Sunday, August 7, 2011

Do you think Scarlett's second child (Ella) in Gone With the Wind had Fetal Alcohol Syndrome?

Ive read GWTW about a million times and just finished it again. (There are quite a few typos in this book if you pay attention, which surprised me.) Anyway, though, they mention in the book that Scarlett drinks quite a bit when pregnant with Ella (Frank Kennedy's child). And that Dr. Meade doesn't think to warn her not to drink. And then later in the book, when Rhett takes Bonnie to Charleston, they mention that Ella is a "silly child who couldn't keep her little mind on one subject any longer than a bird could stay on one twig". Then after Bonnie dies Scarlett wishes that it had been Ella that died instead, and says that she is "giddy-brained". So I just wondered if maybe Margaret Mitchell was inferring that Ella had been affected by Scarlett's drinking while pregnant. Don't think they had the term Fetal Alcohol Syndrome back when the book was written, but still...

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