乱世佳人分析斯嘉丽的女性性格.doc

On the Characterization of Scarlett in
Gone With the Wind

By
Xu Xiaoli
A 2008 Undergraduate of the School of Foreign Languages of Anqing Teachers College

Supervisor: Cheng Yao

May 23rd, 2008

On the Characterization of Scarlett in
Gone With the Wind
Thesis statement: This passage states the four periods of the characterization of Scarlett, as a charming, naive, selfish, vain and carefree girl at the beginning, the war and life urge Scarlett grow up as a brave, determined, masculine, indomitable and strong-willed woman.

Outline
I. Introduction
A. Introduction about Gone With the Wind and Margaret Mitchell.
B. The social background of Gone With the Wind
a. The Civil War in the U.S.A.
b. The Reconstruction after the Civil War
Ⅱ. Analysis of the character of Scarlett in four periods
A. Naive, vain obstinate, vigorous, charming, self-important and egocentric in early life in Tara.
B. Brave, selfish, carefree, self-centered and responsible in the first period of living in Atlanta.
C. Brave, selfish, greedy, determined, obstinate and self-striving in the second period of living in Tara.
D. Selfish, independent, determined, indomitable and self-centered in the second period of living in Atlanta.
Ⅲ. Conclusion

On the Characterization of Scarlett in Gone With the Wind
Author: Xu Xiaoli Supervisor: Cheng Yao
I. Introduction
A. Introduction about Gone With the Wind and Margaret Mitchell.
Margaret Mitchell was born in Antlanta, Georgia, where she lived her entire life. The daughter of Eugene Mitchell, an attorney and president of Antlanta Historical Society. She attended Smith College for one year, but the death of her mother required her to return home to manage the household of her father and her older brother. An unsucessful marriage to Berrien Upshaw in 1922 ended in divorce, and in 1925, she married John Robert Marsh. A year after their marriage, she forced to resign her position with the Antlanta Journal as a result of an ankle injury. With the encouragement of John, she begen to write novel. Mitchell spent six months rechecking the historical facts of the novel. On several occasions, she stated that she took greater pride in its accurate dates, places, dialects and architectural details than in its plot or style. The novel did not appear until 30 June, because the Bookof-the-Month Club chose it as the July selection. Most of the reviews ranged from favorable to enthusiastic, with the exception of those in the“left-wing”press, which condemned it as a glorification of racism.
In any case, the book broke all publication records: 50,000 copies sold in one day, a million sold in six months, two million in a year. The entire nation seemed entranced with the gigantic novel (1,037 pages and 460,000 words). Nevertheless, it won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award in 1937. On 30 July 1936 she signed a contract with David O. Selznick granting her the film rights for $50,000—the highest fee Hollywood had ever paid for a novel at that time. For more than three years, she steadily resisted efforts to involve her in making the motion picture, though she was successful, she was not to be free of the novel. She had to become an international businesswoman, dealing with copyrights, translations, and piracies until she died in a traffic accident in 16 Aug, 1949.

B. The social background of Gone with the Wind
a. The Civil War in the U. S. A.
American Civil War (1861–1865) was a sectional conflict in the United States of America between the federal government (the "Union") led by President Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party. 11 Southern slave States led by President Jefferson Davis, on opposing expansion of slavery and rejecting any right of secession. Fighting began on April 12, 1861 when Confederate forces attacked a Federal fort.
In 1861, the Union asserted control of the Border States and established a naval blockade as both sides raised large armies. In 1862, the large, bloody battles began. After the Battle of Antietam in September 1862, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation made the freeing of the slaves a war goal, despite opposition from Copperheads who supported slavery and secession. In the East, Robert Edward Lee rolled up a series of Confederate victories over the Army of the Potomac. In the West, the Union Navy captured the port of New Orleans in 1862, and Ulysses S. Grant seized control of the Mississippi River by capturing Vicksburg, Mississippi in July 1863, thus splitting the Confederacy. By 1864, long-term Union advantages in geography, manpower, industry, finance, political organization and transportation. Grant fought a number of bloody battles with Lee in Virginia in the summer of 1864. Lee won in a tactical sense but lost strategically. In 1865, the Confederacy collapsed after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House and the slaves were freed.
The full restoration of the Union was the work of a highly contentious postwar era known as Reconstruction. The war produced more than 970,000 casualties (3% of the population), including approximately 620,000 soldier deaths—⅔ by disease. The causes of the war, the reasons for its outcome, and even the name of the war itself are subjects of lingering controversy even today. The main results of the war were the restoration and strengthening of the Union, and the end of slavery in the United States.
b. The Reconstruction after the Civil War
Reconstruction, one of the most turbulent and controversial eras in American history, began during the Civil War and ended in 1877. It witnessed America's first experiment in interracial democracy. Just as the fate of slavery was central to the meaning of the Civil War. Reconstruction remains relevant today, the role of the federal government in protecting citizens' rights, and the possibility of economic and racial justice are still unresolved.
Central to Reconstruction was the effort of former slaves to breathe full meaning into their newly acquired freedom, and to claim their rights as citizens. After rejecting the Reconstruction plan of President Andrew Johnson, the Republican Congress enacted laws and Constitutional amendments that empowered the federal government to enforce the principle of equal rights, and gave black Southerners the right to vote and hold office. The new Southern governments confronted violent opposition from the Ku Klux Klan and similar groups. Meantime, the North abandoned its commitment to protect the rights of the former slaves. Reconstruction ended, and white supremacy was restored throughout the South.
For much of this century, Reconstruction was widely viewed as an era of corruption and misgovernment, supposedly caused by allowing blacks to take part in politics. This interpretation helped to justify the South's system of racial segregation and deny the vote to blacks. Today, because of extensive new research and profound changes in American race relations, historians view Reconstruction far more favorably, as a time of genuine progress for former slaves and the South as a whole.
For all Americans, Reconstruction was a time of fundamental social, economic, and political change. The overthrow of Reconstruction left to future generations the troublesome problem of racial justice.

Ⅱ. Analysis of the character of Scarlett in four periods
Scarlett is complicated. On one hand, she is vain, rebel, selfish, egocentric, self-centered and self-indulgent, on the other hand, she is imbued with wise, inherited brave, determined, independent, responsible, obstinate and self-striving gleams. All these characters have a deep and determinative influence on her life and love. Scarlett’s characterization shows up in four periods in Gone With the Wind. At the beginning of the novel living in Tara, Scarlett is a wild and strong-willed lady. She is not only charming and attractive, but also vain, willful, naive and selfish. When Scarlett first lives in Atlanta, the disappointment of love and the suffering of the war make her become brave and responsible, and she is selfish and carefree. Coming back to her home Tara, in order to keep her home around, Scarlett becomes brave, determined, obstinate, self-striving and greedy. Then when Scarlett goes back to Atlanta, she is independent, determined, indomitable and self-centered.
A. Vain, naive, obstinate, vigorous, charming, self-important and egocentric in early in Tara.

In this period of life, Scarlett is a vain, charming, selfish, willful, carefree, egotistic and self-impotant girl.
Living in Tara, Scarlett is a young lady. At the beginning of this novel, Scarlett is only 16 years old. She is naive, charming, vigorous and carefree. At the same time, the only thing for Scarlett is to dress up beautifully and looks for an ideal husband. She could never long endure any conversation of which she is not the chief subject, and she hopes that every man should pay attention only to her. Because of her father Gerald’s spoiling, Scarlett possesses manly characters. She rides horse and climbs trees. Scarlett disobeys her mother Ellen and Mummy Jincy’s orders and words. Whatever she wants to do, she does. In the early life in Tara, Scarlett’s characters develop freely. Her egotistic, stubborn and vain characters come into being.
Scarlett thinks that she is the center of the world and all the boys must fall in love with her. Scarlett falls in love with Ashley at the first sight. When twin brothers tell her that Ashley and his cousin Melanie, a plain and gentle girl from Atlanta, are going 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, she goes to meet her father to confirm the news. Scarlett thinks that Ashley should love her without dispute, so she cannot understand the engagement of Melanie and Ashley. She wants to marry Ashley, and tries her best. In this period, Scarlett’s important parts of her complex characters are her selfishness and contravention to the conventional manner. For example, she plans to have a big eat at the barbecue at the Twelve Oaks, ignoring of her status and her Mammy’s warnings. She dances with all boys. After discovering the truth of the engagement, Scarlett is miserable. She determines to get Ashley back from Melanie. She plans to make Ashley jealous by surrounding herself with boys in love with her at the barbecue at the Wilkes plantation of Twelve Oaks, then admits to him that she prefers him above all others. Things do not go according to plan, when she finds Ashley later, he tells her that though he loves her he will still marry Melanie.
Charles Hamilton, Melanie’s brother, himself in love with Scarlett, proposes later in the evening, and to hurt Ashley she accepts, then gets married in the head of Melanie and Ashley’s wedding. Scarlett marries Charles impulsively simply because Ashley rejects her love. The self-centered girl cannot receive the humility. Capriciously she marries Charles just because“he has a lot of money , and he hasn’t any parents to bother me and he lives in Atlanta. And if I married him right away, it would show Ashley that I did not care a rap that I was only flirting with him. And it would just kill Honey. She had never, never catch another beau and everybody’s laugh fit to die at her, and it would hurt Melanie, because she loves Charles so much, and it would hurt Stu and Brent.” 1 What a self –important girl, she never considers others’ feelings. All her words and deeds show that Scarlett’s these characters.
B. Brave, selfish, carefree, self-centered and responsible in the first period of living in Atlanta.

In this period, Scarlett’s selfish character develops, so does her favor to free and happiness. Scarlett’s contravention also grows. Meanwhile, the changing of her circumstance also gives her a lot. She knows how to live in hard times. Scarlett’s responsible character also can be found in this period of living in Atlanta.
Two months later, going away from war, Charles, Scarlett’s husband dies of the measles. Scarlett becomes a widow. With complicated feelings, Scarlett goes to Atlanta. Atlanta is the very city that provides a place to develop Scarlett’s characters.
Scarlett’s ego reveals in a charity ball in the city to raise funds for the war. She is asked to sell things for the Confederate Cause, which she does not care about at all. “Scarlett’s first thought was one of deep thankfulness that mourning forbade her wearing her precious earbobs and the heavy gold and black enameled bracelets and the garnet brooch”.2 When a donation basket goes around for jewelry to sell for the Confederacy, Scarlett throws in her wedding ring, seizing upon a way to be rid of it without invoking public censure. She does not like to talk about the war. She dislikes the war. In fact, she does not care about the war. She just cares about herself. She is indifferent with Charles’ death. It is true that she is very sad, but what she is sad about is not because her husband is dead, but because now she is a widow, she can no longer wear the beautiful dresses and she can not dance any more, even a greet to young men is forbidden. She only cares for herself! As a young widow, her thoughts and activities are the same as before, but her status of a widow prevents her from dancing, which she always loves to do. Careless of the disapproval of her friends and other people, she behaves as she behaved before her marriage — goes to the parties, dances, goes riding with soldiers and flirts, does every thing she has done as a girl, except stops wearing mourning. She is as charming as a girl is. When Rhett Butler bids 150 dollars in gold at the charity ball, and against popular outrage, Scarlett accepts. She gleefully dances all night with Rhett.
Scarlett also works as a seller and a nurse. To be a seller or a nurse, does not mean that she wants to help others or serve her motherland. “Certainly, there was nothing romantic about nursing. To her, it meant groans, delirium, death and smells.”3 She just wants to make herself be busy and release her depression of being a widow.
At the same time, Scarlett still loves Ashley, and her love to him does not reduce. Ashley visits for Christmas, and Scarlett jealously watches Melanie give him a beautiful coat of precious grey wool, while all she has for him is a scarf. The day Ashley leaves, Scarlett again reveals her true feelings to him, hoping Ashley tell her that on the inside he loves her too. However, Ashley does not. Scarlett promises Ashley that she will look after Melanie and see his family. Scarlett keeps her promise to Ashley in the whole novel.
Atlanta is falling. Scarlett wants to turn back to Tara for help. However, Melanie is going to give birth. Without the doctor’s help, Scarlett becomes a midwife and delivers her child. What a brave g