Everyone who has read the book Gone With the Wind or seen the classic movie remembers that infamous last scene. The critics in 1939 censored Clark Gable’s line, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a dam” before he walks out of Scarlet’s life and into the fog of the future. I can’t tell you how many times I watched that movie in the theater with my mom or by myself on our TV.
Years later after my mother died, I
inherited her collector’s set of VHS tapes. Late at night whenever the family
was asleep and I was too anxious, depressed or lonely to go to bed, I watched
that movie, especially the ending, my favorite part over and over.
The last line inspired me, challenged me and always made me feel better.
No one understood what I liked about the last scene, and
I couldn’t explain my feelings until now.
Rhett Butler’s leaving Scarlet at the door was not the end of the story. There among the last twenty-eight seconds is my favorite part. The flawed heroine has no where to go, no one to challenge her or any one to keep her spirit going after losing her first love, losing her lifestyle and losing her family through a Civil War, plus fighting against the only man who loved her. She never gives up. She survives and when all seems lost again, Scarlet rises up again and proclaims, “After all, Tomorrow is another day.”
That scene, that dialogue impacted my early adult years. I too grew up a spoiled child of loving parents in a small country community, but I was not beautiful or popular like Scarlet. I met my first love and knew on the first date that I would love him forever. We had three years together: one year of college and two of military life.
He died. I was only twenty-one left with a broken heart. Like Scarlet I wanted someone to love me, to help me and to go through the struggles of life. I cried for years getting up each day and facing, "Another day."
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Rhett Butler’s leaving Scarlet at the door was not the end of the story. There among the last twenty-eight seconds is my favorite part. The flawed heroine has no where to go, no one to challenge her or any one to keep her spirit going after losing her first love, losing her lifestyle and losing her family through a Civil War, plus fighting against the only man who loved her. She never gives up. She survives and when all seems lost again, Scarlet rises up again and proclaims, “After all, Tomorrow is another day.”
That scene, that dialogue impacted my early adult years. I too grew up a spoiled child of loving parents in a small country community, but I was not beautiful or popular like Scarlet. I met my first love and knew on the first date that I would love him forever. We had three years together: one year of college and two of military life.
He died. I was only twenty-one left with a broken heart. Like Scarlet I wanted someone to love me, to help me and to go through the struggles of life. I cried for years getting up each day and facing, "Another day."
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