GWTW--I have a burning question!

LauraMax

LauraMax

Cathlete
No, not as in Atlanta burning. ;)

I'm finally making some headway into the book--I'm about 400+ pages in now--and here's my Q: what in god's name did Scarlett see in Ashley? I wonder this every time I read the book or see the movie. He's a flippin wimp! LOL! Rhett is such a MAN. I cannot for the life of me figure out why Scarlett loves sissy boy Ashley & can't admit she loves rich & sexy Rhett. :confused:

At first it seems like Ashley's a schoolgirl crush that's made all the more enticing by his rejection of her. You'd think she'd get over it right? So why the years-long yearning for him? I just don't get it. I really don't get it. Is it just b/c she wants what she can't have? Scarlett grows up an awful lot during the book. It seems like she'd have let this go after a while.

Pat Conroy says something so stupid in his intro--that no matter what women say, they secretly would rather have a man like Ashley than like Rhett. Bullsh!t! Sorry Pat, please don't speak for us ladies. Give me a man like Rhett any day! I can't stand men who aren't strong. Ashley is most definitely NOT strong.
 
It's been years since I read the book or saw the movie, but I never understood that either. I think she just *thinks* she loves Ashley because she can't have him.
 
jbliff said:
It's been years since I read the book or saw the movie, but I never understood that either. I think she just *thinks* she loves Ashley because she can't have him.
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And it takes her 10 years to figure out Rhett's the one she loves, not Ashley. I admire Scarlett & all that, but what a dumba$$! :eek::D;)
 
The Ashley thing has always bothered me too. I never got what she saw in him. I agree, it was only because she couldn't have him that made him at all attractive.
 
--I DEFINITELY though Leslie Howard was amazingly well-cast.

I think Scarlett loves Ashley because he reminds her of her own mother. I know this sounds weird, but hear me out: Scarlett's mother is presented as a refined, elegant, soft-spoken member of the Southern aristocracy. It is made clear that Scarlet really takes after her father, but she doesn't admire him the way she does her mother.

Ashley is well-educated (hey - didn't he go to UVA?), and inherits "old" southern money, and has refined manners, etc, essentially the same class and social standing as Scarlett's mum. Scarlett always aspires to be more like her mother, and I think she believes that if she married Ashley, she would be. OK, no way would it ever actually happen, but Scarlett isn't exactly the most self-aware heroine.

Also, I think it's because she can't have him. And because there's the implication that she couldn't understand him the way Melanie does.

But I couldn't agree more, Rhett's one of the best-written male characters I've ever read, in addition to being so obviously a billion times awesomer than Ashley. I just think it's unfortunate that they were both active supporters of the KKK. That really ruins the sex appeal.
 
Afreet said:
--I DEFINITELY though Leslie Howard was amazingly well-cast.

I think Scarlett loves Ashley because he reminds her of her own mother. I know this sounds weird, but hear me out: Scarlett's mother is presented as a refined, elegant, soft-spoken member of the Southern aristocracy. It is made clear that Scarlet really takes after her father, but she doesn't admire him the way she does her mother.

Ashley is well-educated (hey - didn't he go to UVA?), and inherits "old" southern money, and has refined manners, etc, essentially the same class and social standing as Scarlett's mum. Scarlett always aspires to be more like her mother, and I think she believes that if she married Ashley, she would be. OK, no way would it ever actually happen, but Scarlett isn't exactly the most self-aware heroine.

Also, I think it's because she can't have him. And because there's the implication that she couldn't understand him the way Melanie does.

But I couldn't agree more, Rhett's one of the best-written male characters I've ever read, in addition to being so obviously a billion times awesomer than Ashley. I just think it's unfortunate that they were both active supporters of the KKK. That really ruins the sex appeal.
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God yes! I could kick Leslie Howard's a$$ with both hands tied behind my back! :D Jeez, they even found a man w/a woman's name! :p

Afreet, you might have a point. Perhaps a combo of trying to hang on to a paradise lost, & of a spoiled girl used to getting everything she wanted for once not. ;)

Debbie, it's a great story & a fabulous read! For all its faults, it's fun & very well written.
 
LauraMax said:
Debbie, it's a great story & a fabulous read! For all its faults, it's fun & very well written.
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I know I've tried reading this book several times and just couldn't get into it. I loved the movie, though.

Right now I'm reading the Twilight series. Very good books.
 
Yes, it's riveting!

Margaret Mitchell could write like nobody's business, and it's a totally compelling novel. That's why I feel so conflicted about it - as a reader, with no politics attached (I can't really do "no politics", but if I could), I just loved it as a story, I loved the characters, I was absolutely drawn in by it and was totally transported by Mitchell's prose.

I was about to write that I thought Clark Gable was also a brilliant choice, but then, as I ran down the list of characters in my mind, I think everyone was extremely well-done in the film - Olivia de Havilland was pretty transcendent as Mellie. And Vivien Leigh - wow.
 
Part of her attraction to Ashley is because he is neuter and safe; until Scarlett's rocking night with Rhett towards the end of the book - and throughout her marriage to the other flaccid men, Charles and Frank - her sexuality is that of an adolescent schoolgirl who has high romantic ideals but essentially lacks anything even approaching sexual maturity. This I think is due to the time and place she was raised, when "good" women were schooled in staying forever immature in regards to their own nature and desires. Rhett is not constrained by social mores and so is able to help Scarlett complete her journey to sexual maturity.

And thank god for that. I'm sure Scarlett was. :D :eek: :p

Sparrow
 
It was perfectly casted.

And I have to admit, I hate Melly, Little Miss Perfect that she is! :mad: Jesus woman, grow a backbone already! :p

Scarlett is much more my style. ;)
 
sparrow13 said:
Part of her attraction to Ashley is because he is neuter and safe; until Scarlett's rocking night with Rhett towards the end of the book - and throughout her marriage to the other flaccid men, Charles and Frank - her sexuality is that of an adolescent schoolgirl who has high romantic ideals but essentially lacks anything even approaching sexual maturity. This I think is due to the time and place she was raised, when "good" women were schooled in staying forever immature in regards to their own nature and desires. Rhett is not constrained by social mores and so is able to help Scarlett complete her journey to sexual maturity.

And thank god for that. I'm sure Scarlett was. :D :eek: :p

Sparrow
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Yeah Mitchell makes note of that early in the book. How Charles didn't do anything for her, & her mother told her it was a woman's duty & she wouldn't like it. :rolleyes: I swear, Ellen nearly ruined that poor girl's life!

OK that was one of THE SEXIEST MOVIE SCENES EVER! Without showing skin! One minute Rhett is carrying her up a staircase while she's fighting him, the next minute she's in bed wearing his shirt & singing. :eek:

Who needs nudity? That scene told us everything we needed to know & then some. ;)
 
Afreet said:
Margaret Mitchell could write like nobody's business, and it's a totally compelling novel. That's why I feel so conflicted about it - as a reader, with no politics attached (I can't really do "no politics", but if I could), I just loved it as a story, I loved the characters, I was absolutely drawn in by it and was totally transported by Mitchell's prose.

I was about to write that I thought Clark Gable was also a brilliant choice, but then, as I ran down the list of characters in my mind, I think everyone was extremely well-done in the film - Olivia de Havilland was pretty transcendent as Mellie. And Vivien Leigh - wow.
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Just a tad off topic, but I can never resist quoting (with more than just a snicker in my voice) what the president of the Atlanta chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy said about Vivien Leigh being cast as Scarlett: "Better an English girl than a Yankee!"
Those Rebs never give up, yes???
Keith
 
sparrow13 said:
Part of her attraction to Ashley is because he is neuter and safe; and throughout her marriage to the other flaccid men, Charles and Frank -



Ouch - poor guys, no wonder there was such a population discrepancy between North and South ;)
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Ok, I have to say that while I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the characters were fascinating, I can't say that I "liked" any of the main characters. I do think that Scarlett's feelings for Ashley and her ideas of what Ashley was like were largely a figment of her imagination. The things she saw in him didn't exist in his reality. But, Scarlett seemed to live in her own world, and she seemed at a loss to really understand anyone around her, she simply couldn't comprehend how people could not be like her and have her thoughts. She didn't even really understand herself.

I have the DVD from the library right now, but I haven't had time to watch it yet. I am about half way through "Scarlett" though.

On a side note, I didn't get a chance to ask about it, but when we were next door at their Christmas party they have a large section of the basement wall covered with photos from "Gone With the Wind." I'm pretty sure I know which of the guys would be a fan, so I'll have to ask him about it next time I see him.
 
Okay...your posts are so interesting and I loved this movie, so I just ordered my copy of GWTW. This will be my reading for awhile once it arrives!

Just another example of how this site enables the spending of my free time AND my money!!:D

I will be examining this book with y'all soon!!
Jenn
 
Boy Laura you ask the good questions. I was just thinking that myself this morning when I was reading the "by the fence" scene. She herself would occasionally admit to herself that she did not understand him and that he was a wuss. I think it was just that first love that she could not let go and combined with the fact that it was that unrequited (sp?) love. I think the one-sided loves are always the tougher for people to let go. Especially when they are strung along by works, gestures or actions by the other party. Just like Ashley really strung Scarlett along by his actions.

Oh, I love that staircase scene too!
 
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