# Gone With The Wind--So...did Scarlett ever win Rhett back?



## Ann Herrick (Sep 24, 2010)

And, if so, how?  (I actually wrote something about this in response to another thread, then thought it would make a fun topic all by itself.   )

I remember reading that Olivia deHavilland and Vivien Leight speculated that Scarlett encountered Rhett at a dinner party in Charlestown six weeks later and things progressed from there.

I think Scarlett would have won Rhett back, because (in the book) he says he'll come back to Atlanta and visit just often enough that his absence won't cause too much of a scandal, and also to see Scarlett's two children from her previous marriages to whom he's been a step-father. I figure, Scarlett, at the end of the book, having finally realized she loved Rhett, would figure out a way to show him during these visits that 1) she did really love him and 2) that she he could now trust her with his heart.  There might still be some obstacle about Ashley, since he would be (according to the book) "clinging to Scarlett's skirts," but that would quickly be straightened out when Rhett saw that Scarlett's concern for Ashley was as a friend only now.

What do you think?


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## LaRita (Oct 28, 2008)

I think the question is did Scarlett REALLY grow up and realize what she really wanted, or is the end of the novel just another case of her wanting what she can't have and scorning what she can?  If she really did grow up, I think she'd get Rhett back eventually after she quit expecting it.  He'd be too wary to trust her word; she'd have to show maturity and acceptance of others' actions and desires before he'd even consider it.


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

There was an 'officially sanctioned' sequel written, I think it's called "Scarlet."

And it started out very well but then petered out and got lame. If I remember correctly, no, she did not end up back with Rhett, for all her efforts.

Edit: She did end up back with him, for a time, but it was not love. That ship had sailed.


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

9MMare said:


> There was an 'officially sanctioned' sequel written, I think it's called "Scarlet."


Yes, I've seen the movie "Scarlet". Unfortunately, halfway through it my guests had to go home, taking the video with them. I never saw how it ended.


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## Ann Herrick (Sep 24, 2010)

I didn't read the "Scarlet" sequel, but someone gave me the "Rhett" book, so I did read that. It was kind of interesting in filling in his background, but I thought there were too many "how characters were really feeling" to it. In that one SPOILER ALERT (just in case, lol) they did get back together and it was love in that book. 

I just heard on the radio that this year is the 75th anniversary of the publication of GWTH, and that Mitchell wrote the last chapter first.

What gets me is that for the first two thirds of the book Rhett seems to totally know Scarlett, better than she knows herself, but the last third he doesn't see (nor does she) that she really enjoys talking everything over with Rhett and other signs that she cares more than she knows (or can admit, seemingly stuck on her origiginally-teenage crush on Ashley). He loves her and yet lets her think that he wanted her only as a "prize," so, really, even if she did recognize in time that she loved him, would she have taken the chance on opening her heart to him?


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## GerrieFerrisFinger (Jun 1, 2011)

I tried to read the sequel to GWTW, Scarlet, which was a snoozer, so did not finish. 

I believe that she did win Rhett back because He was truly in love with her and despite losing their child, he would get over it and he would go back. Love wins out. Fickle Scarlet would throw him over in a beartbeat for a richer man. Money talks.


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.


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## Grace Elliot (Mar 14, 2011)

I see Scarlet and Rhett as an Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton relationship...cant live together and cant live apart.


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## Adam Kisiel (Jun 20, 2011)

No she did not win him back. He realized that he does not need her anymore.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

No, I threw him out.


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## Kathy Bennett (Jun 15, 2011)

I like to think that Scarlett was resourceful enough that she was able to win Rhett back.  But in reality, I doubt it would have worked...as much as it pains me to say it.


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## Ann Herrick (Sep 24, 2010)

Also, since YA is my thing, I think a prequel of GWTW would be interesting. Scarlett from 14-16 (I think she was 16 at beginning of GWTW), and her young-teen infatuation with Ashley, her discovery that she could hold the interest of many suitors, her early frustration of never quite having Ashley as a suitor.


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## KindleChickie (Oct 24, 2009)

I think Rhett should end up with the prostitute with a heart of gold.  Scarlett should end up in social ruin and maybe find love with the exslave who saved her in the shanty town.  Now that would be an interesting read...


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

Ann Herrick said:


> Also, since YA is my thing, I think a prequel of GWTW would be interesting. Scarlett from 14-16 (I think she was 16 at beginning of GWTW), and her young-teen infatuation with Ashley, her discovery that she could hold the interest of many suitors, her early frustration of never quite having Ashley as a suitor.


Hey, you should write that book. I'd read it.  To be honest, I always hated Scarlet and Ashley and liked Rhett and Melony. I know a lot of people think Melony was a push-over but I think she was just way too nice for the people she fell in with. Would've loved to see her punch out Ashley sometime but I guess that'd be a wee bit out of character.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

I didn't read Scarlet. Absolutely could not bring myself to pick up the book. I did watch the movie they made of it. I lost count of the number of times she fainted and just couldn't stand to watch the rest of the movie. 

Just from reading the original, I don't think Scarlet won him back. His pride was too bruised from her constant rejection of him and whether or not he loved her would have made no difference in the end. Sometimes, love just isn't enough.


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## Jdswifey (Dec 22, 2010)

I LOVED GWTW and have since I can remember, I was sort of leery about reading Scarlett and it took me YEARS to finally read it, as a matter of fact it was the last book I read before I got my kindle  it wast HORRIBLE but I didn't LOVE it like I did GWTW..... Just a matter of opinion i guess. Margaret Mitchell didn't really want a squeal written for her book she just wanted it to end the way she wrote it... so its all in prospective.


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## Ann Herrick (Sep 24, 2010)

Dara England said:


> Hey, you should write that book. I'd read it.  To be honest, I always hated Scarlet and Ashley and liked Rhett and Melony. I know a lot of people think Melony was a push-over but I think she was just way too nice for the people she fell in with. Would've loved to see her punch out Ashley sometime but I guess that'd be a wee bit out of character.


Scarlett and Ashley would have been a disaster as a couple and Ashley knew it and even pretty much told Scarlett that. The thing about Ashley was that he seemed to want Scarlett to still have that crush/love thing for him, because he could probably have nipped it in the bud if he'd been honest with her and, instead of telling her married Melanie because they were so much alike (which was true), had told her that he also LOVED Melanie (which it sure seemed to me he did), and that while he found Scarlett incredibly attractive and enjoyed having her lust after him, he DID NOT LOVE SCARLETT "that way!" He gave her false hope to cling to all those years. Boo, hiss. If only Scarlett could have read that book, "He's Just Not That Into You" (but he enjoys stringing you along). 

I guess Margaret Mitchell did a pretty good job of developing her characters, as here we are discussing them as if they were real, 75 years after the book came out!


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## drenfrow (Jan 27, 2010)

There was a recent thread going about how do people like the endings of books to be and I am definitely in the "neat and tidy" camp, but even as I was responding to that thread I was thinking how GWTW is a perfect example of a brilliant yet unresolved ending. I think they might have gotten back together but it would have been some years down the road, maybe later in their lives.



Grace Elliot said:


> I see Scarlet and Rhett as an Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton relationship...cant live together and cant live apart.


Yes, I see them this way too.

I read _Scarlett_ when it first came out, with much trepidation, and sure enough, it was not a worthy successor to the original. I'm not into books that expand on other author's characters. I absolutely adore Jane Austen and there are a gazillion of those types of books (What happened after...?) but I just can't read them.


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## navythriller (Mar 11, 2011)

drenfrow said:


> There was a recent thread going about how do people like the endings of books to be and I am definitely in the "neat and tidy" camp, but even as I was responding to that thread I was thinking how GWTW is a perfect example of a brilliant yet unresolved ending.


I agree that it's a brilliant ending, but I don't see it as unresolved. I've read GWTW three or four times over the past thirty years, and never for a second did I think that Rhett would ever come back to Scarlett. He has the classic marks of a man who's been burned too many times by the same woman. From Rhett's perspective, it doesn't matter if Scarlett has finally changed. He is done with her.

I'm not suggesting that my opinion is definitive. That's just how the ending of GWTW feels to me. Scarlett has burned her bridges.


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## UnicornEmily (Jul 2, 2011)

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that Margaret Mitchell was insistent that they NEVER got back together, but I have no idea where the information came from, so I can't be certain it is correct. I have a friend who rants every time she sees a _Gone With the Wind_ sequel, because she is adamant that Margaret Mitchell knew what she was talking about with this.

I don't know, personally. I could see them getting back together; I could see the bridge being completely burned, with no hope of relationship redemption. I think it's more likely they never get back together, but it seems to me it's open to interpretation.


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## Scribejohn (Jul 2, 2011)

Also, since YA is my thing, I think a prequel of GWTW would be interesting. ..

Yes, that could be an interesting take on the situation. I noticed last year that an author in fact had done the same with a Young Sherlock Holmes series... taking him from 12-18, pre his main detective years as an amateur (while at school) sleuth.


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## drenfrow (Jan 27, 2010)

navythriller said:


> Scarlett has burned her bridges.


But come on now, tomorrow_ is_ another day! 

What I really love is how old the book is and yet how fresh the writing still seems and how we all love to talk about it.  I've read it a number of times but it's been several years, I need to put it back in the TBR pile.


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## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

navythriller said:


> ... and never for a second did I think that Rhett would ever come back to Scarlett. He has the classic marks of a man who's been burned too many times by the same woman. From Rhett's perspective, it doesn't matter if Scarlett has finally changed. He is done with her.
> 
> I'm not suggesting that my opinion is definitive. That's just how the ending of GWTW feels to me. Scarlett has burned her bridges.


That's exactly how I've always felt about the ending to GWTW. Many fans of the story focus on Scarlett concerning the ending, wondering what she could do to get Rhett back. They sometimes seem to forget Rhett's perspective, as if he has little say in the matter, and I've always felt he was done with Scarlett no matter what. Would they meet again? Likely. Love? No, that ship has sailed ... and that's after it had already crashed and burned a few times. I'm thinking Rhett is going to live like a bachelor the rest of his days.


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## navythriller (Mar 11, 2011)

Ty Johnston said:


> I'm thinking Rhett is going to live like a bachelor the rest of his days.


Me too.


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## Julia444 (Feb 24, 2011)

I think you're right in saying that it's all a matter of how well Scarlett is able to convince Rhett that she has truly changed, and that she's discovered the one she really loves.

I always told myself that their separation was temporary; but then again, I'm a romantic.  

Julia


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## Ann Herrick (Sep 24, 2010)

In addition to Scarlett finally realizing that she really loves Rhett, she has realized _for the first time_ that he really loves her, when Melanie, just before she dies, tells Scarlett, "Be kind to Captain Butler. He loves you so."


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## Grace Elliot (Mar 14, 2011)

PS I thought Ashley was desperately mis-caste in the movie. He just wasnt the sort of man who would infatuate a feisty young girl like Scarlet. It almost ruins the movie for me....


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## Ann Herrick (Sep 24, 2010)

Grace Elliot said:


> PS I thought Ashley was desperately mis-caste in the movie. He just wasnt the sort of man who would infatuate a feisty young girl like Scarlet. It almost ruins the movie for me....


I agree. (And Leslie Howard himself felt that he was too old for the part.) Offhand I can't think of an actor from that time who would have had the dashing good looks that Ashely was supposed to have that caused Scarlett to be so besotted by him, and yet would be believable as a man who wanted to live a life filled with books and quiet discussion. Maybe Gary Cooper could have pulled it off? Not sure if he would have been the right age for the role then or not.


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## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

Ann Herrick said:


> Offhand I can't think of an actor from that time who would have had the dashing good looks that Ashely was supposed to have that caused Scarlett to be so besotted by him, and yet would be believable as a man who wanted to live a life filled with books and quiet discussion.


Perhaps a very reserved and restrained Cary Grant?


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

I always thought her "I'll think about it tomorrow..." was intended to show that she hadn't matured, but that is my take on it. I must admit it's not a novel I'm tremendously fond of. Rather superficial characterisation I thought.


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## Ann Herrick (Sep 24, 2010)

Ty Johnston said:


> Perhaps a very reserved and restrained Cary Grant?


It's hard for me to picture him in a role from that era, but that might have worked. Certainly he had the drop-dead gorgeous looks combined with the bookishness that would have made a good Ashley. Longing for CG for 10 years is a lot more believable than longing for LH for ten years.



navythriller said:


> I agree that it's a brilliant ending, but I don't see it as unresolved. I've read GWTW three or four times over the past thirty years, and never for a second did I think that Rhett would ever come back to Scarlett. He has the classic marks of a man who's been burned too many times by the same woman. From Rhett's perspective, it doesn't matter if Scarlett has finally changed. He is done with her.
> 
> I'm not suggesting that my opinion is definitive. That's just how the ending of GWTW feels to me. Scarlett has burned her bridges.


But Rhett burned Scarlett, too.

Remember how happy she was the morning after being carried up that staircase by Rhett and obviously enjoyed what turned out to be a "night of passion" for her. She looks excited when Rhett comes in the room, then he snottily "apologizes" for the night before and tells her he's taking off for a long trip with Bonnie.

Then, remember how thrilled she was to see him when he came back from his trip with Bonnie? He made some sarcastic comment and the smile just dropped off Scarlett's face. Then, of course, she tells him she's pregnant, he makes a snarky comment about paternity and that's when she tells him she wishes it was anyone's baby but his, then tumbles down the stairs.

Of course, after the night of passion, Scarlett could have just blurted out to Rhett the second he walked in the door, "Hey, last night was fantastic, let's do it again tonight!" That might have gotten his attention. 

Maybe a theme of the book is that people should be more honest about their feelings. Scarlett did have those above-mentioned stirrings of love for Rhett, but too quickly squelched them when Rhett was snarky. Ashley didn't love Scarlett, but he let her think he did. Rhett did love Scarlett, but let her think he didn't.


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## Lyndl (Apr 2, 2010)

Ann Herrick said:


> But Rhett burned Scarlett, too.


Interesting how_ almost _ everyone in this thread takes Rhett's side and implies that Scarlet received her just desserts ! Rhett needs to wear a share of the blame.

That so-called sequel was awful! When it descended into magic & witchcraft it lost all credibility for me.


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## Chloista (Jun 27, 2009)

Regarding being honest about feelings:

1.  Rhett couldn't be honest with Scarlett about his feelings because she was too young and self-centered to have treated those feelings with care or empathy.  Scarlett was a very pragmatic young woman, but emotionally she was a child and stayed that way for much of the book.  If Rhett had told her his feelings, he would have just been another conquest for the vain Scarlett -- so he kept them hidden, hoping she'd grow up.

2.  Scarlett couldn't be honest about her feelings because she was lacking in introspection and never really knew what she was feeling.  For 80% of the book, she continued to view Ashley in the same way she viewed him as a 14 year old child -- idealistically, romantically -- in spite of his being very different from her emotionally and intellectually.  She had the heart of a 14 year old throughout the book, in spite of the harsh experiences she endured.  

3.  Ashley was honest to himself about his feelings for Scarlett, and was transparent to Butler when it came to those feelings:  he lusted after Scarlett, but he didn't love her.  And even if he had told Scarlett that (although being a "gentleman," he probably would have sugarcoated it), she wouldn't have "got" it.  She refused to see Ashley as he WAS; she saw him as she wanted him to be.


I do not believe Scarlett ever got Rhett back.  Too much water under the bridge.  Rhett was 45 (and an old 45) at the close of the book:  he was tired of Scarlett and tired of drama; he just wanted peace.


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## Ann Herrick (Sep 24, 2010)

JRTomlin said:


> I always thought her "I'll think about it tomorrow..." was intended to show that she hadn't matured, but that is my take on it. I must admit it's not a novel I'm tremendously fond of. Rather superficial characterisation I thought.


I do think it's partly that she's still going by her old philosophy of not thinking about something until tomorrow, but also that she was and always will be a survivor. Mammy said that "the good Lord gave Scarlett the strength to bear whatever she had to bear." So, Scarlett might get Rhett back, but if she never does, she'll survive. She'll go back to Tara, and even if the plan for a campaign to win Rhett back never comes to fruition, she'll have Tara as a real home for her and her children.


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## UnicornEmily (Jul 2, 2011)

Ann Herrick said:


> Maybe a theme of the book is that people should be more honest about their feelings.


Amen to that. Though I agree there were understandable reasons every character managed to fail about this.



Ann Herrick said:


> Of course, after the night of passion, Scarlett could have just blurted out to Rhett the second he walked in the door, "Hey, last night was fantastic, let's do it again tonight!" That might have gotten his attention.


Yes! That's EXACTLY what she should have done! That definitely would have gotten his attention! Ah, well, hindsight's 20-20 . . .


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## Theresaragan (Jul 1, 2011)

Thanks for the laughs everyone, but the answer is Yes, of course, Scarlet got him back. There's no way that woman would give up...ever. Poor Rhett doesn't have a chance in hell of getting away.


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