The Yankees did not defeat her in the war. And they won't succeed this time either!
Defending her home Tara has always been the goal of all Scarlett's efforts, as the homeland is sacred to the Southron. Neither the privations of the postwar Reconstruction South (1865-1877) during General Grant's presidency nor the parlor notion that business was not fit for a proper woman would change that. The Yankee army didn't beat this self-righteous bitch - and some chatter, no less. The intrepid heroine continues to profess the right to live her own life in spite of everything, so she takes over her suitor Frank's sister and, shortly thereafter, the reins of the family business. The sawmill and the wholesale timber trade flourish under her direction, probably because it is not advisable for anyone to antagonize her. What about the inscrutable Rhett Butler, who, though he never acts according to Scarlett's wishes, is willing to come to the rescue when her disillusioned relatives become tragically involved with the Ku Klux Klan? Hopefully, the two constantly passing by each other will become human when they finally get married and have a daughter together. Or is this attempt also doomed to be blown away like chaff by the wind, for selfless love is no substitute for ordinary self-love?
The second half of the epic novel that won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for its uncompromising reckoning with romantic clichés. In its Hollywood adaptation, Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable clash on screen.
