Gone with the Wind Part VII

Unfortunately, Scarlett pays a visit to Ashley at the mill, because Melanie has asked her to distract him while she prepares a surprise birthday party. He and Scarlett talk, and remember old times before the war when life was happy and luxurious, and he kisses her in a brotherly way. India Wilkes, Ashley's sister, who has always disliked Scarlett, and is rather sour spinster, finds them in an embrace and rushes to tell everyone in the town. Rhett is furious and he insists that Scarlett face her detractors at the birthday party. She is scared because she knows that most of the local elite do not like her because she has made more of a success of her businesses than they have, including the men, and she will be sneered at now for her apparent flirtation with Ashley. She has also had a reputation as a flirt which doesnt help. She begs Rhett to let her stay home but he fairly drags her to the party, wanting her to be humiliated. Scarlett finds that Melanie who has always been loyal to her, welcomes her and asks her to help receive the guests. She is wretched but faces it out, hating Melanie for her goodness. When she gets back home, Rhett is waiting and they have a violent row, which ends by his telling her that he's going to only have one person in his bed that night.. and he forces her upstairs and rapes her. THe book was written in the 1930s, so the idea of a woman enjoying rape was not unknown at the time, but it is distasteful to modern minds. Scarlett finds that she is overwhelmed by Rhett's sexual force, and is surprised when the next morning he tells her he is going away on a trip, and he takes Bonnie with him. Soon afterwards Scarlett finds that she is pregnant. She hopes that Rhett will return and that their marriage will work out, if they have another baby. She is realising that she and Ashley are not compatible and that her love for him was just an illusion. A couple of months later, Rhett returns with Bonnie who has missed her mother. He is not willing to show vulnerabilty to his wife, knowing that she will domineer over him if she realises that he cares for her. They soon have a row, and she is angry and resentful when she tells him she's pregnant.. He laughs at her and says that she might be lucky and have a miscarriage. Angrily, she lashes out at him and slips on the stairs. She does have a miscarriage and is very ill. She is delerious and calls for Rhett but he is drunk and weeping over the miscarriage...