Scarlett O'Hara: An Increasingly Maturing Southern New Woman

Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell's first and only novel published before her death, has been one of the bestsellers and popular with the reader ever since its publication in 1936. The film version sweeps the world and has aroused interest of a large number of fascinated viewers. What puzzles us is that the immense success of the novel and film has never attracted the great attention of the critical circles of literature. To many critics, this novel has never entered the sacred palace of American literature and Scarlett O'Hara, the heroine 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.The thesis seeks to analyze the controversial heroine Scarlett from a feminist perspective. It is composed of the introduction, the body and the conclusion. The Introduction is a brief account of the contents of the thesis and the feminist literary theory.The body is made up of four chapters. Chapter One gives a brief introduction of Margaret Mitchell's life and traditional Southern Womanhood. Margaret Mitchell was a woman writer with feminist leanings. Through the novel, instead of singing a complimentary song for the past gone with the wind forever, she condemns the Old South and traditional Southern Womanhood and reveals to the reader that Southern Womanhood is encouraging hypocrisy, endangering society and suppressing women. The following three chapters analyze how Scarlett completes her transformation from a sixteen-year-old girl deeply influenced by traditional Southern Womanhood to a serious-minded and far-sighted woman. In the twelve years, her feminist leanings are becoming more and more obvious. Chapter Two deals with Scarlett before the Civil War years, during which she is Tara's most beloved but obstinate daughter who lives a carefree and peaceful life. Her character and actions are mainly due to her nature and are seldom disturbed by the social environment. Chapter Three analyzes Scarlett in the Civil War whose raging fire breaks her untroubled life into pieces. Hardships in realityand changes in society clear away her fragile traits and help her to be perseverant even in adversity. Chapter Four deals with Scarlett in the Reconstruction years, during which she complies with the times and enthusiastically manages her business. What she says and does strongly avers her rebellious spirit and her courage to break away from conventions.The conclusion summarizes the whole thesis and reiterates the main viewpoint: in her three stages, Scarlett is increasingly maturing and in the end becomes a Southern new woman with strong feminist leanings. Her transformation is closely related to the social upheaval in the South.