Rabbit, Run by John Updike (novel #242)

There is this quality, in things, of the right way seeming wrong at first. ~ Harry (Rabbit) Angstrom

Rabbit, Run is the first of five in Updike’s “Rabbit” series, which follows the life of Harry (Rabbit) Angstrom. Rabbit has been described as the “middle-class everyman,” presumably of the
American 1950s.

 

Ugh…I hope not. I would borrow from another commentator, different author, different character. For me, Rabbit is “one of the most feckless characters in literature.

 

But before I comment further on this novel, I want to mention that in addition to being a Pulitzer-winning novelist, Updike was a distinguished literary critic. The following are his personal rules for literary criticism:

• Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.
• Give enough direct quotation—at least one extended passage—of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.
• Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy précis.
• Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.
• If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's œuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

I like these rules. They are fair and systematic. So, in deference to the author and the critic, I will attempt to review Rabbit, Run according to Updike’s rules.

 

Harry Angstrom, or Rabbit, a nickname picked up in childhood for a nervous flutter under his nose, is a married father of one, plus one on the way. He has an uninspiring job, demonstrating and selling kitchen gadgets. Rabbit was a big basketball star in high school and daydreams about his not-so-long-ago heroics. He reminds me of the characters from Springsteen’s Glory Days. His wife, is simple, alcoholic, and seven months pregnant.

 

So, I get the “everyman” designation. He has a deep sense of dissatisfaction; how could he not, following the world-saving exploits of the Greatest Generation, selling vegetable peelers, must have felt maddeningly impotent.

 

One evening, after work and getting his honey-do list from Janice…

Rabbit freezes, standing looking at his faint yellow shadow on the white door that leads to the hall, and senses he is in a trap. It seems certain. He goes out.

Meaning he runs. He intends to make it to the Gulf of Mexico and sleep on the sand, but he doesn’t have a map or much of a plan. He stops to ask directions, though Rabbit cannot say precisely where he is headed. He doesn’t get any helpful advice and prepares to leave…

[Rabbit] walks to his car door. He feels through the hairs on the back of his neck the man following him. He gets into the car and slams the door and the farmer is right there, the meat of his face hung in the open door window. He bends down and nearly sticks his face in. His cracked thin lips with a scar tilting toward his nose move thoughtfully. He’s wearing glasses, a scholar. “The only way to get somewhere, you know is to figure out where you’re going before you go there.”

 

Rabbit catches a whiff of whisky. He says in a level way, “I don’t think so.” The lips and spectacles and black hairs poking out of the man’s tear-shaped nostrils show no surprise. Rabbit pulls out, going straight. Everybody who tells you how to act has whisky on their breath.

I’m not very good at determining an author’s intent, and I’m not sure that Updike ever called Rabbit “every-man.” However, it does seem that he is trying to explain a dreadful ennui pervasive in mid-century American men. Did he achieve this? Powerfully, but I’m unconvinced that Rabbit was “every-man.” Most did not drive away, leaving wife and family.

 

I didn’t like Updike’s style of prose at first. There is never a break, never a pause. He doesn’t have chapters and only one or two blank passage of time sections. There might be a name for this, but I don’t know it. I’m certain this is not right, but it was almost like stream of consciousness by the omniscient narrator. I did grow more accustomed to his style, and I think it worked. It may have been intentional to show that life never lets up, leaving Rabbit feeling trapped.

 

I know this…I didn’t like Rabbit. I couldn’t even feel sorry for him most of the time. I just wanted to say, “Dude!?” An unlikeable character does not mean bad storytelling, but maybe Updike intended Rabbit to be at least a little likable. In that regard, for me, he failed. While reading this, I often thought of the eponymous character from Saul Bellow’s The Adventures of Augie March. Augie was immature and his own worst enemy, yet somehow, I liked him. He says of himself…

Lord, what a runner after good things, servant of love, embarker on schemes, recruit of sublime ideas, and good time Charlie.

Now that I’m done, I think I’ve written a fine review. Updike was a clever fellow.

 

My rating:  3 1/2 out of 5 stars

 

 

This novel was my read for the Classics Club Spin #40

 

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Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (novel #187)

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. ~ opening line

 

Rebecca is an early 20^thCentury Gothic novel set mostly in Cornwall England. The title character never appears in the novel, yet she is the central character; morbid, malign, and mysterious. 

 

The unnamed narrator is a 20-something lady’s companion, when she meets a wealthy English widower on holiday in Monte Carlo. After a whirlwind courtship she becomes Mrs. Maxim de Winter, the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter, and the Lady of Manderley.

 

It is the promise of gracious living, a promise quickly broken.

 

The young bride feels out of place and insecure in her new station. She feels like a pet to her worldly husband, simple and foolish to the dignified staff, and miserably intimidated by the overbearing housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers.

 

But more than this, the new Mrs. de Winter learns that Manderley, its staff, and her husband are “haunted” by the late Rebecca de Winter.

 

I was just a bit disappointed in this novel, but I believe it is due more to unfairly high expectations rather than any fault in the story. For one thing I thought it was a ghost story. My mistake, but still a letdown. But more importantly, I’ve read a number of bloggers who love this book, and it just set my expectations very high. If I set aside my preconceptions, I profess the writing is quite beautiful. I felt the story was fascinating, but a bit weak on one, and only one point. I found it unrealistic how quickly and completely the narrator came to terms with her husband’s shocking revelation, and if I believe it, I am rather dismayed by her acceptance of it. 

 

Still, it was a compelling story, marvelously told. This was my first read of du Maurier; And the author’s name is fun to say.

 

My rating 3 1/2 of 5 stars

 

I read this for R.I.P. XVI, and although it wasn’t the ghost story I was expecting, it is a Gothic novel, also sort of a mystery, so it still satisfies the requirements of the challenge. 

 

Excerpts – all by the narrator:

 

I believe there is a theory that men and women emerge finer and stronger after suffering, and that to advance in this or any world we must endure ordeal by fire. 

 

I suppose sooner or later in the life of everyone comes a moment of trial. We all of us have our particular devil who rides us and torments us, and we must give battle in the end.

 

Happiness is not a possession to be prized, it is a quality of thought, a state of mind.

 

…boredom is a pleasing antidote to fear.

 

“If only there could be an invention,” I said impulsively, “that bottled up a memory, like scent. And it never faded, and it never got stale. And then, when one wanted it, the bottle could be uncorked, and it would be like living the moment all over again.”

 

Rebecca, always Rebecca. I should never be rid of Rebecca.

 

I could fight the living, but I could not fight the dead.

 

I was not afraid. I would fight for Maxim. I would lie and perjure and swear, I would blaspheme and pray. Rebecca had not won. Rebecca had lost.

 

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The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (novel #185)

The Corrections is set in the fictional mid-western town of St. Jude. It concerns
senior citizens Albert and Enid Lambert, and their three adult children, Gary, Chip, and Denise. It takes place in the late 1990s with numerous flashbacks to the family’s past.

 

Albert the strict patriarch and retired railroad engineer has Parkinson’s and shows increasing signs of dementia. Enid, deludes herself that he will get better and desperately tries to arrange one last Christmas with the entire family – but it doesn’t look likely. The eldest Gary, is a successful banker, alcoholic, and probably clinically depressed. Chip, is an intellectual, and something of a flake. The youngest Denise, is a rising star chef, but her personal life is a mess. Each suffer guilt, and try in some way to do their duty to their parents, but never to Albert or Enid’s liking. Each of them have left the Mid-West, and its values, to pursue their dreams and passions in the fast-paced bustle of the East Coast. 

 

They didn’t want the things that she and all her friends and all her friends’ children wanted. Her children wanted radically, shamefully other things.

 

Nor do Albert and Enid care for each other’s way of dealing with their new reality. 

 

But against all odds, all three children make it to St. Jude for Christmas. Gary without his wife and children, Denise after being fired, and Chip barely escaping Eastern Europe with his life. But Enid, blissfully ignorant of these details exclaims...

 

This is the best Christmas present I’ve ever had!

 

But the euphoria does not last, as all are confronted with Alfred’s condition, and numerous uncomfortable changes it seems to require.

 

The “corrections” refers to the down-turn in technology sector stock prices of the late 90s, concurrent with events in the novel. It is a metaphor for gradual “corrections” to the lifestyle, behavior, and expectations of the Lambert Family, and on a larger scale, emblematic of the changing American values of the day. 

 

It’s a poignant depiction. Superbly written, believable, quirky, and funny at times. But, I can’t say I enjoyed it. I don’t think it’s meant to be enjoyed, but, in spite of dealing with aging parents myself, I didn’t relate very well to any of the three children.

 

I may be the exception though. The story received high acclaim and resonated with many, winning the National Book Award in 2001.

 

My rating 3 of 5 stars

 

 

The title is an homage to William Gaddis’ novel The Recognitions, which I will be reading sometime in the next year or so. 

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Herzog by Saul Bellow (novel #173)

If I am out of my mind, it’s all right with me, thought Moses Herzog ~ opening line

 

At first, I thought Herzog was clearly not out of his mind. He is lucid, intelligent, and philosophical, but over time I began to wonder about him even as he wonders about himself.

 

Was he a clever man or an idiot?

 

Moses Herzog is a middle-aged Jewish man, author, professor, and philosopher. He has suffered two failed marriages: the first to Daisy – just sad; the second to the manipulative and vindictive Madelaine who seems intent on ruining him socially and professionally.

 

But then – as noted – Herzog may be mad. He is certainly not a reliable narrator, and this novel is very nearly one long monologue of his thoughts and words.

 

And his letters. Herzog writes LOTS of letters; he seldom sends them. They are to famous persons: President Eisenhower, Martin Luther King, Churchill, Nehru, Spinoza – oh yeah – some not even alive. Others are to family, friends, doctors, local politicians. All reflect Herzog’s discontent, and I’d say his fixing of blame on anyone and everyone but himself.

 

I liked Herzog at first; I thought he was the victim. Indeed, in spite of his unreliability, it is clear that Madelaine was pretty awful. But Herzog was his own worst enemy, and engages in far too much navel gazing.

 

But I, a learned specialist in the intellectual history, handicapped by emotional confusion…Resisting the argument that scientific thought has put into disorder all considerations based on value…Convinced that the extent of universal space does not destroy human value, that the realm of facts and that of values are not eternally separated.

 

Blech!

 

One rather insignificant discourse he had with a friend. The friend with emotional problems of his own, recounts how devastated he was by the death of his pet monkey. Herzog muses:

 

A man could do worse than to love his monkey...

 

Maybe it wasn’t insignificant. Herzog had done worse. I still have some sympathy for the fellow. He has a couple crises, including homicidal thoughts, and later arrest, but in the end, perhaps the navel gazing did some good. He seems to find some balance. He quits writing letters, takes responsibility for his life, and under the watchful eye of a loving brother – the reader thinks there may be some hope for Herzog yet.

 

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've read one other work by Saul Bellow [The Adventures of Augie March] which I enjoyed. This one, not as much. 

This novel satisfies a 20^thCentury classic for the Back to the Classics 2021 Challenge.

 

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The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor

The Complete Stories by Flannery O’Connor

 

With grown people, a road led either to heaven or hell, but with children there were always stops along the way where their attention could be turned with a trifle ~ From A View of the Woods

This is the first time I’ve read this or any work by Flannery O’Connor.  It is a collection of short stories, which are decidedly Southern Gothic. 

My rating: 3 1/2 of 5 stars

 

This book satisfies #12, a volume of classic short stories, from The Back to the Classics Challenge2016.  It is not part of the 100 Greatest Novels Quest – cuz, ya know – it isn’t a novel.

I picked up this book years ago after I’d read a quotation somewhere by O’Connor that intrigued me. I don’t remember the quotation, and I didn’t get far into this book at the time – as it failed to intrigue me.  However, I seldom forsake a book forever, and when The 2016 Back to the Classics Challenge called for a collection of short stories, I knew it was time to pick it up again.

And I’m glad I did. Flannery O’Connor seems to have been an astute student of humanity in her short 39 years.

Her stories can you leave you a bit dissatisfied if you are looking for full conflict, resolution, and closure. Her endings are not like that; in fact they are often left quite open ended. Her stories are about humans and their abundant flaws.

I’ve never been entirely clear on the meaning of the term “dirty south” but I got the distinct feeling O’Connor was writing about the dirty south.

The main characters of most of the stories struggled with their place in the world, often disillusioned with society and flatly contemptuous of religion. They were often plagued by well-meaning Christian folk, who simply didn’t understand the protagonist’s existential crisis. If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought O’Connor shared the protagonist’s contempt of religion, as the Christian characters were usually rather simple, while the main character was far more complex – and unhappy.

So, I’m a bit perplexed about her point. O’Connor asserted her stories were neither apologetic nor didactic. Perhaps they were simple observations – let the reader infer the meaning. In that regard, I liked them. They made me think, and they made me feel. Be warned – they feel sad.

The cover has peacock feathers. O’Connor kept a small flock of peafowl and called them The King of the Birds.

The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow (49 down 51 to go)

Lord, what a runner after good things, servant of love, embarker on schemes, recruit of sublime ideas, and good time Charlie. ~ Augie March’s surmise of himself

This is the first time I’ve read The Adventures of Augie March or Saul Bellow. The novel is a picaresque tale and first-person narrative. It is the coming of age tale of Chicago born Augie March, beginning in his childhood, during the great depression. It is told in realist style, with definite existential themes.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

 

This novel satisfies square G4 of 2015 Classics Bingo: Banned book

According to an unnamed editor, Augie is

…one schemer, chancer, romantic, and holy fool. 

Augie himself says: 

I am an American, Chicago born, and go at things as I have taught myself, free-style, and will make the record in my own way: first to knock, first admitted.

As already alluded to, it is a picaresque novel. That was a new one on me: the adventures of a roguish hero of low social class who lives by his wits in a corrupt society. That’s about right. There isn’t much of a plot for me to explain. It begins in Augie’s childhood home with his older brother Simon, another brother George who is mentally disabled, his mother who is going blind, and a live in domineering tenant they call Grandma. Grandma is not really any relation. She does truly seem to care about the March’s though and since Mother March is indecisive and rather simple, Grandma runs things. Augie’s father left before Augie can remember.

Augie never quite seems to find his place in the world, or even know what it is. I’ll relate one phase of Augie’s life that was amusing. He meets a strong-willed heiress, Thea, who professes to love him. At first Augie’s loves Thea's sister, but when his love is not returned, he falls for Thea. Augie falls in love pretty easy. Thea has an absurd idea of buying an eagle, moving to Mexico, training the eagle to catch giant iguanas, selling the iguanas to zoos, and sell the story of the exploit to magazines. Augie blindly goes along, though he has a foreboding sense it will all fail. He names the eagle Caligula, because it sounds like the word Spanish word for eagle: águila. The fiasco does indeed fail, and nearly kills Augie.

In another adventure, Augie is shipwrecked and adrift in a lifeboat with a man who is seriously deluded if not insane.  The novel ends, without really ending. Augie seems to have settled into the closest thing he has known to normalcy, but he is still searching. The reader is hoping for his happiness, but not at all sure Augie has found it. Some observations Augie makes about himself along the way:

I know I longed very much, but I didn’t understand for what.

Studying his brother Simon: 

I watched him study the skill of how to put on a hat, smoke a cigarette, fold a pair of gloves and put them in an inner pocket, and I admired and wondered where it came from, and learned some of it myself. But I never got the sense of luxury he had in doing it.

…something about me suggested adoption.

I was a sucker for it too, family love.

To one of his loves: 

But one of the things I thought is that you and I are the kind of people other people are always trying to fit into their schemes.

Before long the word got around that I was a listener to hard-luck stories, personal histories, gripes, and that I gave advice, and by and by I had a daily clientele, almost like a fortuneteller.

I am a person of hope, and now hopes have settled themselves upon children and a settled life.

I liked Augie though he had his flaws. I often wanted to get in his face and shake some sense into him, but it wouldn’t have done any good. He had several friends, relatives, and loves that tried. He reminded me a little of Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye, but not nearly so annoying.

I learned that a jitney is a nickel from this book.

References to other classic books:

Grandma reads Anna Karenina and Eugene Onegin

Augie reads The Iliad

Augie finds some books that interest him: City of the Sun, Utopia, Discourses and The Prince

Augie refers to Sherlock Holmes, and The House of Usher

Other excerpts:

God may save all, but human rescue is only for a few.

The world doesn’t let hot blood off easy.

He was an Italian, he brought the style of ancient kingdoms with him.

But while no other animal is reprimanded for its noise, for yelling, roaring, screaming, cawing, or braying, there is supposed to be more delicate relief for the human species.

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The Moviegoer by Walker Percy (47 down 53 to go)

I awake in the grip of everydayness. Everydayness is the enemy. ~ Binx Bolling

 

This is the first time I’ve read The Moviegoer or Walker Percy. The novel is an existential tale told through the first-person narrative of John Bickerson (Binx) Bolling, an upper middle-class bachelor, securities trader, and Korean War veteran living in New Orleans in the mid-1950s.

 

I give it 3 1/2 Stars

This novel satisfies square I2 of 2015Classics Bingo: New to me author

 

In the beginning, I liked this story quite a bit. Binx is a decent fellow, successful, responsible, clearly going through some inner turmoil, but not so self-obsessed that he doesn’t step up to familial obligations or societal concerns. He explains early that he has begun a “search” though he is never explicit as to what he is searching for. Over the course of the novel it becomes clear, as clear as these sort of searches can be, that he is searching for meaning, purpose, fulfillment – some way to avoid everydayness.

 

I’m usually not too fond of these characters, ala Holden Caulfield, but Binx is far less angsty. I’d call him a high functioning searcher. I respect that. I’m all for self-actualization, finding the purpose of life, all that – but I have little patience for those who spend so much energy questioning life, that they fail to live it. Everydayness is a fact of life. Binx seems to get that.

 

He finds some satisfaction in making money for himself and his clients and in wooing his secretaries. He seems to be good at both. He also likes going to movies, but this is less of the central plot than you would expect from the title. He does often frame life’s experiences, places, and people in reference to some movie.

 

Besides Binx, there are only two other main characters: his Aunt Emily who raised him after his father died, and Aunt Emily’s step-daughter Kate. Aunt Emily understandably holds some sway over Binx, and although she seems to have genuine affection for him, she is also mildly disappointed and schemes to send him to medical school. Kate is almost like a sister to Binx, but there are hints of affections not so brotherly/sisterly. (discovered siblingly is not a word.) Kate is also searching, but is not quite so high functioning as Binx, definitely more angsty. Aunt Emily of course, is rightly concerned for both and by no means intends to stay out of it and merely hope for the best.

 

I said I liked this story in the beginning, but I was a little disappointed in the end, just a little. Kate’s search reaches a crisis, which brings Binx into it. Aunt Emily is disappointed with both of them, though one more than the other, and the two searchers are confronted with the reality of everydayness. I’ll let you read the story to discover if they stand firm, sell out, give up, or compromise. I was not disappointed in the outcome, but felt there was insufficient stimulus. It was a little anti-climactic.

 

Still an enjoyable, and easy read, a novella by most standards. My e-book was only 180 pages.

 

Binx' commentary about himself:

Me, it is my fortune and misfortune to know how the spirit-presence of a strange place can enrich a man or rob a man but never leave him alone, how, if a man travels lightly to a hundred strange cities and cares nothing for the risk he takes, he may find himself No one and Nowhere.

 

There are numerous allusions to Classic Literature within this novel:

 

Binx claims to: read only “fundamental” books, that is, key books on key subjects, such as War and Peace, the novel of novels…

 

Binx says: Tolstoy and St Exupery were right about war, etc.

 

Binx observes a man on a train reading The Charterhouse of Parma.

 

Binx makes reference to Robinson Crusoe, and at another time to Scarlett and Rhett.

 

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Gravity's Rainbow by Robert Pynchon

Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

After reading one-third of the book, and for reasons that seem good to me, I've decided to eliminate this from my reading list (see rule #6). I will skip to the next novel which now becomes number 47, and all others shift up, and I'll add an alternate to the end of the list.

Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell (29 down 71 to go)

This code was simple. Reverence for the Confederacy, honor to the veterans, loyalty to old forms, pride in poverty, open hands to friends and undying hatred to Yankees.

This is the first time I’ve read Gone With the Wind or Margaret Mitchell. It is a postmodern, epic novel told in third-person narrative. The setting is Georgia, during and after the American Civil war.

 

My rating: 4 1/2 of 5 stars

 

 

 

Although this was the first time I've read Gone With the Wind, it is hardly possible to be unfamiliar with the story. I wish I could have read it without the preconceptions formed from watching the epic film. Preconceptions notwithstanding, the book is a masterpiece, breathtaking, heartbreaking, and thoroughly captivating.

 

I don't intend to constantly compare the book and film, as this review is about the book, but I must begin with one stark difference between book and film. According to the very first line of the book:

Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful...

 

But of course, the actress who so indelibly portrayed her, Vivien Leigh was.

 

The first line continues...

...but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm...

 

And many were caught.

 

Apart from this one point, the movie is quite faithful. However, the book evoked different feelings regarding the main character. In the film, I never liked Scarlett. I felt sorry for her at times and disgusted at others, but I certainly never found her admirable or heroic. In the novel, she was both.

 

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I have some international readers, and it is just possible that some are not familiar with the story. It is the story of Scarlett O'Hara, a vain and spoiled southern belle, the daughter of a rich plantation owner. The plantation, known as Tara is in Georgia and the story begins just before the start of America's Civil War. It recounts the slow destruction of the South and the southern way of life.

 

SPOILER ALERT: This review contains a spoiler.

 

Scarlett is a coquette and all the boys vie for her attention. She adores attention and she adores Ashley Wilkes, the son of another wealthy plantation owner. Scarlett is distressed to learn that Ashley will announce his engagement to plain but sweet Melanie Hamilton. Scarlett is sure she can dissuade Ashley, and she manages to get him alone at a party for that very purpose. Ashley is resolute, and rejects her, but unbeknown to either of them, they are not quite alone. The entire discourse, ending with Scarlett throwing a vase at Ashley, is witnessed by Rhett Butler, who was lying quietly and unnoticed on a couch. He makes himself known after Ashley leaves, and Scarlett is humiliated that her forward and unladylike display was witnessed by this stranger. Rhett is....well, it would take many pages to describe what Rhett is. He is a scoundrel by most accounts, and no gentleman. He is pragmatic, quick witted and sly, and he sets his sights on Scarlett. She finds him handsome and exciting, but also unnerving, as she cannot manipulate him for he is never beguiled by her feminine charms.

 

And news arrives that the South, to be known as the Confederacy, has seceded from union with the United States, and war is declared. All the brave young men rush to join the Army. Before Ashley leaves, he and Melanie are wed and Scarlett marries Melanie's brother out of spite. The rest of the story is the slow destruction and misery of the South, Scarlett's continual pining for Ashley while he's away in the war, and Rhett's continual pursuit of Scarlett. Rhett has many flaws and does not behave according to strict southern code. He is not accepted in good society, and he doesn't care. He has a deep sincere respect for Melanie...who has a heart of gold.

 

Scarlett despises Melanie out of jealousy, but strict upbringing forces her to behave courteously, especially since "Melly" is now her sister-in-law. Melly is oblivious to Scarlett's contempt and her infatuation with Ashley. Melly loves Scarlett, and defends her viciously to any detractors.

 

If you know American history, you know the South had the early victories in the Civil War. Scarlett and her friends are barely touched by it. But the tide turns at Gettysburg, and the Yankees begin pushing south. Still, the Georgians believe they have little to fear. The righteousness of their sacred cause, and the superiority of southern gentlemen would turn the tide again, and victory was certain. If Virginia was the seat of the Confederacy, Georgia was the heart of Dixie. In spite of their confidence, the tide does not turn again, and General Sherman drives his sword viciously into the heart of Dixie.

 

Scarlett and Melanie are living in Atlanta when the Yankees are coming, but they cannot evacuate because Melanie, is small, weak, and nine months pregnant. As Atlanta is falling around them, Scarlett stays with Melanie and helps deliver the baby. Rhett helps them begin their escape, but when he has them only partially safe, he leaves to join the army. Scarlett without food or rest for nearly two days leads the rest of the dangerous escape from Atlanta. She manages to see them all to Tara, but all is not well at home. The privations and hardships of the war have taken Scarlett's beloved mother, and left her father a broken and confused old man. The crops and livestock have been plundered by the Yankee army and winter is coming. Everyone looks to Scarlett for leadership.

 

Scarlett O'Hara, who 

had never raised her hand even to pick up her discarded stocking from the floor or to tie the laces of her slippers...Scarlett, whose little headaches and tempers had been coddled and catered to all her life.

 

Was now mistress of Tara, responsible for her father, two sisters, Melanie and child, and a hand full of slaves. It was a terrible burden; she was only 19. My heart ached for her and I was filled with admiration.

 

I won't retell the entire tale. Things get worse, and then much worse, and then much much worse...and then slowly, very slowly better. Scarlett outlives two husbands she does not love, and eventually marries Rhett, whom she does not love. They are alike, and both enjoy luxury and comfort. Rhett suggests they marry for fun, and Scarlett accepts. It is a tumultuous marriage. At times they are happy, but most of the time they make each other miserable.

 

But I'll stop with the tale, and tell you what I think. Scarlett and Melanie...are THE SOUTH.

 

Melanie was the South that was, that will never be again. She was all that was good about the South: Gentle as a rule, fierce when need be; genteel as a rule, sensible when need be.

 

Scarlett was the South that was nearly destroyed, that would rise again drastically and permanently changed. Scarlett was mercilessly beaten down; she never gave up, never despaired. She survived, never the same again...like the South.

 

Melanie, if you did not know, and cannot guess...does not survive. In the end, Scarlett realizes how much she loves Melly and what a true and great friend she always was. She realized that 

the sword which had flashed between her and the world was sheathed forever.

 

I think to some extent, Rhett and Ashley are the South as well, but their representations are a bit more indistinct. Ashley was fine and elegant...and impotent. Rhett was coarse and common...and strong. Whatever it's worth.

 

Mitchell paints such a charming and glorious picture of the antebellum South, it is easy to forget a few things: like the evil of slavery. For this, there was judgment. That way of life had to die, it deserved to die. It is also easy to forget that the vast majority of southerners never owned slaves, but all of the south would be judged. I think Mitchell is no apologist for slavery, but I believe she loved the South and lamented the beauty that was lost. She reminded me, a Yankee by birth, that there was something gracious and beautiful in the old South, that regrettably, though perhaps necessarily, perished in the reckoning.

 

Quotations:

Narrative about Scarlett: 

all women, including her two sisters, were natural enemies in pursuit of the same prey...man.

 

Scarlett's thoughts of her mother: 

When Ellen intervened with Heaven, Scarlett felt certain that Heaven heard.

 

Scarlett's thoughts: 

A pretty dress and a clear complexion are weapons to vanquish fate.

 

Women knew that a land where men were contented, uncontradicted and safe in possession of unpunctured vanity was likely to be a very pleasant place for women to live.

 

Ashley: 

We should have paid heed to cynics like Butler who knew, instead of statesmen who felt...and talked.

 

Rhett: 

If I am nicer to Mrs. Wilkes, it is because she deserves it. She is one of the very few kind, sincere, and unselfish persons I have ever known. But perhaps you have failed to note these qualities. And moreover, for all her youth, she is one of the few great ladies I have ever been privileged to know.

 

Scarlett's thoughts: 

It had been her experience that the liar was the hottest to defend his veracity, the coward his courage, the ill-bred his gentlemanliness, and the cad his honor. But not Rhett. He admitted everything and laughed and dared her to say more.

 

Rhett upon his decision to join the Army: 

I am annoyed at myself to find that so much quixoticism still lingers in me. But our fair Southland needs every brave man.

 

Narrative regarding Scarlett and the flight from Atlanta: 

She was seeing things with new eyes for, somewhere along the long road to Tara, she had left her girlhood behind her. She was no longer plastic clay, yielding imprint to each new experience. The clay had hardened some time in this indeterminate day which had lasted a thousand years. Tonight was the last time she would ever be ministered to as a child. She was a woman now and youth was gone.

 

Scarlett: 

As God is my witness, as God is my witness, the Yankees aren't going to lick me. I'm going to live through this, and when it's over, I'm never going to be hungry again. No nor any of my folks. If I have to steal or kill...as God is my witness, I'm never going to be hungry again.

 

Ashley: 

Scarlett, before the war, life was beautiful. There was a glamor to it, a perfection and a completeness and a symmetry to it like Grecian art. Maybe it wasn't so to everyone. I know that now. But to me, living at Twelve Oaks, there was a real beauty to living. I belonged in that life. I was a part of it. And now it is gone and I am out of place in this new life, and I am afraid.

 

Scarlett's thoughts about Ashley and Melly: 

Melly and he were always talking such foolishness, poetry and books and dreams and moonrays and star dust.

 

Scarlett appealing to Ashley to run away with her: 

There's nothing to keep us here.

Ashley: Nothing, he said quietly, nothing except honor.

 

Narrative about Scarlett: 

In the grayness of the parlor she fought a quick decisive battle with the three most binding ties of her soul...the memory of Ellen, the teachings of her religion and her love for Ashley.

 

Tommy (minor character): 

It's a poor person and a poor nation that sits down and cries because life isn't precisely what they expected it to be.

 

Narrative about Scarlett: 

Sometimes she thought that all the people she had ever known were strangers except Rhett.

 

Scarlett's thoughts: 

What earthly good was a sacrifice if no one knew about it?

 

Rhett: 

Take my handkerchief, Scarlett. Never, at any crisis of your life, have I known you to have a handkerchief.

 

Scarlett to Rhett: 

But I love you.

Rhett: That's your misfortune.

 

Scarlett after Rhett leaves her: 

I'll think of it all tomorrow, at Tara. I can stand it then. Tomorrow, I'll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.

 

Film Rendition: The 1939 film starring Vivien Leigh as Scarlett, Clark Gable as Rhett, and Olivia de Havilland as Melanie, won 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and Best Actress for Leigh. It was nominated for three more. And like the book, it is a masterpiece. The casting is perfect....oh, maybe they should have found a way to make Vivien Leigh less beautiful, but otherwise perfect.

 

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