Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary
devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.
Female Intelligence and Capability
Despite the severe gender inequality of their time, women
in Gone with the Wind show strength and intelligence
that equals or bests the strength and intelligence of men. Scarlett
is cunning, and manipulates men with ease. She runs Tara when her
father falls ill, and eventually realizes that she has a better
head for business than most men. She becomes a very successful mill
owner, running every aspect of the business and putting her weak,
incompetent husband to shame. Melanie, although she is a subdued
figure, exhibits increasing strength as the novel progresses, and
she eventually emerges as the novel’s strongest female character.
She provides much of Scarlett’s strength, although Scarlett realizes
this only at the end of the novel. Melanie also protects Ashley
from the world he cannot face. Despite her humble means, she single-handedly
facilitates the restoration of Atlanta society. Old Miss Fontaine
and Ellen also demonstrate strength and intelligence. Both women
act as head of the family, and the narrator describes Ellen as the
true mind and strength behind Tara.
Alcohol Abuse
Alcohol abuse occurs throughout the novel, as Gerald,
Scarlett, and Rhett all rely heavily on drinking. Characters use
alcohol to cope with stress, but when they abuse alcohol, disaster
ensues. Drinking is partly responsible for Gerald’s death: he rides
his horse while drunk, misses a jump, and is thrown to his death.
Mitchell suggests that Scarlett cheapens herself unnecessarily by
drinking. Gerald disapproves of her drinking, which begins only
after she escapes Atlanta, because ladies never drink liquor in
polite Southern society. Scarlett continues to drink at Tara whenever
she feels overworked or troubled, and she brings her habit to Atlanta
when she moves back. Rhett’s drinking reveals his insecurity, a
disaster for Rhett since he is obsessed with mastery and self-sufficiency.
Rhett begins to drink heavily as his relationship with Scarlett
deteriorates, and he drinks even more when their daughter, Bonnie,
dies.
Prostitution
Prostitution threatens and embarrasses the characters,
but it also intrigues them. Scarlett first sees a prostitute in
Atlanta and is instantly fascinated. The woman she sees is Belle
Watling, and the fascination she feels persists throughout the novel.
Belle is an exaggerated version of Scarlett, which perhaps explains
Scarlett’s interest in her. Both women ignore social mandates, manipulate
and seduce men, and trade sex for money. Scarlett offers to prostitute herself
to Rhett in order to get money for taxes, putting herself in Belle’s
moral camp. If Scarlett can be read as a high-class prostitute, Belle
can be read as a low-class aristocrat. Belle has the ideal aristocrat’s
impulse to help the needy; she saves Atlanta’s Ku Klux Klan members
from prosecution by providing an alibi for them. Mitchell depicts
Belle as human and generous and perhaps morally superior to the
ruthless Scarlett she resembles.
