Gone With the Wind Chapter 40 Summary

How It All Goes Down

  • There're worries that somebody is going to say something nasty to Suellen for trying to get Gerald to betray the Cause at the funeral.
  • And if someone says something, Will and Ashley will have to feud.
  • Will promises to handle it, which is usually how it goes anyway—Ashley doesn't really handle anything.
  • Except for helping Tony murder people, that is—Ashley was good for that.
  • Anyway, Will says right up front that he's marrying Suellen, and then gives a lovely speech about Gerald and how he was really dead since Ellen died.
  • Then he asks that no one else speak, and subtly alludes to the fact that Scarlett's pregnant and needs to get in the house, and there no one can say anything bad about Suellen and it's all solved.
  • Scarlett has a talk with Grandma Fontaine about whether Suellen is lowering herself by marrying Will; Scarlett doesn't think she is and doesn't actually care anyway and is bored.
  • Scarlett is often bored.
  • Scarlett's cranky when Grandma says that Ashley is a pitiful specimen, even though he is.
  • She realizes Grandma was just winding her up to get her mind off her father's death, and so decides that none of what she said about Ashley was true.
  • Love is blind, and in this instance, also really remarkably dense.