Gone With the Wind 1-100

Scarlett O’Hara is a teenage girl growing up in Georgia during the time just before the Civil War. She seems very vain, but also very independent and strong. She’s not particularly beautiful, but she’s still very attractive to all the men around because she’s different than the other girls around. She thinks it’s ridiculous that girls should act weak and stupid to find a man. Scarlett’s dad, Gerald, came over from Ireland when he was younger. He started with nothing, but ended up making a name for himself. He is very kind, but also very outspoken. Her mother, Ellen, is very quiet and solemn. She used to be more carefree as a teenager, but the man she loved died, so she kind of married Gerald as a second choice. Scarlett really admires her mother. Scarlett is in love with Ashley Wilkes, a boy who lives on a neighboring plantation, and she always thought he was in love with her too. However, her friends Brent and Stuart tell her that Ashley is planning to announce his engagement to his cousin the next day. Scarlett goes to her dad with this problem, but he doesn’t seem super concerned about it. He tells her that she shouldn’t be concerned with Ashley because he’s not right for her anyway. Scarlett decides that maybe Ashley doesn’t know that she’s in love with him, so she decides that at the barbecue the next day, she’s going to tell him. She’s fully convinced that he’s just going to drop his engagement right away and elope with her. She gets to the barbecue, and immediately begins flirting with every guy there in hopes of attracting Ashley’s attention.