Study Guide

Gone With the Wind Chapter 21

By Margaret Mitchell

Chapter 21

The battle is getting closer; Melanie is finally ready to have the baby.
Scarlett sends Prissy out to get a doctor, but no doctor is to be found; everybody is tending to the wounded, or generally scattered about.
The Yankees are invading the city; slaves are running about panicking. (Quick history break: Enslaved people responded in all sorts of ways to the arrival of Union troops.)
Scarlett goes to find Dr. Meade herself, but he's caring for all the wounded, so she figures she'll have to rely on Prissy.
But then it turns out that Prissy doesn't know anything about childbirth either—she was just making up stories.
Scarlett is understandably upset.