How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"They don't talk of anything else," thought Scarlett. "Nothing but the war. Always the war. And they'll never talk of anything but the war. No, not until they die." (41.168)
Usually the past in the novel is the world before the war, but here it's the war itself, which everyone talks about endlessly. Scarlett's not interested in either, though. She always said the war bored her.
Quote #8
"It isn't losing their money, my pet. I tell you it's losing their world—the world they were raised in. They're like fish out of water or cats with wings. They were raised to be certain persons, to do certain things, to occupy certain niches. And these persons and things and niches disappeared forever when General Lee arrived at Appomattox." (43.109)
Rhett argues that the white Southerners they know aren't sad about losing their money, but are sad about losing their place. This is supposed to make them more noble. But is it true? The places that have been lost, the niches that Ashley and everyone were to fill—they were all made possible by money, and property, and specifically by slave labor. The Southern way of life they're all mourning is impossible without slavery since it was created by robbing black people of their liberty and their labor by force.