斯佳丽VS董心碧.docx

斯佳丽VS董心碧

　　[Abstract] Scarlet O’Hara is the heroine of Gone with the Wind, written by the famous American female writer-- Margaret Mitchell. As her name suggests, she is a wild and strong-willed lady. She is not only charming and attractive in her appearance but also in her personality: she is a strong willed, indomitable, hard working and masculine lady of the western people. However, she is an individualist, in other words, she is a self-centered woman. She never cares about the feelings of others. To the men, she is an independent lady, she never depends on them; to the children, she is not a good mother, instead, she is Satan to them; and she has no female friends. She used to be the apple of Tara, she needs to pay no attention to the life, however, the war urges her to grow up and become mature. In a word, Scarlet O’Hara is a representative of the westerners of the South America during the wartime. Dong Xinbi is the heroine of New Beauty in the Turbulent World, which is written by the famous Chinese female writer, Huang Beijia. As her name indicates, Dong Xinbi is a delicate lady of the Southern China. She is a beautiful, strong minded, clever, hard working woman. However, she is dependent on men and cares others’ attitude towards her. To men, she is dependent on them and never say no to them; to the family, she is the angel of the family and takes good care of the children; and she has a lot of friends. The war changes her from an elegant lady to a strong woman. She is a typical Chinese woman.
[Key words] Scarlet O’Hara; Dong Xinbi; comparison
[摘 要] 斯佳丽是美国着名女作家玛格丽特·米切尔的代表作《乱世佳人》中的女主人公。正如斯佳丽的名字所暗含的意思，她具有顽强的生命力，即使身处逆境但仍对生活充满希望。人美性格更美,斯佳丽是一位个性坚毅,人格独立，勤劳能干的具有男性特征的西方丽人.同时，斯佳丽也是一位个人主义分子。对她来说，最重要的人莫过于她自己了。对男人来说，她是一位独立的女性，从不依附他们,甚至，她比一般的男性还要坚强；而对于孩子们来说，斯佳丽是撒旦的化身.她不是一位好妈妈，对他们她没有丝毫的耐心，她从未关心过他们。即使斯佳丽后来也意识到这一点，但是她从未考虑过如何改善她与孩子们之间的关系；同时，由于斯佳丽对男人的极强占有欲和她的特例独行,她几乎没有女性朋友。总而言之,斯佳丽是一位典型的美国内战时期的西方女性。董心碧是我国着名女作家黄蓓佳《新乱世佳人》中的女主人公。有别于斯佳丽这一战争中走出来的西方女性，董心碧虽然也是成熟于战争之中,但是她却是一位传统的中国女性。她容貌秀丽,性格坚强，聪明伶俐，勤劳能干。然而，如同传统的中国女性，董心碧依附于男人而生存，而且在意他人的看法。心碧是男人心目中完美妻子的代表；对于孩子来说，心碧是世界上最好的母亲；而心碧又极会做人，与其他的女性相处和睦。总的来说，董心碧是一位典型的中国式的贤妻良母,是完美的传统中国女性的代表。
[关键词] 斯佳丽;董心碧;对比

1. Introduction
Scarlet O’Hara is the heroine of Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, a renowned American female writer in the South. She was born on Nov. 8, 1900 in Atlanta to a family with ancestry nearly the same as the O’Hara family of the Gone with the Wind: Margaret Mitchell’s grandmother, Annie Stephen, experienced the Civil War very much——– She moved to Atlanta during the Civil War and got married there; her father, Eugene Muse Mitchell, an Atlanta attorney, descended from Scotch-Irish and French Huguenots; Margaret Mitchell’s mother, Mary Isabelle, a typical feminist, gave lectures about feminism among the public quite often; the family included many soldiers members who had fought in the American Revolution, Irish uprisings and rebellions and the Civil War. So there is no doubt that Margaret Mitchell was so familiar with the backgrounds of the Civil War and that is why she could create such a lifelike and vivid figure—Scarlet O’Hara.
Gone with the Wind, as the title suggests, has something to do with the winds. And it is well known that there are two kinds of winds in the world: “the wind which blows away from the without and the winds from the within. Winds from the without, over which people have little control, may include adversity, war, pestilence, famine, calamity and misfortune. People have little control over these winds. Winds from the within, over which people may have control, can include passion, enmity, strife, malice, factions and jealousies.” [1] The heroine of Gone with the Wind, Scarlet O’Hara, a strong and rebellious representative western woman of the South America, can stand the test of “wind” and never be gone with the “wind”.
Dong Xinbi is the heroine of New Beauty in the Turbulent World by Huang Beijia, a famous Chinese female writer, who was born in Jiangsu Province, China, in 1955. She is good at observing women and unearthing their inner worlds. Different from other female writers, Huang Beijia usually excavates women’s subtle feeling from a poetic perspective. Through the characters’ words, their activities and their surroundings, Huang Beijia leads the readers to sense the character in their own shoes. At the same time, Huang Beijia is a strong willed lady who enjoys a relaxing psychology. Her writing style is natural and fresh which attracts many readers’ attention.
One of the popular translation of Gone with the Wind in Chinese is《乱世佳人》(Beauty in the Turbulent World) and Huang Beijia entitles her work New Beauty in the Turbulent World《新乱世佳人》. From the titles we can draw a hint that there must be something in common in these two works and in fact it is: the main idea of the New Beauty in the Turbulent World is similar to the Gone with the Wind. It is also about a great woman of the war. Similar to Gone with the Wind, the heroine of New Beauty in the Turbulent World Dong Xinbi is also a charming lady, and her experience is nearly the same as Scarlet O’Hara. She used to live a happy and sweet life, however, the war breaks out and it throws her into the troubled times. She has to grow up and fight for her family. After a series of torture, she finally becomes mature.
Despite the similarities, Scarlet O’Hara and Dong Xinbi are different in their personalities: Scarlet O’Hara is a self-centered and masculine lady who stands for the uprising westerners; while Dong Xinbi is an obedient, gentle and yielding lady who represents the traditional Chinese woman. But they still have a lot in common- - both of them are pretty, charming, hard working, clever and indomitable. What is more, they are not strong at first, however, the severe tests of the war stimulate them to become strong and mature which finally lead them to be excellent ladies in the turbulent times. So in the following chapters, this paper will compare them from different aspects.

2. The connotations of the names
A person’s name often suggests one’s personality.
Scarlet O’Hara is the heroine of Gone with the Wind. She is wild and can not be controlled. Just as her name suggests—Scarlet, the word in English means “bright red” , a color which is often associated with enthusiasm, wildness and brightness. And there is also a word in English —red-blooded, which means “full of vigor; virile”　It indicates that Scarlet is full of vitality. If a woman is called Scarlet, we can drop a hint that this is an immoral woman.　She never cares about others but only herself, in other words, she is an individualist.
Different from Scarlet’s wildness and vitality, Dong Xinbi is full of docility. Her name reminds the readers of the phrase “小家碧玉”( beauty from a small family), which indicates that Xinbi is delicate and graceful, while in another aspect it shows her dependence on her husband. Besides,“碧” equals to “绿”, which means green. And the word “green” in Chinese means vitality, or in other words, it stands for the hope of survival. If one’s heart is green, it means that he or she is vigorous, so her name suggests that Xinbi is always full of hope and never lose heart. Also, the word “green” usually associates with bamboo, which drops a hint that Xinbi’s character is somehow the same as bamboo—pure and noble.
Moreover,Xinbi is the mother of five “玉”(jades). The jade is warm and humid which drops a hint that Xinbi is gentle and magnanimous. Even there is an old saying that—“Rather be a broken piece of jade than a whole tile.” It also indicates that Xinbi is dauntless.
In a word, Xinbi’s name is a typical one of the traditional Chinese women—it indicates the delicate, graceful, dependent, pure but strong essence of Chinese women.

3. Pretty images
Beauty in appearance
There is no doubt that Scarlet O’Hara and Dong Xinbi are charming and attractive. Scarlet O’Hara is described as “a flower of evil” and Dong Xinbi “a matchless beauty”.
However, their beauty is not of the same kind, Scarlet O’Hara is a beauty of mixture--“In her face were too sharply blended the delicate features of her mother, a Coast aristocrat of French descent, and the heavy ones of her florid Irish father…”　And she is very attractive—“but it was an arresting face, pointed of chin, square of jaw. Her eyes were pale green without a touch of hazel, starred with bristly black lashes and slightly titled at the ends”　However, her beautiful face also indicates that she is somehow masculine—“Above them, her thick black brows slanted upward, cutting a startling oblique line in her magnolia line.”
But, at the same time, Scarlet is elegant—“ the modesty of her spreading skirts, the demureness of hair netted smoothly into a chignon and the quietness of small white hands folded in her lap.”　
It is well accepted that Dong Xinbi is a beauty as well. But different from the western version of Scarlet, Dong Xinbi’s beauty is of Chinese version--“she is about 13 or 14 years old, in other words, she is just growing up. However, she is an absolutely beauty—a girl with beautiful arched eyebrows, phoenix eyes, red lips, white teeth and with a Gusu accent.”　(当时她已十三四岁，初长成人，柳眉凤眼，唇红齿白，一口糯糯的姑苏软语，十足是人见人爱的美人坯子)
Xinbi is a delicate and exquisite beauty of Southern China, which Chinese people praise highly. From what is mentioned above, we could imagine an enchanting and obedient beauty.
In a word, Scarlet O’Hara is a beauty of mixture: the mixture of France and Irish, and the mixture of masculine and elegant beauty. She is a representative of the masculine western beauty. Though beautiful and enchanting as well, Dong Xinbi is a traditional Chinese beauty. She is delicate and elegant, however, she is obedient.
Beauty in personality
The beauty in personality is much more beautiful than the beauty in appearance and the two ladies proves it during the war.
Scarlet used to be the princess of Tara; she was the apple of her parents’ eyes and the young men of Atlanta’s. So was Xinbi, although she had to keep the house, she was an elegant controller of Dong’s. And her demeanor is matchless in the whole Haiyang. However, the war breaks out and they are thrown into a state of being restituted and homeless.
Facing the situation, Scarlet O’Hara changes with the times though she used to be capricious and self-important. She recognizes that she must be practical and learns the basic living abilities, such as picking cotton as the black slaves cultivating the land and so on. And she tells herself “money comes first!”—It is the only thing that can make one feel warm and safe.
She is strong-willed besides adoptable when she is confronted with hard times. On the fall day of Atlanta, the doctor is so busy that he has no time to help Melanie. Scarlet turns to herself for help. She helps as a midwife and delivers Melanie’s child; and without Rhett’s help on the half way home, she manages to go back home by herself; taking the advantage of Kennedy’s illness, she manages the wood factory by herself. What is more, she does better than her husband… From the above instances, we can draw a conclusion that Scarlet is not only strong, but somehow self-helped and masculine.
And Scarlet is also creditable. Since the day Scarlet promised Ashley to take good care of Melanie, she tries her best to look after her although Melanie is her rival in love. On the fall night of Atlanta, though she is eager to be back to Tara, she helps Melanie give birth to the baby and brings her back to Tara and takes good care of her despite all the difficulties.
Xinbi is also an adaptable strong woman. She becomes no longer a descent and elegant lady but a practical woman during the war: she begins to learn how to sow seeds, how to make clothes by herself; she comes to realize that the reputation is impractical and rents some of her houses in order to make some money…
Xinbi keeps promises as well. Since the day she promised Shen Chen to look after his mother, she tries her best to take good care of the old lady—chatting with her, cooking delicious food for her, knitting sweaters for her… in a word, she tries her best to ensure that the old lady is living a relatively comfortable life. Even she thinks of asking the old lady to live with her and takes good care of her after Shen Chen’s death. However, the pitiful old lady goes with her son—she passes away the day after she knows that her son’s death. Never thinking of occupying the money Shen Chen gave her earlier, she spends all the amount of money in burying her mother.
Xinbi is clever. When her house is intruded by an official, she even use the policy of “violence to violence”—she asks a higher official indirectly for help; when her son Kejian is kidnapped, she asks her son-in-law—Wang Qianfan, who is a PRC to save him; and in order to save money, she goes to the suburbs to buy foods… Xinbi is smart, but we can also draw a conclusion that she is weak and dependent because she can not manage those affairs well by herself but always turns to others for help.
From the above discussion, it is clear that both of the two beauties are strong, creditable and clever; they can change with the times. But there are still some differences in their personality—Scarlet O’Hara is self-helped and masculine, and she never depends on men. While Dong Xinbi is a comparatively weak lady of Southern China. She is dependent on men.

4. Human relations
Attitude towards men
It is the same that the two ladies have three men during their lives. For Scarlet, they are Charles, Kennedy and Rhett; for Xinbi, they are Jiren, Shen Chen and Muzi. But their attitudes towards men are different, Scarlet is a self-centered woman, once she needs a man she will do it directly and finally let them fall into love with her. She is an individualist who looks for love by herself. However, Xinbi is a traditional Chinese woman; she always cares for other people’s comments and dare not to save her love, which finally leads to the tragic ends.
Scarlet marries Charles impulsively simply because Ashley rejects her love. The self-centered girl can not 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.” [10] What a self- important girl, she never considers others’ feelings.
What is worse, she is indifferent with Charles’ death. It is true that she is 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.