Questions I have about 'Serena' after watching it a second time

I'm going to answer a few of these based on the book, which differs greatly from the film.

MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW

1) George fired the shot himself, he went down and assessed the bullets. It is assumed he missed the panther, and that's why he took out his knife. (This does not happen in the book. In the book, Galloway accompanies Pemberton to where the panther will arrive, and feeds him a poisoned sandwich that Serena prepared. To make matters worse, Pemberton accidentally rolls onto a rock where a rattlesnake is resting and gets bit. After this, Galloway leaves Pemberton in the clearing with the dead deer as bait, and Pemberton, despite strenuous effort, eventually succumbs to the poisonous food and bite and is killed by the panther. The motivations behind his death are mostly the same as the film - Serena finds he is helping Harmon and the child, but it is more elaborate and convincing.)

2) I don't quite get the question. Do you mean why she was at the equestrian site at the beginning of the film? In the book, Serena quite clearly knows who Pemberton is (Pemberton isn't in debt, in the book). She actively pursues him and essentially lures him into her apartment, they fall in love (or she makes him fall in love), and eventually, they are wed. She is ambitious from the very start, and since she knows timber (because of her father) - she knows Pemberton is a good way to expand her territory. Side note - Pemberton never brings up Brazil in the book, it's actually Serena who convinces him and other investors. After Pemberton's death, she becomes a South American timber baroness. Super rich, super conniving, all controlling. Just how she intended.

3) Widow Jenkins features many times in the book. Rachel's father (shown very briefly in the movie) confronts Pemberton and Serena when they arrive for the first time in North Carolina. He challenges George to a duel, and is killed. Widow Jenkins helps take care of Rachel while she fends for herself and her baby while Rachel has to fix the house, sell of her father's assets (a horse, their milking cow, etc.) to make ends meet. We're supposed to root for her, and Widow Jenkins too, who has been kind to her when other's have not. Once her baby is old enough, Rachel returns to the timber camp to ask for her old job back, but the baby does not come with her (except on church, Sundays). In these times, Widow Jenkins takes care of the baby. In the movie, by contrast, Rachel appears to parade Jacob around at the camp and in front of the Pembertons every chance she gets.

4) Quite the artful observation. Like I mentioned, Serena is cold and vicious. Like the panther, she is a loner, a survivor. She alone survives the plague in the book (the plague is what kills her family when she is young, not a fire). She is difficult to pin down, like the panther itself. Which is why Pemberton covets her so. I think in the book George has a strange fascination with ruthless things. The ruthless beast (the panther), and generally how ruthless things can get, how ruthless his own wife can be. And it's eventually his own downfall. Because when you get too close, you risk getting killed. Literally.

5) Again, the film completely grazes over the more important 'nature' vs 'occupation' angle of the timber camp. In the book, Pemberton and Serena are adamant to protect their land (or occupation, I should say). They even go as so far as trying to buy land from other owner's to slow the park's development. They collaborate with another land owner, Mr Harris, who mines copper and precious stones. Together they regularly try to offset Kephart and McDowell's developments with the park. Mr Harris eventually also meets his demise at the hands of Serena (he isn't a 'trustworthy partner'). There isn't any good or bad side - we, as readers, are free to decide who we want to support. Further, we are regularly presented the POV of four timber workers who comment on Serena's unlawful activities and the state of affairs (the murders, their faith in God, the piece of Earth that they are stripping away, slowly).

6) The environmentalists win in either scenario; the book mentions that even if Pemberton leaves the entire land barren by time eminent domain rolls around, it will take only 40 years or so for all the trees to come back (perhaps not to the same degree, but still). Like I mentioned, Pemberton and Serena are adamant to keep their land (I think their desire for money and work is fuelled further by the fact that Serena can't have children. Without their work, they have little else. One could argue they have each other, but even then, Pemberton thinks of the Harmon child, and how Serena can't give him a child.)

7) This is a minor detail, which doesn't really matter. In the film, yes, you could assume that's what happens since Pemberton has the books when he intends to turn himself in. In the book, however - Campbell doesn't 'steal the books' but simply runs away from the camp, but is killed at the hand of Galloway, nonetheless.

8) - Buchanan is sort of butchered in the film. Not that he is a major player in the book either, but there's a strange angle they try in the film that doesn't really work (when Serena says 'I think he likes you very much' / 'He's jealous of me'). In the book, Buchanan and the Pembertons get along quite finely until the meeting with the national park people. I think Buchanan's loyalties are to Pemberton but more to himself, he simply thinks the Pembertons are being unreasonable. Buchanan doesn't threaten to reveal the books or anything. But at this point Serena twists her finger and convinces Pemberton that Buchanan is influenced and will sell them / the land out, so Pemberton kills him.
- Campbell is shown as neutral throughout the book, he appears to know a lot of what goes on but doesn't reveal much. Only once he runs does Serena order him killed, because she fears he will reveal her and Galloway's doing / the bribery.
- Vaughn is partial to Rachel and calls the sheriff when Serena and Galloway go to her house. He himself tries to escape but is also caught by Galloway and killed. Only Rachel and her baby get away from Galloway, and once he finds he cannot catch up to them (or find out where they are - because the sheriff won't reveal so), he simply has to let them go.
- Galloway is loyal ONLY to Serena (and his mother, who is presented as prescient in the book). Once Serena saves him after his hand is lost, he does all her bidding. While he shows no animosity towards Pemberton, he is eventually the one who delivers his death (on Serena's orders).

9) Rachel worked in the kitchen preparing and serving food, washing dishes and the like both before and after the birth of her son. She simply delivered the food to George's cabin earlier on because he fancied her, and she was younger than the other women who worked at the camp.

Also, just as a side note, there's an epilogue to the book. Before Pemberton is killed, he has a photo of Serena and himself clicked at the denuded camp. in the epilogue, many years later - Rachel's son goes to Brazil to Serena's home and kills a 70-year old Serena and an unknown man who sleeps in another room (presumably Galloway). The guard who sees the murder happen says he saw Pemberton commit the crime ('the man from the photo', he says). But we all know this to be Rachel's son. :)

Man, sorry I rambled on. I just hope if you decide not to read the book (which you definitely should!), that I've filled some gaps for you. Hope these answers helped!