Character Analysis of Scarlettin Gone With the Wind毕业论文

【标题】Character Analysis of Scarlettin Gone With the Wind【作者】杨 旭 【关键词】思嘉丽；性格；勇气与独立；反叛；乐观与自信 【指导老师】张海霞 曾琳玲 【专业】英语 【正文】I. IntroductionGone with the Wind is written by the American female writer Margaret Mitchell. Ever since its publishing, the American Civil War romance has broken all publishing records among the circles. Now, it has been regarded to be the classic love romance based on the U.S Civil War. In Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell has written a solid and vividly interesting story which mainly describes several young peoples love during the Civil War. The protagonist Scarlett is a beautiful girl who represents the class of degenerated noble. There are many essential characteristics of slave owner such as independence, courage and self-confidence in Scarlett. The Civil War is the great setting that made the heroine grow up from a childish girl to a mature woman. And she has portrayed a distinctive womanScarlett, who had enough courage to endure and do anything, enough rebellion to break the conventions, enough optimism to face everything.Gone with the wind was first published in 1936. This historical romance of the Civil War had been famous almost overnight. Praised as the first Civil War novel to be told from a southern womans point of view, Gone with the Wind won the 1937 Puliter prize in fiction. It soon spread over the country and attracted numerous readers. Until 1949, this book had already been translated into eighteen languages and more than eight million volumes had been sold in forty countries. However, this work did not gain high literary frame in the American Literature for the writers attitude toward the U.S Civil War and slavery. Some critics hold that Margaret Mitchell had beautified the declining manorialism of the south and showed her great sympathy to those slaveholders. An American film based on this novel was released three years after its publication, which was one of the highest-grossing blockbusters in the history of Hollywood, and had received a record-breaking number of Academy Awards.The central theme of the thesis is the analysis of Scarletts character from two aspects: the first one is the merits of her character, such as the courage and independence during and after the civil war and her optimism and positiveness; the second one is her rebellion and selfishness. The analysis aims at showing the eternal charm of her image, and draws the natural conclusion that she is an independent and optimistic lady despite some demerits. The reasons of the shaping of Scarletts character are researched; the influence on the era concerning the main figure are also pointed out that modern woman should learn from Scarlett to hold active and positive attitude towards social pressure and cruel reality. The Reasons of the Shaping of Scarletts Character.A. Internal ReasonsScarlett OHara holds a good background which allows her to possess a comparatively higher position in social circle. Not only the facial features of Scarlett are distinctive, but also her feature is so sharp and sexy that she attracts many young men. Her flirtatiousness and charm won the hearts of many men in Clayton County, Georgia. She is described as a flower of evil. Just as her name suggestsScarlett, the word which means“bright red”, a color which is often associated with enthusiasm, wildness and brightness. The union of her parents was no less than a miracle. For when they married, Mr. OHara was only“an Irishman with nothing of family and wealth to recommend him” while her father was“the daughter of one of the wealthiest and product families”. Gerald, Scarletts father, is a loud-voiced and red-faced man with scare education. The education he received was so scant that“the only Latin he knew was the responses of the Mass and the only history the songs of Ireland that had come down through the years”. Although Gerald had no prominent background or descent money from his relatives to support his career, he built up his property from nothing but the insistence of his stamina and diligence. He is easy to get angry and often roars to his slaves and his daughters, except his wife, Ellen OHara. Selfish, shrewd and vain, Scarlett inherits the strong will of her Irish father. Scarletts mother, being quite different from her rude and ill-educated husband, was a fair, noble and gentle woman, who comes from a good and well respected Savannah, Georgia family. Her tender characters could be reflected in the way she spoke, the soft slurring voice, but it was a voice never raised in command to a servant or reproof to a child but a voice that was obeyed instantly at Tara. Gentle but serious, Scarletts mother is such a good model for her daughters. She is incredibly strict with her daughters, for she hopes that when her children grew up, they would become as decent, well-educated, gentle, traditional, and fair, as her. But she dies at a crucial moment at the end of the war and before Scarletts return to Tara.Scarlett has a good figure and lineament, which makes her confident all the time, either in front of men or doing her own business. In the first chapter of Gone with the Wind, Margaret showed us a detailed description of the appearance of Scarlett:“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. Above them, her thick black brows slanted outward, cutting a startling oblique line in her magnolia-thite skin.”B. External ReasonsWith the outbreak of the war, she loses everything she owns. War makes her become a widow who has to wear black weeds for her husband. In the summer of 1864, Sherman starts to attack the south. Everyone in Atlanta is fleeing the city. But Scarlett has to stay at Atlanta with Melanie for she has made a promise to Ashley that she will look after Melanie who is going to give birth to a baby. She escorts Melanie and her newly-born baby to go back to Tara in the flames of war regardless of her own life. Her courage conquers the fire in the road. Finally she arrives at her home, only to see that it is ruined, what she gets in Tara is only the endless loneliness and desolation.Out of Scarletts expectation, the most terrible disaster occursEllen OHara, her gentle, amiable mother, has died of disease; her father has turned to a terribly old man with a little schizophrenia. Now he is like a child but not the strong man or the backbone of Tara any more. Both of her sisters were infected by the diseases. Slaves have run away during the Civil War, with only three Negroes still remaining. There isnt enough food to feed even one person, and all their cotton has been burnt to ashes. Moreover, their Confederate cash becomes worthless because of the war. Under such circumstance, Scarlett Hamilton has to shoulder up these burdens herself. There is no one to be relied on. Then Scarlett is apprehending things from a new view, for somewhere along the long road to Tara, she had left her girlhood behind, she becomes a real woman, and her youth and infantility has gone. After the war, no food, no wine and no animals are left by the enemy. In order to rebuild and protect Tara, which has been totally damaged by the Yankees, she decides to go outside to manage a sawmill herself and does other business successfully. Never again could Scarlett lie down.When she arrived home, her heart can not bear all these. She was deeply hit by the war. But later, she said to herself that she has to wake up from the misery and pull herself together. But there is no one to be relied on. She has to shoulder up all these burdens herself. From then on, she is gradually turning to a completely new woman. . Merits of Scarletts characterA. Courage and IndependenceAmong Scarletts characters, her courage and independence are the most distinct. Her courage of facing the changes brought about by the Civil War and of killing a Yankee solider and her independence to save the family plantation and run her own business is highly appreciated.The war has brought great changes to her. She knows that shes the only one to be responsible to deal with this situation. She has to pull her family out of the dilemma herself. So she starts her business and practice usury, runs timber mill, and illegally employs Negroes. Even though she is abused by the southern royalty to be greedy, selfish, shameless, cruel and cold, she is an adventure, an upstart and a great heroine who has survived in the war. In fact, all the people in Tara including Ashley were living on Scarletts shoulders. Without her help, Melanie and her child would be dead in the war. Without Scarlett to be an evil, Melanie could not be respected as an angel. Therefore, Scarlett is the real respectable person because of her independence and strong character. It might be arguable that Scarlett is not a fully independent woman at first, because she is a spoiled girl before, and then she relies on men to get through the challenges in her life. However, eventually after she went back to Tara, she became an independent woman, she owns her business and she looks after her family. She stands out because she is strong and has saves her family.People at that time cant endure women to appear in public for earning money, especially to the men, they cant tolerate the women who defeat them. Scarlett disregards of what people say, she just does what she believes. The OHaras will never give up. The OHaras will not be beaten down. She takes up the burdens herself and she thinks that she is strong enough to bear them. The next morning Scarlett forces herself to endure the stiffness and sore of her body, going out to search for some food. In the Negroes garden patches of Wilkes plantation, she is beaten down by hunger and weariness. When she plucks up at last and sees again the black ruins of the plantation, her head is raised high and something that was youth and beauty and potential tenderness had gone out of her face forever. The lazy luxury of the old days has gone, never to return.“There was no going back and she was going forward throughout the South for fifty years there would be bittereyed woman who looked backward But Scarlett was never to look back.” 5 At that moment hunger roars at her empty stomach again and Scarlett howls aloud:“As god is my witness.the Yankees arent going to lick me. Im going to live through this, and when its over Im never going to be hunger again. No, nor any of my folks. If I have to steal or killas God is my witness, Im never going to be hunger again”.6 This was her braveness. What an announcement of struggle! Indeed it is a day worthy of celebration, which symbolizes the birth of a completely new woman of courage and independence. From then on, the shell of hardness, which has begun to form in her heart when she first worked in the slave garden, is slowly thickening. Scarlett, who is more brave and intelligent than other women of her time, gradually realizes that her mothers protected world has gone and a brutal world has taken its place. She sees, or she thinks she sees that her mother has been wrong, and she changes swiftly to meet this new world for which she is not prepared. This is her perception. Both of Scarletts two sisters and the slaves all refuse, or do not dare, to face the reality. Melanie, who can face the situation, but only endures and suffers passively, and she is not willing to, or can not, struggle against the bad luck positively and energetically as Scarlett does.In doing business, Scarlett shows great independence by insisting on running a mill on her own. Scarlett always feels that women have hardness and endurance unknown to men, despite that she had been taught in childhood that women were frail, tender, sensitive creatures. She is a woman who could handle business as well or even better than men. She believes that women could manage everything in the world without mens helpexcept having babies. With the idea that she is as capable as a man, she has a sudden rush of pride and violent longing to prove it, to make money for herself as men do. Money could be her property and she could handle it at her own will. Her husband, her sisters, her slaves and all other people know her are shocked by her unexpected course. Scarlett sticks to managing the sawmill herself. She puts all her energy to the business. She employs prisoners to work for her for less expenditure but more profit; she sends out her money to mortgage as loan; she trades with black men for money; and she even cleans up the money from the widows. Her intelligence and courage to do business indeed accumulate a large amount of money for her, which will make sure that the whole family led a life without worry about food and clothes. Though she has a bad reputation of having an eye to money, she doesnt care at all, for the reason that she feels so horrible about the memory of hunger, coldness, loneliness and danger again and again in the nightmares. When the news is spread over the town, people are all discussing her disregarding of the womens code. When she has no accompanier, she will drive the carriage herself even she is pregnant despite some old womens sneering. They dont understand the bitterness Scarlett suffered in making money to assist her family during these hard times of war. For other women, if they had no choice but to work and earn money, they would just do some trivial things like baking or painting china or just sewing. They are restricted to a small circlehome, which is their protection during hard times. They would not accept any woman who left home and seek fortune out into the complex world which is full of men, competing with them in business, rubbing shoulders with them, being exposed to insult and gossip, especially when Scarlet was not forced to do it, when she has a husband amply able to provide food and clothes for her.The war is finally over! But they are still in trouble; the Yankee carpetbaggers and southern scalawags have raised the taxes on Tara. Taxation brings Tara the danger of being bought away by the others. She must do something to save Tara. She tries all the ways to get money for Tara. In order to raise tax money, Scarlett has to go to Atlanta to seek help from Rhett. She must use the only means available to her to save the family plantation. However, this decision is not easy for her to make, Scarlett fights a quick battle with the“.three most binding ties of her soulthe memory of Ellen, the teachings of her religion and her love for Ashley. She knew that what she had in her mind must be hideous to her mother even in that warm far off heaven where she surely was.”7 She knew that fornication was a mortal sin. And she knew that loving Ashley as she did, her plan was doubly prostitution. Unfortunately, although she has planned to sacrifice herself to Rhett, she is refused, for Rhett is in prison. But anyway, she will not give up Tara, and her folks. In order to get and save enough money, Scarlett buys a sawmill herself. She shuttles back and forth in Atlanta city where people in the town are all talking about her. Nevertheless, she makes a success. And at the same time, she is excluded out of social contacts. She has done everything in quite the different ways from other women. That is a unforgivable sin in any society. As Rhett says to her,“Scarlett, the mere fact that youve made a success of your mill is an insult to every man who hasnt succeeded. Remember, a well-bred females place is in the home and she should know nothing about this busy brutal world.”8 By now, we know, perhaps only partly, the reason why she is different and damned.Another fact to show her courage is her killing of a thieving Yankee soldier, imperturbably and without hesitationright before the Yankees shoot. Such an act was also criticized by the critics, who accuse her of brutality and murderer. They condemn her living by hook or crook, not like a decent lady. But actually, she only does what under the circumstances must be done if she is to survived. In modern society, it is called legitimate defense, it is therefore guiltless. Anyway, Scarlett has got other three sick girls and the babies out of danger. That is worthwhile. Even if Melanie were in the same situation, shed have done the same thing.B. Optimism and PositivenessScarlett is optimistic toward everything. She is always full of hope of tomorrow, life and the future. Some of her lines from Gone with the Wind, like“Fiddle-dee-dee!” 9“Tomorrow is another day”10 have become well-known all around the world. She is charming and candid. For her the dream of tomorrow would be changed into the strength to live today, and the hope of future would help her to swallow all the bitterness of the presentAfter all, Tomorrow Is Another Day. The land is the only thing，which helps her to maintain her hope of tomorrowFrom the beginning to the end，land Tara has always becoming the center of Scraletts lifeHer constant care for Tara has never stopped because only from it her consciousness of tomorrow can be realizedLand is the only thing in the world that amounts to anythingFor its the only thing in this world that lasts；its the only thing worth fighting for.Besides optimism, Scarlett also has positiveness. It is known that ones life couldnt go smoothly and without difficulty. Difficulties and frustrations are the devils on the road to success. Now that we can not avoid these terrible obstacles, why dont we just be confident to overcome them? Like what Scarlett always says“tomorrow is another day. Why can not the women say that today I meet and fight against the difficulties, tomorrow I will meet the success? There is a saying that confidence is half the success. Being confident means that you should also be optimistic, they are indispensable. The Confident and optimistic people can bravely face the terrible difficulties. When you have thought out a dream or plan you should have the confidence to realize it. Dont just be daydreaming every day. Women always dream that one day they will be a rich, elegant lady with fashionable dresses and expensive jewelries. But they seldom put their heart into it and try to make these true. Its all because of their lack of confidence. Why can Scarlett do everything she dreams of? Because she is confident.IV. Scarletts DemeritsDespite merits, Scarlett also has some demerits such as rebellion and selfishness. After all, every bean has its black.A. RebellionScarletts anti-traditional behavior is more and more undisguisedEveryone can be seen as rebellious to some extent, but it is reasonable if its within peoples acceptance. But Scarletts rebellion is far from peoples acceptance. Born in such a riot, Scarlett is a rebellent girl. She is much different from others. At that time, people hold the convention that men are masters of their wives, while the wife should do as her husbands allow. Scarlett is not like the other girls at that time, who lead a life of waiting, waiting for mens allegiance and acceptance waiting for love and for appreciation and compliment. On the contrary, she strives for love and happiness actively. When she hears the news that Ashley, the man she loves, will marry his cousin Melanie, she confesses her love for him without hesitation and she even mentions of eloping with him. She knows she must let him understand her love, thus it is possible for her to get his love. Her action is not different from the modern people. She shows great rebellion towards conventions.Scarlett hates the rules of the society. When she becomes a widow who has to wear black weeds and cant show her face in the public, she is very uneasy. So she accepts Rhetts invitation to dance with him openly and undoubtedly at the charity ball. She tossed he