A Woman At The Plantation Chapter Summary

The story starts of in the spring time of 1861 with the main character Scarlett O’Hara, a Southern girl who lives on a large plantation in Georgia called Tara. She is well known and chased after by many men around town but has hopes on marrying a man by the name of Ashley Wilkes, but later on hears that he is engaged to marry his cousin Melanie Hamilton. During a barbecue held at Ashely’s family plantation, Scarlett pulls Ashely to the side to admit her love for him. Ashley does his best to explain to Scarlett that he loves her as well but chooses to marry Melanie because the two of them are very alike in many ways, where he and she are almost complete opposites. After she slaps Ashley in the face and leaves she sees that Rhett Butler saw the
whole thing and admires and compliments Scarlett’s unladylike manners. Soon the Civil War begin in the nation. Melanie’s bashful and nervous of a brother, Charles, asks for Scarlet’s hand in marriage. The only true reason she agreed to marry him was in the hopes of hurting Ashley and get him to fell heartbroken hand chase after her. Later Charles dies of measles while serving in the Army during this time Scarlett discovers she is pregnant with her first child and names him Wade. She finds herself bored and decides to travel to Atlanta to live with Melanie and Melanie’s aunt, Pittypat. While in the city Scarlett and Rhett start to spend a lot of time getting to know each other and being together. Shortages of both clothing and food become more prominent thought the city of Atlanta as the war efforts go on. Both Scarlett and Melanie worry if Ashley is safe who was be taken to prison after the gruesome battle of Gettysburg. Scarlett longs to return to Tara, but knows she can’t since she made a promise to Ashley that she will stay and watch over Melanie who at the time had become pregnant.
Eventually the set fire to Atlanta and Melanie gives birth to her son, Beau. Rhett helps the ladies escape the Yankees, leading them through the burning streets out the city, but at the end he tells them to go on while he joins to fight alongside with the Confederate Army. When Scarlett arrives home she finds her mother has died and that her father has gone insane, along with the obvious fact that and the Yankee army has looted and almost completely destroyed their plantation. Scarlett takes charge of rebuilding Tara. The war finally ends and Ashley is finally free and a stream of returning soldiers begins making their way home passing through Tara. A one-legged homeless Confederate named Will Benteen, stays on and helps Scarlett with the plantation. Jonas Wilkerson, a former employee at Tara and current government official, had raised taxes on Tara in order to seek revenge and in hopes to drive the O’Haras out so he would have the plantation for himself. In distress, Scarlett hurries to Atlanta in the search of Rhett who had become a very rich and wealthy man after the war hoping he will give her the money she needed for the taxes. Unfortunately, Rhett is in a Yankee jail and could not help Scarlett. Determined to save her plantation she constructs a plan to steal her sister’s man named Frank and marries him for his money and is able to pay the taxes for Tara. Rhett finds a way to blackmail his way out of prison and lends Scarlett enough money to buy her own sawmill. As a result, Scarlett becomes a wise and successful businesswoman. While in back in Tara for her father’s funeral she influence Ashley and Melanie to come to Atlanta with her and join in a share in her lumber business. Shortly after that, Scarlett gives birth to Frank’s child, Ella Lorena. After Frank dies, Scarlett and Rhett get
married and start off happily but as time goes by, Rhett becomes more and more bitter and uninterested toward Scarlett.
Rhett and Scarlett’s daughter dies in a horse-riding accident, leaving Rhett heart broken and at the brink of losing his mind, and consequently leads up to his marriage with Scarlett worsening. Soon after Ella’s funeral Melanie has a miscarriage and becomes very ill. Distraught, Scarlett hurries to visit her. Melanie knows he isn’t going to be able to recover and makes Scarlett vow to look after and take care of Ashley and their son. During this moment Scarlett comes to the realization that she truly loves and depends on Melanie more than she thought she did and that the feelings she once had for Ashley were not genuine. After Melanie dies, Scarlett rushes to let Rhett that he is the one she truly loves and wants but Rhett, however, says that he no longer loves Scarlett and is leaving her. Now alone and broken, Scarlett to travel back to Tara to restore her strength in the comfort of her old home and roots with the company of her childhood nurse and slave, Mammy, and in the meanwhile thinks of a way to win back the love of Rhett.