Gone with the Wind Part Two: Chapters VIII–XI Summary & Analysis

Summary: Chapter VIII

On a May morning in 1862, Scarlett, Prissy, and Wade arrive in Atlanta to visit Melanie and Aunt Pittypat. Atlanta, a railroad hub, has sprouted army departments, hospitals, and foundries during the war. At the Hamilton house on Peachtree Street, Pittypat and Melanie are thrilled to see Scarlett. Uncle Henry, Pittypat’s brother, talks to Scarlett about Charles’s fortune, which is now Scarlett’s. The hustle and energy revive Scarlett. Her only complaint is that she must do volunteer nursing work in the soldiers’ hospitals, which are full of sweaty, wounded men that stink of gangrene.

Summary: Chapter IX

The hospital holds a fundraising bazaar, but as a widow in mourning Scarlett cannot attend without breaching decorum. Unlike the other widows, she thinks it unfair that she works like a “field hand” to prepare for the bazaar but cannot attend. At the last moment, Scarlett and Melanie are called in to work at a booth. At the bazaar, Scarlett is shocked by her own lack of patriotism during the speeches about the glorious Confederate cause. She longs to dance. Rhett Butler, now a famous blockade-runner for the South, appears and teases her about her marriage to Charles. Dr. Meade, Atlanta’s foremost citizen, sends around a collection basket to encourage women to donate their jewelry. Scarlett donates her hated wedding ring. Melanie mistakes Scarlett’s action for courage and throws her own wedding ring into the basket.

Dr. Meade scandalously proposes that gentlemen must bid to dance with the lady of their choice in order to raise money for the hospital. As a widow, Scarlett is strictly forbidden to dance, but Rhett bids a hundred and fifty dollars in gold on her. To the shock of the crowd, Scarlett accepts and hurries to the dance floor. Rhett tells Scarlett that he admires her beauty and spirit and that he knows the Cause bores her as it bores him. Scarlett pretends to be angry, but she knows that what he says is true.

Summary: Chapter X

The next morning, Atlanta buzzes with gossip about Scarlett’s shocking behavior. Pittypat says that Rhett is a terrible man, but forgives him when he sends a gift: Melanie’s wedding ring, which he bought back. Gerald arrives to confront Rhett and take Scarlett back to Tara in disgrace. He leaves to talk to Rhett and returns in the middle of the night, drunk and penniless from playing poker. In the morning, Scarlett promises to keep his behavior a secret as long as he allows her to stay in Atlanta. He agrees.

Summary: Chapter XI

The following week, Scarlett sneaks into Melanie’s room to read a letter Melanie recently received from Ashley. In it Ashley discusses his doubts about the war, but Scarlett pays little attention to his soul-searching questions. She is simply relieved that Ashley has not written Melanie a love letter. Scarlett puts away the letter, convinced that Ashley still loves her.

Analysis: Chapters VIII–XI

Mitchell divides Gone with the Wind into sixty-three chapters, dividing those chapters into five parts. Each new part begins with a shift in Scarlett’s life and in the life of the South. Chapter VIII, the first chapter of Part Two, marks the end of Scarlett’s comfortable and privileged life at Tara and the beginning of her consciousness of the Civil War. Though the war actually starts in Chapter VII, Scarlett does not move to Atlanta until Chapter VIII, and it is only in Atlanta that she begins to feel the reality of the war. Part Two also marks the beginning of Scarlett’s life as a seventeen-year-old widow. Earlier, back at Tara, gala parties and masses of admirers surround her. In Atlanta her social life changes entirely. Although Scarlett knows some people in Atlanta, she now spends her time with Melanie, Pittypat, and older married or widowed women.