Gone With the Wind Chapter 25 Summary

How It All Goes Down

  • Scarlett wakes up sore from the ride and suffering a hangover.
  • Then her dad shows up babbling vaguely about how he's waiting for Ellen; he appears to have lost his mind.
  • Needless to say, this is a bad start to the morning.
  • Scarlett starts giving orders about catching pigs and getting the plantation together, and she threatens Pork that she'll send him away, which terrifies him.
  • Scarlett goes to see the Wilkes house, which is burned to the ground. She is heartbroken, but she shakes it off, because she's tough like that.
  • And she promises that she will never be hungry again. And something of tenderness goes out of her.
  • This is the big moment where she stops being a spoiled girl and becomes a determined woman who can win against all odds, spewing gumption at every step.
  • So she sets about the difficult work of finding food to feed everybody on Tara.
  • Wade is scared and miserable, but Scarlett just bullies him. She bullies everyone.
  • Scarlett's sisters recover slowly, and Scarlett realizes her mother's code of femininity and kindness isn't any good.
  • She still loves Tara, though, even if she's cranky with everyone who isn't her piece of dirt.