Quote 5

Scarlett:   “After all, tomorrow is another day.”

Scarlett says this famous last line after Rhett summarily leaves her. Distraught, Scarlett tells herself she can’t think about his leaving just now, that she must go home to Tara and find a way to get him back. This line, which Scarlett says several times in the film, exemplifies Scarlett’s unwillingness to let outside influences interfere with her worldview. At times, this personality trait serves as a source of strength for Scarlett, eliminating all distractions that might keep her from achieving the goals she has set for herself. When she fights her way through the Yankee lines to get back to Tara, she succeeds by refusing to even entertain the possibility that she won’t be able to make it home. Had she listened to Rhett’s warnings, she wouldn’t have made the journey. When she builds Frank Kennedy’s small sideline into a mill of her own, she doesn’t bow to well-meaning advice or any of the gossip that spreads over her ambition. As a result, her business ends up being far more profitable than Frank’s ever had been.

There are times, though, when Scarlett’s single-mindedness also works to her detriment. Often it keeps her from being able to effectively grasp all the implications of a situation and thereby know how best to deal with them. When the Union soldiers appear after the Shantytown raid she is so concerned with her own interests that she is the last person to know where the men have gone and the amount of danger they are truly in. Even more damaging to Scarlett is her life-long obsession with Ashley. By insisting he is the only man who could ever make her happy, Scarlett is unable to see the good in her relationship with Rhett until it is too late. Similarly, she doesn’t realize how much she has relied on Melanie’s emotional support until Melanie is lying on her deathbed.

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