How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Turning quickly, she frequently caught him watching her, an alert, eager, waiting look in his eyes.
"Why do you look at me like that?" she once asked irritably. "Like a cat at a mouse hole." (48.37-38)
Rhett is looking at Scarlett for signs that she loves him. But again it's all secretive; like he can sneak up at her and find love without revealing himself.
Quote #8
"…she's the first person who's ever belonged utterly to me."
"She belongs to me, too."
"No, you have two other children. She's mine."
"Great balls of fire!" said Scarlett! "I had the baby, didn't I? Besides, honey, I belong to you."
"Do you, my dear?" (50.101-105)
Rhett seems to see love as meaning that someone else belongs to you, so he's upset with Scarlett because she doesn't completely belong to him. How is that different from Frank being all cranky because Scarlett has interests outside the home, like the mills? You sort of wonder whether Rhett deserves Scarlett's love any more than Ashley does.
Quote #9
For the first time in her life she had met someone, something stronger than she, someone she could neither bully nor break, someone who was bullying and breaking her. (54.67)
This is a famous scene, where Rhett overpowers Scarlett, has sex with her, and she enjoys it and falls in love with him. It seems to suggest that the reason Scarlett has never found love is that she's never found a man who could overpower her and control her. So Scarlett can never find love because she didn't crumple when the Confederacy fell. Also, maybe, because she's good at math.