Why do they call married women miss and not Mrs.?
Like the Sofia and Ceily.
shareI noticed in Gone With the Wind, "Mrs." was used by white people in combination with the last name in addressing white women with whom one was not a family member or close acquaintance. For example, Rhett Butler refers to Scarlet as "Mrs. Charles Hamilton" at the dance, and Ward Bond's character refers to her as "Mrs. Kennedy" later in the movie. On the other hand, Frank Kennedy, with whom Scarlet was on familiar terms, called her "Miss Scarlet," even though she was a widow at the time and thus was still Mrs. Hamilton. Actually, "Miss" was pronounced Mz in combination with the first name for both single and married women with whom one was familiar, in anticipation of the feminist title "Ms.," which is also pronounced Mz and serves the same purpose of being ambiguous as to marital status.
Black people, on the other hand, always used the title "Miss" (pronounced Mz) in combination with a woman's first name regardless of marital status. Mammy refers to Scarlet as "Miss Scarlet" and to her mother as "Miss Ellen." Likewise, black people referred to white men with the title "Mr." in combination with the first name, so that Mammy calls Rhett Butler "Mr. Rhett." Apparently, it would have been improper for a black person to address a white person by title and surname.
I haven't really answered your question as to why this manner of speaking was customary, but I thought you might find these examples from another movie interesting nevertheless.