《飘》的人物性格分析

《飘》又名《乱世佳人》，是美国著名女作家玛格丽特·米歇尔创作的一部具有浪漫主义色彩、反映南北战争题材的小说。小说以亚特兰大及附近的一个种植园为故事背景,描绘了内战前后美国南方人的生活。以"乱世佳人"斯佳丽为主线,描写了几对青年的爱情纠葛.。

这篇小说文字优美，情节跌荡起伏，扣人心弦。全书不论是华美流畅的语言描写，还是个性鲜活的人物塑造，都达到的登峰造极的地步。900多页的故事，众多的人物，个个性格鲜明。其中斯佳丽的勇敢坚强，媚兰的外柔内刚，瑞特的机智果断，给我留下了很深的印象。

《飘》主人公斯佳丽身上表现出来的叛逆精神和艰苦创业、自强不息的精神，一直令读者为之倾心。斯佳丽，这一在美国动荡年代所诞生的出色的人物，她的优秀个性散发出无穷的光芒。她勇敢坚强，乐观向上，对生活顽强抗争，从不屈服。

少女时代的斯佳丽，是一个非常有个性的女子，她拥有许多少女的共同特征：热情、开朗、纯真、浪漫；但她又是一个不平凡的女子，生长在一个优越的家庭，拥有美丽的容貌和智慧，因此她又拥有一般贵族小姐的缺点：骄傲、自大、虚荣、任性。尽管如此，良好的家庭出身、倾城的美貌，让斯佳丽的身边总是不乏热烈的追求者。斯佳丽一生中爱了两个男人，而她却没一个是了解的。如果她了解阿希礼，那她就不会爱他；如果她了解瑞特，那她就不会失去他。她一直以来是辜负瑞特的，她只是不停追寻着自己梦中的王子——阿希礼。她只是认为自己爱的特点只有阿希礼有，因而做了一件华丽的衣服，让阿希礼穿上，而后爱上他。而事实是，她爱的只是那件衣服。爱一个人就应该了解一个人，当然很重要的一点就是先了解自己，自己到底爱谁。爱得深切，往往爱得盲目，对于爱，必须保持清醒的头脑。

斯佳丽是个非常有个性的人物，对于她，我的感觉是矛盾的，是讨厌却又不得不佩服的。斯佳丽很现实，甚至现实到众叛亲离的地步，她从不会顾及别人的感想，她只是在走自己的路，将别人的一切都抛掷脑后。对于这样一个自私自利的人，我无法不讨厌！但同时却又不得不佩服她，佩服她的坚强，佩服她的执着，佩服她能放下以前所受的教育下田干活，佩服她能不顾社会上的言论而开创自己的事业。她对未来永远充满了希望，充满了斗志，永远不会放弃，永远不会绝望。我很喜欢斯佳丽独立、自我、有想法有作为的"豪放"性格的。同时，对于其"不择手段"式的"自私钻营"，对感情不纯真、不忠贞是很气愤的。曾经有好几次，我和不同的女孩子讨论过斯佳丽，希望了解从女性的角度怎么看待斯佳丽。得到的结果是，她们大多是很佩服欣赏斯佳丽在那个年代的勇气、能力和作为，而对于其没有节气式的"随便"却持宽容态度，认为那些是她不得已而为之的权宜之计，都是为了生存。不过静静想想也确实如此，在斯佳丽所处的那个动荡变革的时代，没有她那"强悍"的性格，一个弱女子根本无法养活一个家庭、一帮朋友也保不住父亲留下的陶乐。斯佳丽通过用斤斤计较的赚来的钱，通过各种"残酷手段"，换得了自己的新生，换得了朋友家族的新生。她坚强乐观的精神深深打动着我。

斯佳丽这份精神，是最值得我学习的。现在，每当我遇到困难、心情不佳时，我便会用她的一句话告诉自己：“明天是新的一天，明天一切都会好了”。

虽然《飘》大笔地描述了斯佳丽，她的光芒无遗是最亮的；但是她的表妹媚兰犹如黑暗中的一盏灯，宇宙中的一颗明星，她发出的光芒也是无法遮盖的。媚兰所拥有的美德照亮着、滋养着读者的心灵。缺少媚兰，《飘》就缺少生机，缺少人性的光辉。在媚兰身上，我们可以看到她的温柔善良，外柔内刚，她是一位无比美丽的女人。她理解丈夫，对丈夫爱得热切；她爱国，善良的她也爱她的敌人；她感激斯佳丽，从心底上，虽然她不知道斯佳丽对她的心情是多么复杂。我们要学会宽容，学会理解，学会感激他人。媚兰相信，爱是可以传递的。当战争终于结束，她痛恨的北佬士兵来到她门前要求照顾而她们自己也没有过多粮食时，她还是尽她所能地帮助他们，因为她希望在远方也有一个好心的北佬女人给她正在回家的丈夫一口饭吃。对，我们还要学会更多地帮助别人，把爱传递到世界的各个角落。

媚兰对朋友的那份友情仍然是让我羡慕不已。记得桑费有句话：“朋友有三种：爱你的朋友、恨你的朋友、忘记你的朋友。”我想媚兰就是那种爱思嘉的朋友。她对思嘉感恩、感激，甚至为了她可以去死，她的真心在临死前终于让思嘉明白她是她唯一的真正朋友。在人的一生当中，谁能没有朋友？有几个真正的朋友便成了人一生最珍贵的东西。对待朋友，最好也是最真的办法--那就是真心！ 瑞特是个复杂的人，他有良好的家世，但却仍和旧时代格格不入，他有锐利的眼睛，可以在乱世找到自己的处身之道，他对国家有热情，即使他明知必败无疑，却仍在最后关头入了军。他爱斯佳丽，但他更了解斯佳丽，所以他从不说，只是通过行动表达，而斯佳丽却从来不想去了解他。我非常欣赏瑞特，我最佩服的是他从军的时的勇气和执着，那份对国家的热情。他与从不同，他有自己的立场和原则，他是男人中的经典，他是好样的。其实我们也要学习他生活处世的智慧，他可以在乱世中生存，也可以在监狱中出来??我们要懂得生存之道。 有人认为瑞特是个背叛家族、偷机钻营的卑鄙小人。但我却喜欢他，他有智慧的头脑，但不失理智；他有很强烈的责任心，有值得令人依靠的铿锵的胸肩；他还有一颗善良、勇敢的心！ 他是一个真正的男人??为了他的女儿，他可以放弃喝酒，放弃在外面过夜，放弃和能给他带来更多财富的但趣味低级的人的交往。他陪着自己的女儿玩耍，但又如亲生父亲一样对待他妻子带来的孩子。三个孩子都害怕他们的亲生母亲，却都乐意和他玩耍。这就是一个父亲的魅力！他不能不令我喜欢，不能不令我敬佩！

《飘》都是一部值得百读不厌的好书，它是一部波澜壮阔而又细致入微的宏伟史诗；是描述爱情的小说，也是描述苦难历程，迎难而上的小说。这篇小说塑造了一个个鲜活的人物形象，通过这些人物展现的大多数价值理念也是我们社会所需要的。我们不能只是感受，也要学习！

第二篇：大学英语专业毕业论文：对《飘》中斯佳丽的人物性格分析

河北民族师范学院

外语系2012届专科

毕业论文

题目： 对《飘》中斯佳丽的人物性格分析

作者：刘某某

指导教师：张某某

研究方向：英国文学

年级班级：2009级英语教育2班

完成时间： 20xx年5月

Analysis of Scarlett’s Character in Gone with the Wind

Liu

A Graduation Thesis Submitted to

Foreign language Department of Hebei Normal University for Nationalities

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Diploma of Education in English

Tutor: Zhang Yongli

Specialty: English

Direction: English Literature

Chengde, Hebei Province

May 2012

摘要

《飘》是美国现代女作家玛格丽特.米歇尔于19xx年发表的一部长篇通俗小说。小说的女主人公斯佳丽被他们描绘成一个极度自私、爱慕虚荣、冷酷无情、为达目的不择手段的女性。

引言简要介绍作者的生平、以及当时的女性主义。作者玛格丽特.米歇尔是一个具有女性主义意识的女作家。她在小说中含蓄的批判了美国内战时期的南方妇道观，通过委婉的语言更深刻彻底的揭示出南方妇道观的虚伪、愚昧和对妇女的压抑。战前、中、后的斯佳丽具体的阐述了主人公是怎样从战前一个自私、任性但又坚强、勇敢的南方贵族千金小姐转变为战时的懂得照顾别人、果敢但又有些残酷的生活上的勇士既而转变为战后的勤劳、有心计、有思想、有远见的南方新女性。对比部分主要是斯佳丽与媚兰与斯佳丽对比。斯佳丽与媚兰是小说中性格截然不同的两个女主人公，而不同的性格是她们的人生也大相径庭。思嘉果断、坚决的性格决定了她奋进的一生，媚兰的宽容、坚韧同样注定了她终生的勤苦。结论通过全篇总结得出，跟她的三个主要人生经历密不可分，通过对社会背景、人生经历和对比的分析，总结出斯佳丽一如既往的性格和由生活所迫改变了的性格并日益成熟，逐渐的成为有思想、有远见的南方新女性。

关键词：《飘》；战争 ；女性主义；对比

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Abstract

Gone with the Wind, written by Margaret Mitchell has been one of the bestsellers and popular with the reader ever since its publication in 1936. Scarlett O?Hara the protagonist in the novel is an extremely selfish, vain, and merciless woman who will not hesitate to resort to any means in order to reach her ends.

Chapter One gives a brief introduction of Margaret Mitchell?s life, the traditional Southern Womanhood and the feminist. Margaret Mitchell is a woman writer. She has strong feminism. We can get it from the novel, especially from Scarlett. Chapter Two to Chapter Four described the life of Scarlett before war, in the war and after war. These three chapters analyze how Scarlett completes her transformation from 16 years old girl deeply influenced by traditional Southern Womanhood to a serious-minded and far-sighted woman. and compared Scarlett with Melanie，they are quite different girls, and those differences make their life very different, any way, attitude is everything. The novel named Gone with the Wind. And Melanie is the wind; she is traditional, graceful and tolerant. The old South has gone with the wind, and so Melanie. Scarlett was not, she is new, and she is decisive and firm. She is quite an opponent of the old South. New American comes, and so Scarlett.

The conclusion summarizes the whole thesis and reiterates the main viewpoint: her transformations connected closely with her three stages of life. She is increasingly maturing and in the end becomes a new Southern woman with strong feminism leanings. When we faced with difficulties we will call the memories of Scarlett and her words to the world “Tomorrow is another day”!

Key words: Gone with the Wind；War；Feminist leaning；Contrast ii

Contents

Introduction ……………………….…………..…...….….……..….……1

Chapter One The Period before the War.....................................................2

2.1 About the Title..................................................................................2

2.2 The Plot Summary………………………………………................2

2.3 Scarlett in the Period before War………………..……......….........4

2.3.1 Education of the Women in the South before War...................4

2.3.2 Scarlett the Rebellious Girl………….......................................6

2.4 The Summary……………….………….….….……………...........8

Chapter Two The Period in the War………….………..….….…….…....9

3.1The Plot Summary............................................................................9

3.2 Scarlett?s Capability of Changing with Times…………...…........11

3.3 Scarlett?s Persistent Pursuit of Better Life……………….............13

3.4 The Summary……………………………………………….........14

Chapter Three The Period after the War………..………........................15

4.1 The Plot Summary………………………………..........................15

4.2 Scarlett?s Persistent Pursuit of True Love……………………......16

4.3 The Contrast of Scarlett and Melanie.............................................18

Conclusion………………………………………………………….…...19

Notes……………………………………………………….……..……..21

Bibliography ………………………..…………………………….…….22 iii

Introduction

Gone with the Wind has been hailed as a triumph of American literature and film. In1937, Margaret. Mitchell won Pulitzer Prize, for her sweeping portrayal of the crumbling of the Old South. Since then, the novel has sold millions of copies. The film, a production by David O.Selznick, exceeded all expectations, receiving critical and public acclaim that included an unprecedented ten Academy Awards.[1]

Even today, Gone with the Wind, despite its many historical inaccuracies, forms the basis of American popular memory of the Old South in the years since the Civil War, but Margaret Mitchell?s tale is the one that is most deeply embedded in American culture.

The novel mainly describes the life of Scarlett who is the daughter of Tara?s master around the American Civil War. Meanwhile with the hint of a triangular love between Scarlett, Ashley and Rhett, the novel depicts a wide and prosperous picture of the social life of the South in America. An important element of the story?s popularity is Scarlett O?Hara, the outstanding heroine who is full of conflicting and complicated features. This article analyzes the character of Scarlett from three aspects: the first one is her attitude towards life around the civil war; the second one is the exterior and internal reasons for the shaping of her character; the last one is Scarlett?s attitude towards love and marriage. The analysis aims at showing the eternal charms of the image, Scarlett in the novel.

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Chapter One the Period before the War

Mitchell?s work relates the story of a rebellious Georgia Southern belle named Scarlett O?Hara and her experiences with friends, family, lovers, and enemies in the South during the antebellum period, the War of Northern Aggression, and the Reconstruction era.

2.1 About the Title

The title of Gone with the Wind is taken from the first line of the third stanza of the poem Non sum uails eram bonae sub regno Cynarae by Ernest Dowson: “I have forgotten much, Cynara! Gone with the wind.”[6] The title phrase also appears in the novel: When Scarlett of French-Irish ancestry escapes the bombardment of Atlanta by Northern forces; she flees back to her family?s plantation, Tara. At one point, she wondered, “Was Tara still standing? Or was Tara also gone with the wind which had swept through Georgia?”[7]

The title is beautiful, gone with the wind, everything, like the old traditional South, like Melanie, like the slave system and Scarlett?s love to Ashley…

2.2 The Plot Summary

The novel opens at Tara, the O?Haras? plantation in Georgia, with scarlet O?Hara flirting idly with Brent and Stuart Tarleton, twin brothers who live on a nearby plantation. Amidst the chatter, the pair tells Scarlett that Ashley Wilkes, the man Scarlett secretly loves, and his cousin Melanie Hamilton, a plain and gentle lady from Atlanta, are to be married. Shocked, Scarlett sits in silence until the two leave, without inviting them to dinner. Ignoring her mammy?s cautions against the cold, Scarlett goes to meet her father to confirm the news. After discovering the truth of the 5

engagement, Scarlett is miserable, but realizes that Ashley has no idea that she?s in love with him. She plans to make Ashley jealous by surrounding herself with boys in love with her at the barbecue the next day at the Wilkes plantation of Twelve Oaks, and then afterwards admit to him that she prefers him above all others. She never thought of the war, even it would break out soon, even everyone in the South was talking about it included her father, what she cares is only Ashley, the man she loved. But things did not go according to plan, when she finds Ashley later, he tells her that though he lives her, he will still marry Melanie. The innocent poor girl was really hurt. She slapped Ashley in his face. Moreover the unexpected man Rhett Butler, hidden behind a couch during the emotional scene, sees Scarlett throw a vase across the room in anger after Ashley leaves, and is impressed by her fire. But Scarlett still holds the idea that she herself is the true love of Ashley. To revenge Ashley, she decided to marry Charles Hamilton who she didn?t love at all, but Charles sister Melanie really appreciated that. So both couples married within two weeks, just at the beginning of her marriage, Scarlett regretted her decision and also the war broke out…

Before the war, Scarlett lived an elegant and leisure life. It?s just such kind of life made her selfish and vanity. For love she is stubborn and wayward. She had romantic emotion to love. But, at that time, ladies and gentlemen?s demeanor formed the atmosphere of the traditional society. She was born in a sumptuous manor Tara in Georgia South America. Her parents want to make her a lady, and gave her very traditional education. Scarlett didn?t like doing that, she pretend to be a lady in front of her parents, but she went her own way at other times. In her inner world, she wanted an unrestricted and free life. So, a very proud own, extremely conceited but very beautiful charming Scarlett jumped out in front of us. Scarlett was very proud that so many handsome young men surrounded her, and she was always the very center of them. But Ashley was the only young man that she admired, indulged and deeply loved. She was a proud girl, so proud that she believed deeply Ashley loved her even she got the news he will marry Melanie.

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2.3 Scarlett in the Period before War

2.3.1 Education of the Women in the South before War

Scarlett O?Hara, a Southern girl before the Civil War, is no exception. As an ordinary girl growing up in Southern culture, Scarlett is undoubtedly deeply influenced by the prevailing ideas of what a Southern woman should do in a male-dominated world. Gradually she becomes a woman, a representative of Southern women. To the Southern woman, marriage is the destiny traditionally offered to her and she is constantly taught the art of catching a decent and wealthy husband as soon as possible. The unmarried woman suffers from the poor situation and tries every means to catch a husband. Simone Beauvoir say in The Second Sex, “ In France, as in America, mothers, older friends, and women?s magazines cynically teach young women the art of catching husbands, as a flypaper catches flies. It is a kind of fishing or hunting that requires great skill.”[8] Slowly Scarlett is brought up, not apparently different from other girls. Like other girls, she is extremely interested in love and marriage. Scarlett?s mother Ellen, by soft-voiced admonition, their common Mammy, constant carping and labor to inculcate in her the qualities that will make her truly desirable as a wife. She does not disappoint them in this aspect because, by the age of sixteen, she has learned to use the attributes of womanhood to advance predatory designs: the manipulation and seduction of men. Extremely selfish in love and marriage, “she was constitutionably unable to endure any man being in love with any woman not herself” (p.16). Bored by the Tarleton twins? talk of war, she moodily changes the subject to something far more interesting to her: the next day?s barbecue and hall at the Twelve Oaks. Deeply rooted in Western culture is the assumption that a woman?s energies are properly devoted to the chores of her family. In the South, little attention is paid to women?s education and educational opportunities for girls are more limited than those for boys. In the opening chapter of the novel, we got the information that Scarlett is not offered enough 7

education and she has not opened a book since she left the Fayetteville Female Academy at the age of fifteen. However, the door of education is much wider for the boys. Stuart and Brent, the Tarleton twins, have been expelled from the University of Georgia, the fourth university that has thrown them out in two years, when they sit with Scarlett in the cool shade of the porch of Tara, the plantation of Scarlett?s father Gerald O?Hara. Unexpectedly, they are soon offered another chance to go on with their college education. All of a girl?s education, if there is any, is reduced to the arts and graces of being attractive to men. It is universally acknowledged that scarlet eventually becomes a belle in the neighboring counties after years of the conbined efforts of her mother and Mammy. She does not feel sorry for her lack of education. In fact to all men in the South, lack of education carries no shame at all, though they are given more chances to receive education. The things that matter to men include such things as rainsing good cotton, riding well, shooting straight, dancing lightly, and squiring ladies with elegance and carrying liquor like a gentleman. Brought up in such an environment, Scarlett is actually a representative of Southern women who are deeply influenced by Southern culture.

Scarlett shares dissemblance, an essential trait of Southern Womanhood, with the other girls. Thanks to her mother?s and Mammy?s continuous admonition and harping, she becomes a fairly beautiful, sweet and demure girl. Men have a common interest in appreciating the beauty, sweetness and demureness of a girl. Scarlett?s beauty is partially inborn and partially acquired, but her sweetness and demureness are chiefly achieved by means of dissemblance. Scarlett understands of how to dissemble her own true feelings is even better than that of other girls. Scarlett?s “manners had been imposed upon her by her mother?s gentle admonitions and the sterner discipline of her Mammy, her eyes were her own” (p.5). Her mother Ellen does not realize that it is only a veneer, for Scarlett always shows her best face to her mother, concealing her escapades, curbing her temper and appearing as sweet as she can. She is utterly willing to pretend to be sweet and demure in order to succeed in catching her beloved Ashley as her husband.

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2.3.2 Scarlett the Rebellious Girl

The woman chained to her household tasks has known as a girl that it is the first duty of a girl to get married. However from the outset, Scarlett challenges the conventions of her society. A tomboy who can ride horses, throw stones and climb trees as well as any make companion, by 1861 she has evolved into a typical young lady only under the insistent instruction of her mother Ellen and her Mammy. Scarlett seems femininity remains merely a superficial shell, embodying outward signs, but arising from no genuine inner grace. Most of her natural impulses are unladylike. She pretends to look sweet, charming and giddy, but she is in reality rebellious, self-willed and vain.

Scarlett is fond of love and marriage just like other girls and she can pretend to suppress her true feelings successfully. Actually Scarlett never ceases to seek to air her feelings openly, whatever the consequences or the chaos she may create. In the old South, arranged marriages are widespread.

A girl is expected to find a marriageable man and she has to accept the husband chosen by her parents. Gerald O?Hara (father) insists that “the best marriages are when the parents choose for the girl” (p.39) and that she should marry one of the Tarleton twins. The clever and rebellious girl goes so far as to demand freedom in love and she is not satisfied with the future husband chosen by her father. When she comes back, she quickly makes full preparation for her great purpose of catching Ashley right on the following afternoon. A minute description of her feelings is provided to strengthen her longing for Ashley?s love. Unlike the common girls, she is determined to act on her own wishes. Thus, while her rivals retire according to the convention of the submissive female, she slips downstairs retire according to the convention of the submissive female, she slips downstairs to confront Ashley in the belief that he will not be able to resist her assault. Though her love is declined by Ashley, her efforts to obtain her true love do not wither away even in adversity. As we can see in the later chapters, if she has no love for Ashley, she will have been discouraged in adversity and will not have lived through so many difficulties to obtain financial independence.

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The very obvious is her disregard for religion, and indispensable element in Southerners? life. At prayer time in the evening before the ball, while all the other family members and the blacks are praying piously and asking Holy Mary to forgive their sins. Scarlett is so absent-minded that she neglects to make any responses, causing her mother to look at her reprovingly. Ever since childhood, prayer time is a moment for adoration of her mother Ellen, rather than Holy Mary. To the pious people, it is sacrilegious to show any indication of irreligion. Her heart goes up to God in sincere thankfulness only when a pathway for her has been opened to the arms of Ashley. In other circumstances, God is not important or sacred to her at all. As a matter of fact, her irreligion is more and more apparent in the following years of her life. In Chapter XXX, everything is unfavorable to her, because her mother is dead, her father in a state of dementia, and her two sisters ill. She is annoyed to see her sister Carreen always on her knees by her bed praying for a better life. Scarlett?s God is a bargaining God.

Compare with God, Scarlett trust more herself, in her eyes the God is an absentee God. “The Lord stopped thinking about us years ago, and don?t go telling me Mother is turning in her grave to hear me say it either” (p.542). As we can find in the later chapters, every time she does odious or unethical deeds in order to protect her own life, Tara, or the lives of those for whom she is responsible, Scarlett repeats to herself an important motto: “I?ll think about it tomorrow.” This motto becomes her survival mechanism and justifies every future decision she makes. Owing to her irreligion, it is not unusual for her not to bother about things that do not matter, such as the expectations and civilities of the Old South. But though she is so perseverance and so brave, at some time she also afraid of God. When her conscience torments her over the cold, bald way in which she has used Frank Kennedy, her second husband, who is later killed in an attack to revenge her, she sighs to herself, “Oh, if only God did not seem so furious and vengeful! If only the minutes did not go by so slowly and the house were not so still. If only she were not so alone” (p.804) When she confides her fear and remorse to Rhett Butler, “I?m afraid I?ll die and go to hell” (p.808)

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2.4 The Summary

In the period before war, Scarlett was a little girl only worried about her love fairs, she had no ideas about the war,

“You know there isn?t going to be any war,” said Scarlett, bored. “It?s all just talk. Why, Ashley Wilkes and his father told Pa just last week that our commissioners in Washington would come to—to—an—amicable agreement with Mr. Lincoln about the Confederacy. And anyway, the Yankees are too scared of us to fight. There won?t be any war, and I?m tired of hearing about it.”(Margaret, 1973: 36 p.25)

As we can see, Scarlett didn?t believe there will going to be any war, she was really boring about it, what she reply to the twins who were excitedly talking about the war is only making a mouth of bored impatience. Being a charming young lady of the old South, Scarlett cares more about the coming barbecues party, how she looks, her new green flowered-muslin dress, and of course her deeply loved prince Ashley.

Of course the elegant and leisure life make her selfish and vanity. For love Scarlett is stubborn and wayward. She had a romantic emotion to love. But, at that time, ladies and gentlemen?s demeanor formed the atmosphere of the traditional society. Her parents want to make her a lady, a traditional one, but to Scarlett, it is really a disaster, in front of her parents, she could bear to pretend, but she went her own way at other times, that?s her, a real Scarlett, an very proud own, extremely conceited but very charming Scarlett. So no surprising that all the young men loves her, include Rhett Butler. In his eyes, Scarlett is not very beautiful, not very graceful, and even a little veining, but it?s just this woman attacked his heart, this strong will and cat like woman.

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Chapter Two the Period in the War

3.1 The Plot Summary

The Civil War broke out, and also, the difficult life begins. Scarlett?s husband died soon after he has to join the war for suffering of fever, at the same time the south army was continually retreating in defeat. But these had not made Scarlet feel sad, the very thing that brought her great sadness was Ashley also decided to join the war, what?s worse, at that time, both Scarlett and Melanie were pregnant. With out their husbands, the two young ladies have draped into a really difficult and dangerous situation. Scarlett is much more strong and healthy than Melanie. Scarlett gave birth to the baby smoothly, but Melanie was in a very dangerous situation, at this very moment of crisis Scarlett didn?t give up to help Melanie, for she had agreed to take care of Melanie when Ashley was out to war. Luckily Melanie out of danger soon, and also the two girls were became good friends. They decided facing with the difficulties together. They came back to Scarlett?s home, the big Tara. Rhett helped them all the way, but he decided to join the war as soon as they will arrive at Tara. Scarlett can not accept this,

Scarlett: Oh, yes, yes! I know we can get through, Rhett. I?m sure we can. Rhett: Not we, my dear, you, I?m leaving you here.

Scarlett: You are what? Rhett, where are you going?

Rhett: I?m very serious, Scarlett. I?m going to join up with our brave lads

in grey.

Scarlett: But they are running away?

Rhett: Oh, no. They'll turn and make a last stand if know anything

about them. And when they do, I'll be with them. I'm a little late but "better late than...

Scarlett: Rhett, you must be joking!

Rhett: Selfish to the end, aren't you? Thinking only of your own precious

hide with never a thought for the noble cause.

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Scarlett: Rhett! How could you do this to me? And why should you go

now that, after it's all over, and I need you! Why? Why?

Rhett: Why? Maybe it's because I've always had a weakness for lost

causes... Once they're really lost... Or, maybe, maybe I'm ashamed of myself. Who knows?

Scarlett: You should die of shame to leave me here alone and helpless! Rhett: You, helpless? Heaven help the Yankees if they capture you... Now

climb down here, I want to say goodbye.

Scarlett: No.

Rhett: Climb down!

Scarlett: Oh, Rhett, please, don't go! You can't leave me! Please! I'll never

forgive you!

Rhett: I'm not asking you to forgive me. I'll never understand or forgive

myself. And if a bullet gets me, so help me, I'll laugh at myself for being an idiot. But there is one thing I do know. And that is that I love you, Scarlett. In spite of you and me and the whole silly world going to pieces around us... I love you. Because we're alike. Bad lots both of us... selfish and shrewed, but able to look things in the eyes and call them by their right names.

Scarlett: Don't hold me like that!

Rhett: Scarlett, look at me. I love you more than I've ever loved any

woman. And I've waited longer for you than I've ever waited for any woman.

Scarlett: Let me alone.

Rhett: Here's a soldier of the South who loves you, Scarlett, wants to feel

your arms around him, wants to carry the memory of your kisses into battle with him. Never mind about loving me. You are a woman sending a soldier to his death, with a beautiful memory... Scarlett, kiss me... Kiss me once.

Scarlett: You low-down, cowardly, nasty thing, you! They were right...

Everybody was right... You, you are not a gentleman!

Rhett: A minor point, at such a moment... Here. If anyone lays a hand on

this nag, shoot him, but don't make a mistake and shoot the nag. 13

Scarlett: Oh, go on. I want you to go! I hope a cannon ball lands slap on

you! I hope you're blown into a million pieces! I...

Rhett: Never mind the rest. I follow your general idea. And when I'm dead

on the altar of my country, I hope your conscience hurts you. Goodbye, Scarlett… (Victor Fleming, 1941, movie)

Rhett disappeared at the end of the road, without his help, Scarlett feel lonely and scared, but she didn?t give up, what she agrees was, “ I will make is, mother will help me…”

Arriving home at Tara, Scarlett finds the house ruined, the food gone, the crops burned, most of the slaves run off, her mother dead, her father with dementia, and her two sisters sick with typhoid. Desperate for food, she walks to Twelve Oaks only to find it burned to the ground. Hunting around, she finds some vegetables in the gardens of the slave quarters, but becomes ill when she tries to eat them. After she recovers, she swears that once the war is over, she will never be hungry again, and takes strength from this vow. She grasps the reins of authority and tries to turn the place around. She finds that some of her neighbors were out of the path of the Yankees and they share with her all that they can spare…after a few days, their life became a little better, but still hard. Scarlett forces her family and the slaves to tend fields and pick cotton, every member in the family afraid of her, but Melanie gave her totally understanding, and helped her a lot.

During the war, Ashley joined the war and soon lost all his information. Rhett abandons Scarlett and Melanie on the road back to Tara to fight for the South. Without their help scarlet shouldered all the responsibilities by her own and lived indomitably…

3.2 Scarlett’s Capability of Changing with Times

It is obviously that the North is much more stronger than the South, the North has more stronger weapon, more people, more skillful technology, earlier or later, they will win, but many southerners do not accept the fact, and they fail to realize that their ideal is out of date and must be remolded to correspond to the new conditions of the social 14

environment. However, Scarlett is wiser and more flexible in the new environment. Unlike her sisters, she didn?t stay in the sadness of war, but work hard to live better, she knew that she was no longer the princess of Tara. When every Southerner give up include Ashley, she didn?t, she knew deeply that her old way of life in Tara can not survive in the new world. No longer an idle and pampered girl as she has been in Tara, she has to spend much time in nursing the wounded and rolling the bandages for the South. Before the War, she lives at Tara, trying to adhere to old Southern values. In Atlanta, she begins to defy the rules that society has impressed upon her since her birth. She makes a bold move and dances in public as a widow, which marks her first step in defiance of Atlanta?s social expectations. In the war time, Scarlett lived no more like the life she lived before the war, she shouldered the responsibility to take care of Melanie, and also shouldered all the responsibility to take care of all her family when she returned to Tara, her thoughts and actions change greatly, hardships in reality and changes in society make her realize overnight that she is no longer a spoiled woman dependent on other people and, instead, the other people are dependent on her.

To Scarlett it seemed that at every turn she met outstretched hands, pleading eyes.

After her return to Tara from Atlanta, she violates all the rules of conduct laid on Southern young ladies. On the night of the fall of Atlanta, though exhausted from the delivery of Melanie?s child, Scarlett has to drive a carriage towards Tara. She maneuvers safely past soldiers of both camps, who may rob her of her horse. The long ride is harrowing and Scarlett emerges at Tara exhausted, but she has changed and will continue to change. She finds nothing is in favor of her. Her mother is dead the day before, her father in a state of dementia, her two sisters sick with typhoid. Without her mother to turn to for support or comfort after her hellish trip, she drinks some whisky and sinks into despair, but that didn?t last long, she suddenly remembers her courageous ancestors who have overcome hardships and won fortunes. She is eager to give up this new found responsibility and collapse into the arms of her mother, but her mother has been dead. Scarlett can not put down this burden that she has never even 15

wanted to pick up. Tara without her mother needs a strong woman, and without any hesitation, Scarlett takes up maternal duties that she keeps for the rest of the novel. It is her mother?s death that forces Scarlett to face reality and serves as an in dispensable catalyst for change in Scarlett.

3.3 Scarlett’s Persistent Pursuit of Better Life

As I mentioned, the War broke out, and also the difficult life comes, the War brings Scarlett to a moment of reflection:

Somewhere, on the long road that wound through those four years, the girl with her sachet and dancing slippers had slipped away and there was left a woman with sharp green eyes, who counted pennies and turned her hands to many menial tasks, a woman to nothing was left from the wreckage except the indestructible red earth on which she stood. (Margaret, 1973: 36 p.478)

The War left Scarlett a ruined Tara, a dead mother, demonetized father and two sick sisters, but also the War leave her the memory of her father?s words:

“Land is the only thing in the world that amounts to anything,” he shouted, his thick, short arms making wide gestures of indignation, “for ?tis the only thing in this world that lasts, and don?t you be forgetting it! ?This only thing worth working for, worth fighting for—worth dying for.” （Margaret, 1973: 36 p.22）

The War leaved her the red earth, that?s enough, she thought of her father?s words, and begins her hard work. Life is difficult, but she never thought to give up, she has a persistent pursuit to better life. She, unlike her two sick sisters, never give up to work to make their life better, without food, she went out to find it, when she got ill for eating bad vegetables, she swears that once the war is over, she?ll never be hungry again, and takes strength from this vow. Without slaves to work in the cotton field, she herself went. Lacking of money for the tax, she kill an attacked North soldier, none of the South woman will do that.

Life is still hard, but there is hope, Scarlett, like her mother, shouldered all the responsibilities of Tara, her family.

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3.4 The Summary

In the War period, Scarlett shouldered all the responsibilities, and make life better and better, she like a brave warrior, fight for hunger, fight for money and fight for a better life. When she lack of money she thought of Rhett, she want to borrow money from him, but without a beautiful dress, the stubborn young women cut the curtain to make a dress. For better life, she lied to Frank, her sister?s fiancé that her sister loved another man, and she herself married him. For her persistent pursuit of better life, Scarlett is unsuccessful in every female role and in her relations with other women. She is a rebellious woman, quite different from other women. Her total lack of female friendships places her more on the masculine than the feminine side of the indelible gender line in the culture.

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Chapter Three the Period after the War

4.1 The Plot Summary

The War finished, no doubt that the South failed. The North controlled the government, and reversed a series of policies that, the southern landowners must give the black people freedom and respect. All the irrespective action to the black people will seem as crime. Most of the black slaves were freedom, low educations make them find no job, they became vagrants and turning round and round in the dark streets. The society then was a terribly mess. A lot of women were attacked by black vagrants when they pass the dark street at night, so the southerners form a party named 3K party. But the 3K men?s revenge to the blacks were not allowed by the new government, once they captured 3K men, they put them into prison.

After the War, Scarlett put her accent on making money, at that time in the South, no woman came out to work except Scarlett, she married her sister?s fiancé Frank and begin to run a little wood material company, she work hard, every day she drive home and to work herself, it?s very dangerous outside, and she was once attacked by the vagrants, but luckily she were rescued by a black man who was once work for her family. Frank and Ashley could not bear that happens on her, secretly they want to revenge to those black vagrants. One night, they began their action, but something didn?t run smoothly, Frank was killed in the fighting to the police. Ashley was also hurt seriously. A group of Yankee soldiers arrive at the house and ask for Ashley, they stand outside to wait his return. It is Rhett helped them, he having gone after the 3K men, brings Ashley and the rest back, with them seemingly staggering drunk. After claiming that they were at Belle Witling?s house (a house of prostitution), Rhett persuades the Yankees to leave, where upon it is discovered that the gentlemen were feigning drunkenness and in fact Ashley is injured, and Frank is dead. Scarlett became widow again. Melanie and Scarlett?s friends all felt sad about Scarlett. But to Scarlett, it is a more relief than a 18

tragedy. She could be free again, and find the man she wants. And this time, Rhett didn?t miss the chance, and he asked Scarlett to marry him. Without much hesitation, she agreed. Rhett gave her an extraordinary life, she can get whatever she want, beautiful clothes, big diamonds, gorgeous house and so on…Scarlett really enjoy this kind of life. Later she gave birth to a daughter, that made Rhett in ecstasy, though he knew in her deep heart, she still love Ashley, he put all his love to his little daughter. Time passed by, Scarlett still put all her passion on Ashley, that made Rhett very sad, what?s worse, his daughter died when she jump through a fence riding on a little colt. Rhett was despair; he can?t accept the truth, so he decided to leave, to go to a place that can forget all the sad things. At last, Melanie died, before that, she told Scarlett that her true love is Rhett, he love her so much, Ashley also told her, he never ever loved her but Melanie. Suddenly Scarlett understood all about Rhett, and got the feeling that she also loved Rhett deeply as she told Rhett:

“Rhett tonight, when I knew, I ran every step of the way home to tell you. Oh, darling, I—I?m going to tell you everything, I?ve been so wrong, such a stupid fool—I?m going to tell you, Rhett, I love you so, darling! I must have loved you for years and I was such a fool I didn?t know it. Rhett, you must believe me! ” (Margaret, 1973: 36 p.638)

But it is too late, Rhett has had decided to leave,

“Scarlett, don?t go on with this. Don?t be humble before me. I can?t bear it. Leave us some dignity, some reticence to remember out of our marriage. Spare us this last”

At last, he leaved Scarlett. With tears in her eyes, Scarlett spoke to herself:

“I?ll think of it all tomorrow, at Tara. I can stand it then. Tomorrow, I?ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.” (Margaret, 1973: 36p.644)

4.2 Scarlett’s Persistent Pursuit of True Love

In the old South before the War, a traditional young lady should suppress their normal desires and just passively accept their husbands 19

arranged by their parents, but Scarlett has a persistent pursuit of her love in spite of the then prevailing belief that “for a woman, love comes after marriage” (p.39). She thought Ashley was her true love, so she did all she could to pursuit it, her stubborn love for Ashley, though a little too blind and girlish, and her firm belief that Ashley is deep in love with her, are in dispensable to her courageous actions in and after the War. Though she experiences three marriages, but in fact she only loves Ashley Wilkes and Rhett Butler. She does not realize her only true love is just Rhett, for whom she has mixed feelings, until it is too late. Even when it is too late, when she understands her true love is Rhett, she didn?t stop for a while, she run out to find Rhett, she want he know that she loves him and will always love. But poor Rhett was really heart broken that he didn?t believe her, and leaved her. At this moment she was also very upset, for Melanie was died, and Ashley just told her that he never really loved her but Melanie, then she had a very mixed feeling, but her aim is clear,

She felt vaguely comforted, strengthened by the picture, and some of her hurt and frantic regret was pushed from the top of her mind. She stood for a moment remembering small things, the avenue of dark cedars leading to Tara, the banks of cape Jessamine bushes, vivid green against the white walls, the fluttering white curtains. And Mammy would be there. Suddenly she wanted Mammy desperately, as she had wanted her when she was a little girl, wanted the broad bosom on which to lay her head, the gnarled black hand on her hair. Mammy, the last link with the old days.

With the spirit of her people who would not know defeat, even when it stared them in the face, she raised her chin. She could get Rhett back. She knew she could. There had never been a man she couldn?t get, once she set her mind upon him.

“I?ll think of it all tomorrow, at Tara. I can stand it then. Tomorrow, I?ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.”（ Margaret, 1973: 36 p.644）

“Tomorrow, I?ll think of some way to get him back” that?s her decision. At that time, she knew deeply that her true love is Rhett; she will went on this new way and never give up.

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Her complete transformation indicates that the story does not en with the novel and that Scarlett will never give up her quest for happiness. In her loss of Rhett, there is a gain in maturity and a growth in spirit.

4.3 The Contrast of Scarlett and Melanie

Scarlett and Melanie are quite different girls, and those differences make their lift very different, any way, attitude is everything. The novel named Gone with the Wind. And Melanie is the wind. She is traditional, graceful and tolerant. The old South has gone with the wind, and so Melanie. Scarlett was not, she was new, she was decisive and firm and she is quite an opponent of the old South. New American comes, and so Scarlett.

Scarlett has a very happy life, but she didn?t agree with, she felt not happy, just as other southerners, she also experienced the war time, but in every period, she always has more advantages, she is more beautiful, charming and strong, but she seldom feels happy, so the more happiness she find of others, the more sadness she find of herself. When she decided to marry her sister?s fiancé, what she thought is, “I?m more beautiful than her, I?m cleverer than her, so why should I live such a terrible life and give her this kind of comfortable life.”[9] Scarlett has a simple mind, she doesn?t think her action are evil, instead, she thought it?s normal. She should get that. She is greedy, she want all she could think, she never satisfied, so she always unhappy, she always makes herself sad. Maybe it?s lucky that she has a simple mind, she will not scared about doing evil things, her motto is “tomorrow is another day”[10], she didn?t care more while everybody cares her.

But Melanie was a model of all the women, every man likes her, actually she lives in pain, she was not healthy, she isn?t beautiful, but she doesn?t care, she contributed all she has. As Scarlett say, “she thought of everybody except herself” (p.644) Melanie has all the good traditional manners, she thought of everybody, even beggars out side, just like Scarlett?s mother Ellen, use her love to make everyone happy.

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Conclusion

Scarlett O?Hara foreshadowed what the nation would be like after the Civil War. Southerners take great pride in their lack of industries and hold that all such low businesses are better suited for Yankees and white trash than for Southern gentlemen, who, according to Rhett Butler, have only “cotton and slaves and arrogance”

Scarlett in Gone with the Wind was a miracle character, before the Civil War, she is a charming young lady, lived a leisure rich life. As an ordinary girl growing up in Southern culture, Scarlett is undoubtedly deeply influenced by the prevailing ideas of what a Southern woman should do in a male-dominated world. In the War period, she quickly became an brave warrior fight for hunger, for death, for poverty. Scarlett, like her mother, shouldered all the responsibilities of Tara, her family. In the reconstruction years, she put all her heart into making money, she ran her own business, she firstly gain financial independence in the South, after war, Scarlett completes her transformation from a 16 years old girl deeply influenced by traditional Southern Womanhood to a serious-minded and far-sighted woman.

Scarlett is a brave girl, her braveness was given by the land, and her devotion to land is consistent throughout the novel. Her father Gerald tells her the importance of land, saying passionately,

Land is the only thing in the world that amounts to anything, for ?tis the only thing in this world that lasts, and… ?This the only thing worth working for, worth fighting for—worth dying for. (Margaret, 1973: 36p.38)

Land, especially Tara, reappears in the novel at critical junctures to remind Scarlett of what is really important. In every crisis, Scarlett will return to Tara, regardless of the risks that may be involved. As Rhett puts it,

Tara will do her good. Sometimes I think she is like the giant Antes who became stronger each time he touched Mother Earth. (p.545) 22

On the fall of Atlanta, Scarlett returns to her father?s deserted plantation and begins to launch a tough struggle for survival. As she nearly faints in search of food for her family at Twelve Okay Tree, the earth feels soft and comfortable as a feather pillow against her cheek, and she resolves to look forward and continue her struggle with newfound vigor. When Ashley rebuffs Scarlett?s proposal to run away to Mexico with her, he gives her a clump of Tara?s dirt and reminds her that she loves Tara more than she loves him. Feeling the dirt in her hand, she realizes Ashley is right. At the end of the story, her final realization is that she must return to Tara, where she can relax herself and find some way to get Rhett back. While she adopts business practices to achieve financial independence, she will not relinquish Tara or the confidence in land ownership. For almost three hundred years, agriculture was the major livelihood of most residents of the American South, and even the contemporary South is still one of the major agricultural regions of the nation. Although Scarlett?s commercial activities take place mainly in Atlanta, a prosperous and energetic city quite different from Tara, she is always nostalgic and anxious to seek relaxation in Tara. Nostalgia is not always unfavorable, and sometimes optimistic people may also be nostalgic. If the optimistic tired of their struggle can absorb some strength from nostalgia, it should be regarded as something worth complimenting. Scarlett is one of the representatives who frequently take in vigor from nostalgia.

Days passed by, the old South gone with the wind, all the old traditional rule are gone, the slaves are free, the new industry factory were standing, but there are something unchangeable in Scarlett, that is, her attitude to life, though life is hard, life is rich, she will continue to work hard, no difficulty will stop her, anyway tomorrow is another day. Her love is also eternal, whatever to Ashley or to Rhett; she will never give up, just like what she said at the end of the novel

“I?ll think of it all tomorrow, at Tara. I can stand it then. Tomorrow, I?ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.”

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Notes

[1]Mitchell, Margaret. Gone with the Wind (上) (下). 上海: 外语教育出版社. 1992.

[2]Mitchell, Margaret. Gone with the Wind. Cawaye Place. London: Pan Books Ltd. 1974.

[3]Deng Yu-fen. Scarlett: Dream and People without Going with the Wind--Feminism

[4]Ningbo University (Liberal Arts Edition), 2002

[5]The Wind .Journal of XinYu College, 2007

[6]马新国.西方文论史【M】.北京:高等教育出版社，2005

[7](美)玛格丽特〃米切尔.爪〔M〕.傅东华译.浙江:浙江人民出版社，1979

[8]马格丽特?米歇儿. 傅东华译. 飘（上、中、下）. 杭州: 浙江文艺出版社. 1985.

[9]马格丽特?米歇儿. 齐俊伟译. 飘. 呼和浩特: 内蒙古出版社. 2001.

[10]童 明. 美国文学史. 南京: 译林出版社. 2002.

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