think of is the Yankees invading Tara. Scarlett longs to be home and shushes Prissy when Prissy starts singing a sad song. (full context)

...the hospital and tells her to get news of the fighting in Jonesboro. Thinking of Tara and Dilcey, Prissy starts to cry. Scarlett sends her to the hospital with a note... (full context)

...trip. She tells him not to joke; she’s scared and wants to go home to Tara immediately. Rhett calls her a fool. There are deserters and soldiers everywhere between here and... (full context)

...south and enters the deep woods, Rhett asks if Scarlett still wants to go to Tara. Scarlett says she does and mentions a horse trail they can take. Rhett says Scarlett... (full context)

...It’s deserted, and the house is just a pile of burned rubble. Will Scarlett find Tara like this? They have to keep going, but first, they need food and water. Scarlett... (full context)

...land. It’s like the war is a storm that’s swept away her whole life. Is Tara also “gone with the wind?” She whips the horse to make him go faster. They... (full context)

By twilight, Tara is a mile away. Scarlett recognizes the hedges that surround the neighbors’ property. She can... (full context)

Scarlett’s eyes fill with tears when they reach the edge of Tara. Then she realizes the horse won’t make it up the hill. She gets out, takes... (full context)

Scarlett looks for Tara’s lights, but everything is dark. Her heart sinks. But as they get closer, the white... (full context)

...the girls are recovering, but Ellen died yesterday. He clings to Scarlett as they enter Tara. Scarlett is drawn by instinct to the office where Ellen always sat. Ellen can’t be... (full context)

Scarlett asks Gerald why the Yankees didn’t burn Tara, unwilling to talk about Ellen. He responds the Yankees used the house for headquarters. Scarlett... (full context)

...song she’d sung with Rhett: “No matter, ‘twill never be light.” Does coming home to Tara only mean more burdens? Mammy despairs over Scarlett’s blisters and sunburn. Scarlett smiles, thinking that... (full context)

Scarlett has made it to Tara, but not to Ellen’s arms. Scarlett’s not a protected child anymore; she’s just Scarlett O’Hara... (full context)

...She is drunk and tired. She knows she left girlhood behind on the road to Tara; she’s a woman now. Scarlett realizes she belongs to Tara and vows to keep the... (full context)

Scarlett says anyone at Tara who won’t work can join the Yankees. She asks Pork about the corn and cotton.... (full context)

...high. She decides the past is past; she must go forward. Scarlett heads back to Tara with a basket of vegetables, vowing to never go hungry again. The next few days... (full context)

Scarlett focuses on getting food. Everyone at Tara complains of hunger except Melanie, who tells Scarlett to give her portion to Dilcey. Her... (full context)

Scarlett is in charge at Tara. She’s afraid, and so she didn’t allow anyone to show fear or weakness. She’s often... (full context)

Scarlett’s feelings for Tara don’t change. Even after a hard day of work, she returns to Tara with joy.... (full context)

...later, a huge blister swells on Scarlett’s foot. She worries about who will look after Tara if she gets gangrene and dies. She’d hoped Gerald would return to normal after a... (full context)

...silence because it reminds her of the dead people she passed on the road to Tara. She sits looking out the window, her skirt pulled above her knees. She soaks her... (full context)

...is the Yankees are resting their men in Atlanta. The Fontaines apologize for not visiting Tara sooner, but they’d assumed it burned since they’d seen fire. Scarlett explains that their cotton... (full context)

The Fontaines ask Scarlett why Tara wasn’t burned. Scarlett knows they’ll ask about Ellen soon, and she doesn’t want to talk... (full context)

As Scarlett leaves, Grandma Fontaine steps out with her and asks what’s wrong at Tara. Scarlett decides she can tell the truth without crying. She explains that Ellen died of... (full context)

After Scarlett’s visit to the Fontaines, Tara had fried eggs and ham for breakfast. They catch the sow which means pork for... (full context)

...“nigger” like her Pa. Scarlett feels more cheerful as they pick the cotton. She’s sure Tara and the South will get rich again. With the money from the cotton, she’ll buy... (full context)

...and whispers goodbye. The Yankees will burn it all. Then she stops. She can’t leave Tara. She stays in the hall, feeling brave. She hears marching hooves and clanking sabers, and... (full context)

...Sherman is burning and looting all of Georgia, but, for Scarlett, when the Yankees enter Tara, it’s a personal rather than national insult. She clutches Wade and the baby while the... (full context)

Winter arrives suddenly, and everyone at Tara is hungry again. Scarlett thinks how wrong she’d been when she told Grandma Fontaine she’d... (full context)

At Christmas, Frank Kennedy and a small troop of soldiers stay at Tara. They are overjoyed to sleep with a roof over their heads, and to be in... (full context)

Scarlett doesn’t enjoy the company. The troop eats a lot of Tara’s food, and she resents every bite they take. She is afraid they’d discover the newly... (full context)

...Pitty is going back, they’d better go back too. Scarlett snaps that she won’t leave Tara, but Melanie can go. Melanie says she’d never leave Scarlett. Scarlett is sure Sherman will... (full context)

...April, General Johnston (who’d been reappointed General) surrenders in North Carolina and the war ends. Tara hears the news two weeks later, after Pork rides to Macon for three weeks and... (full context)

...have to lie awake at night thinking she hears the Yankees coming back to burn Tara. The war has always seemed foolish to her; she’s never felt patriotic love for the... (full context)

One night, Cathleen Calvert rides up to Tara. She looks unhappy, very different from the Cathleen Scarlett used to gossip with at parties.... (full context)

The summer after the war ends, Tara has lots of visitors, as Confederate soldiers ride the railroad to Atlanta and make their... (full context)

It could be months before Ashley reaches Tara, but everyone hangs around in the house because they don’t want to miss him when... (full context)

...get over it, just like Scarlett got over Charles, but Will disagrees. Will stays at Tara after he recovers to pay the women back for caring for him. Scarlett hopes he’ll... (full context)

...Jonesboro is full of Republicans and Carpetbaggers—Northerners who’d moved South—who are raising the taxes on Tara. Someone, perhaps Hilton, wants to buy Tara cheap when Scarlett inevitably can’t pay the taxes. (full context)

It’s unthinkable that Tara could belong to someone else. Scarlett has been so focused on operating Tara that she... (full context)

...good as white people. They rile them up with tales of white cruelty. Jonas Wilkerson, Tara’s old overseer, and Hilton, Cathleen’s husband, are head of the Bureau. They’re backed by the... (full context)

...more than she loves him. Looking at the clay, Scarlett thinks how much she loves Tara’s red earth, and how hard she’d fight for it. Looking at Ashley, she feels no... (full context)

As Scarlett walks back to Tara, she clutches the red clay and tells herself she’ll be okay. She loves Tara and... (full context)

...demands he leave. Jonas sneers that he knows Scarlett is poor. He wanted to buy Tara at a fair price, but now he’ll wait till she can’t pay the taxes then... (full context)

Scarlett tries to think of a way to stop Jonas from taking Tara. Ashley had said Rhett Butler was the only person with money. She could borrow money... (full context)

...Pitty says it’s a boarding house, which is so dreadful. Scarlett wishes everyone staying at Tara would pay her, but Pitty says Ellen would be horrified to hear that. Then, scandalized,... (full context)

...been up to. Scarlett lies and says that they got a good cotton crop at Tara and that Gerald has everything under control. She says she came to Atlanta because she’s... (full context)

...with her hands like a “nigger”; why did she lie that everything is good at Tara? He asks what the real purpose of her visit is, since he can tell she... (full context)

...$300. Scarlett is humiliated. Rhett asks why she doesn’t live at Miss Pittypat’s instead of Tara. She cries that she can’t let Tara go. He shakes his head at her stubbornness. (full context)

...of price, he says. Scarlett imagines it’s summer, and she’s lying in the grass at Tara under a blue sky. Tara is worth all this. She asks if he’ll give her... (full context)

...and muddy. How can she face everyone after she’d been so confident she could save Tara? She hates Rhett, and she feels it serves him right to be hanged. She passes... (full context)

Scarlett doesn’t want to talk about Tara. She’s surprised to see Frank in Atlanta, but he explains that he lives in Atlanta... (full context)

...that Suellen doesn’t deserve Mr. Kennedy’s fortune. She’ll misuse it and never do anything for Tara, and it’s so unfair. Maybe Scarlett can get Frank to propose, even if he is... (full context)

...guests about their new jobs, and Scarlett lies that her “darkies” perform manual labor at Tara. The group also discusses baby names. When Tommy asks Scarlett to dance, she declines and... (full context)

...pretending to be proud ladies. She knows she won’t feel like a lady again until Tara is rich and Black hands are picking cotton. These people think gentility is about breeding,... (full context)

...to make money, but Scarlett will do anything not to be poor and to keep Tara. Right now, Frank is her future because he has money and she needs it. She... (full context)

Frank gives Scarlett $300, so Scarlett sends Mammy to Tara to deliver the money and bring Wade back. Scarlett wonders what Ashley thinks of her.... (full context)

...especially since she was raised to think women are useless without men. But Scarlett ran Tara all by herself—clearly, she realizes, women can do anything. Scarlett copies down the names of... (full context)

...and doesn’t judge her for it. Rhett asks if she paid the taxes and if Tara is safe. The look in his eyes makes her wonder if he really cares about... (full context)

...says Ashley never took any money from her. Rhett says he knows Ashley’s been at Tara, abusing Scarlett’s generosity. Mockingly, he says he knows Ashley is “sublime,” but it’s unmanly of... (full context)

...She plans to earn lots of money, so she’ll always have food, pretty clothes, and Tara. She says Rhett doesn’t understand because he’s never been hungry. Rhett reminds her of his... (full context)

Frank hates that Scarlett sends all her money to Tara instead of giving it to him. Then, she has more crazy ideas that scandalize him.... (full context)

...she flies into a rage. She is fond of Frank and appreciates that he saved Tara, but his shyness annoys her and he isn’t a good businessman. She forces him to... (full context)

...talk of the North confiscating Rebel property, and she fears the loss not only of Tara and Pitty’s house, but of the sawmill and store. She’s mad at Tony for putting... (full context)

Scarlett sends half the money she makes to Tara, a third to Rhett, and she hides the rest around the house. Frank puts up... (full context)

...afraid of the Yankees and missing Ashley, she feels she’ll die without whiskey. She misses Tara and decides to visit in June. Then she gets a note from Will saying Gerald... (full context)

...wagon as soon as possible. Will greets Scarlett like a sister and they start for Tara in silence. Scarlett takes in the beautiful red earth, blooming with cotton and honeysuckle. After... (full context)

...a “complaining nag” like Suellen. Will says the truth is he doesn’t want to leave Tara. He’s put work into it and now he loves it. Once he marries Suellen, Ashley... (full context)

Will tells the story of Gerald’s death: Will was paying the taxes and fixing Tara with the money Scarlett sent. But Suellen wanted clothes and a horse and carriage. She... (full context)

...forward off the horse and broke his neck. When Scarlett doesn’t speak, Will continues towards Tara. (full context)

After a sleepless night, Scarlett watches the sun rise over Tara. Despite having no master, Tara looks good and the cotton is growing. Scarlett feels thankful... (full context)

...Grandma Fontaine asks if Will is serious about marrying Suellen. Scarlett says he is, and Tara is lucky to have him. Grandma Fontaine says Scarlett loves Tara so much that she... (full context)

...war. Even children talk about it. She hates when Melanie talks about Scarlett’s bravery at Tara, because she feels no pride in what she did. Scarlett wonders why everyone else can’t... (full context)

...that it isn’t safe these days but declines her offer, saying he must escape to Tara because he’s wanted for killing a man. A drunk Yankee soldier had insulted him, so... (full context)

...bodice, and Frank had listened calmly and told Sam he’d take him part way to Tara that night. Frank’s calm angers Scarlett. How could he leave her for a silly meeting... (full context)

...“trash.” Scarlett says Mammy is forgetting her place, and that she’ll send Mammy back to Tara. Mammy says she’s free, but she won’t leave Ellen’s children and grandchildren. She says Rhett... (full context)

...Scallawags. Rhett says he’ll give Scarlett lots of money for the new house, and for Tara, but he won’t give her money for the mills. Scarlett, disappointed, says he's not as... (full context)

...with her in Atlanta, helped her give birth, saw her safely through the siege to Tara, cared for her, and got Ashley a job. And Rhett Butler saved Ashley’s life! Melanie... (full context)

...drapes, carved furniture, and gilt mirrors like Belle Watling’s. Thinking of the cold emptiness of Tara, Scarlett loves her house. Rhett says a person can tell it’s a house bought with... (full context)

...to them, killing Charles and burning so many homes? Doesn’t Scarlett remember the Yankees robbing Tara? Melanie will never let her children forget what the Yankees did. Scarlett says she remembers,... (full context)

...unlike Ellen she is now, but since the day she stood in the parlor at Tara and decided to be Rhett’s mistress, she’s become too unlike Ellen to go back. Besides,... (full context)

...only wants the old days back. Suddenly, Scarlett’s mind fills with memories of life at Tara before the war. She says obstinately that she likes these days better. Ashley takes her... (full context)

Scarlett is pale and thin when Rhett puts her on the train to Tara a month after her fall. She feels she’ll suffocate if she stays in Atlanta any... (full context)

When Scarlett returns from Tara, she looks healthy. Rhett and Bonnie meet her at the train, Indian feathers stuck in... (full context)

...things about the County, such as how many plantations were being overgrown by forest. Even Tara is no longer a plantation but is just a small farm. Once she and Rhett... (full context)

...unethical practices only brings unhappiness. Scarlett disagrees, reminding him of their days of poverty at Tara when they made slippers out of carpet. She says she’s happy now because no one... (full context)

Mammy leaves for Tara, saying Ellen’s voice told her it’s time to go home. Scarlett tries to stop her,... (full context)

...she realizes she’s running to Rhett. The fear that haunted her since she returned to Tara and found the world gone suddenly disappears. The haven she seeks isn’t Ashley; it’s Rhett,... (full context)

Rhett’s nostalgic words sound just like something Ashley said in the orchard at Tara. Rhett says he doubts Scarlett will ever know why Rhett wants to seek out the... (full context)

Then Scarlett thinks of Tara, and her spirits lift slightly. She went to Tara once in her defeat and emerged... (full context)

Gone with the Wind

Margaret Mitchell

Tara Symbol Analysis

Tara Quotes in Gone with the Wind

Tara Symbol Timeline in Gone with the Wind