Scarlett’s Tragedy

Abstract：Scarlett is a shining image with feminist features that Mitchell Margaret creates in Gone with the wind. Her rebellious spirit runs through the whole novel. From the aspect of female subjective consciousness， this paper tries to analyze the reasonableness， unreasonableness and the alienation of Scarletts rebellious spirit， and then points out that Scarletts blind rebellion to the world leads to her tragedy between the traditional morality and the cruel reality.

Key words：rebellious spirit；reasonableness；unreasonableness；alienation；tragedy

中图分类号：H319 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1672-1578（2015）09-0005-03

Gone with the Wind is the only novel Margaret Mitchell creates throughout her life. Scarlett is a successful career woman whom Margaret Mitchell creates in the novel. She experiences the profound changes by the civil war. Just these experiences make her rebellion which hides in her heart become visible little by little. She rebels the outmoded conventions and pursues the love and life actively. And she also despises the whole traditional moral concepts. Different critics have different views to her rebellion after this book was published. Deng Yufen considers Scarlett “dares to go against the tradition of females as inferior to males， and she dares to go out of the family and enter into the patriarchal world to obtain her independence of economy and personality."[1] Xiong Xin affirms that she “rebels all of conventions blindly， so her destiny is tragic. Her rebellion makes her get all things except love.”[2] No matter what kind of critical comment they make on her， according to the female subjective consciousness of feminism theory and the heroines social background， Scarletts rebellion has its reasonableness and unreasonableness. As we know， Scarletts ultimate destiny is tragic. Maybe she gets the lands， the money， and so on， but loses the lover and friends. It makes us think the question again： how to establish the female subjective status firmly under the pressure of the patriarchal world？

1 The reasonableness of Scarletts rebellion

Scarletts rebellion has the aspect of reasonableness. Firstly， she pursues her love and life actively. It is a good proof for the awakening of female subjective consciousness. Secondly， she strengthens the participant consciousness and pursuing the achievement of self-value actively. And thirdly， she tries to improve self-cultivation and sets up the firm independent characteristic. So these actions prove that she attempts to establish the female subjective status.

1.1 The awakening of female subjective consciousness

Setting up the female subjective consciousness not only lies in the independence of family but also in the relationship between the male and female. Both sexes are in an equal status. Female is not the appendage to male. They also have the equal rights to pursue their ideal. So Scarlett does that.

Scarlett pursues her love and happiness actively in all her life. She dares to break the traditional marriage concept. She doesnt like the man her parents select for her. At that time， young people have no right to decide their marriage. But Scarlett thinks if she cant live together with her lover， the land will become no value to her. When her father Gerald warns her that the marriage between Ashley and her is unsuitable， she strongly opposes：“Will you stop treating me like a child？” cried Scarlett. “I dont want to go to Charleston or have a house or marry the twins. I only want …”[3]（P40）In fact， she falls in love with Ashley， and tries to express her love to him whenever she catches a chance. After Melanies death， Scarlett finds two facts： one is that Ashley never loves her and she still loves Ashley. The other is that she knows Rhett is the man who she has loved for a long time. When she realizes this， she runs home immediately and tells him the truth.

As for love，Scarlett always owns the right to take initiative. She doesnt like other women who accept their marriage passively at that time. These are the best proof for the awakening of her female subjective consciousness.

1.2 Strengthening the participant consciousness and pursuing the achievement of self-value actively

Scarlett lives in a male patriarchal world. So if the female want to participate in this unequal society， they will be faced with many difficulties. But Scarlett sets a good example to other women. Without mans help， women can also accomplish everything except pregnancy. Because of the economic collapse of slavery， in order to protect her home Tara， Scarlett has to choose the second marriage. But when she finds her second husband Frank is bad at doing business， a startling opinion comes into her mind： “just imaging Frank tries to operate a sawmill！Gods nightgown！ If he runs this store like a charitable institution， how could he expect to make money on a mill？ The sheriff would have it in a month. Why， I could run this store better than he does！ And I could run a mill better than he could， even if I dont know anything about the lumber business！”[3]（P610）

Throwing away the outmoded concepts， she begins to achieve her self-value. Then she buys the sawmill and manages it by herself， and she runs her sawmill very well by her intelligence. So she dares to go out of the family and work like a man. This fact reflects that she is strengthening the participant consciousness and then pursuing the achievement of her self-value actively.

1.3 Developing the independent personality by improving her self-cultivation

The economic independence is the first step to a womans independence. The civil war destroyed Scarletts cozy nest. The lazy luxury of the old days had gone， and would never come back.“There is no going back and she is going forward.”[3]（P421） She had to shoulder the heavy burden. So she dropped her head on her arms and struggled to say， for “crying wad so useless now.”[3]（P431） This brave behavior demonstrates her tough characteristic and the spirit of refusing to sink into depravity in such hard time.

Her independence also embodies the idea of her scorn to the moral norms of the social stratum， and the real life attitude she takes. After the civil war， “throughout the south for fifty years there would be bitter-eyed women who looked backward， to dead times， to dead men， evoking memories that hurt and were futile， bearing poverty with bitter pride because they had those memories. Bu Scarlett wad never to look back.” [3]（P421） She has the uncommon courage to face the humiliation and compulsion of the conservatives. Thanks for her wittiness and resolution， she does a lot of astonishing things to keep pace with the changeable era and society.

2 The unreasonableness of Scarletts rebellion

Of course， Scarletts rebellion has the unreasonableness. She does all things which she likes by despising the whole traditional moral concepts. And she also pursues the love and life blindly. In her mind， love and money are the two important things which she pursues， so she ignores the importance of her mental world. These actions are also the reasons for her tragic destiny.

2.1 Despise the whole traditional moral concepts

The civil war makes Scarlett lose the innate gentleness. What Scarlett wants to do is to make much money. And this purpose becomes clearer and clearer day by day. In order to achieve this purpose， she would try any way. The big family has no money to pay the taxes， so she decides to raise money from Rhett as his mistress and， then even seduces Frank， her sisters lover. Such things are rejected in our modern times， let alone in those times. But Scarlett doesnt feel uneasy about it. For the sake of high profit， she leases convicts to work the mill， makes trades with Yankees， rooks the helpless and the widows and the orphans and the ignorant.

In order to live and protect Tara， she gives up “the least important things.”[3]（P768） As we know from the novel，“the least important things are pride and honor and truth and virtue and kindness that south people never give up till death. Scarlett considers if her actions dont obstruct others benefit and enjoyment， the traditional moral should ignore her rebellion. But the fact is that they rally together to oppose Scarlett and make her isolated. So when Rhett intends to leave because of his disappointment to their marriage， Scarlett finds that she needs the old friends comfort but the reality tells her it is impossible. At this moment， she feels how lonely she is！ But this ending is due to her despising to the whole traditional moral concepts.

2.2 Pursuing the love and life blindly

After reading this novel， the readers may find that Scarlett always presents her blind and pure love to Ashley with all aspects. In order to get Ashleys love， she uses all kinds of ways that she even looks down upon. She pretends to be a fair maiden and shows off her voice and countenance before him. Especially when Ashley comes back from battlefield， depressed and decayed， Scarlett shows her love to him though she disdains the weak. But when she could stay together with Ashley， she realizes the fact. “He never really existed at all， except in my imagination.” she thought wearily，“I loved something I made up， something thats just as dead as Melly is. I made a pretty suit of clothes and fell in love with it. And when Ashley came riding along， so handsome， so different. I put that suit on him and see that he really was. I kept on loving the pretty clothes--and not him at all.” [3]（P1004）

In the traditional society of females as inferior to male， the two things which Scarlett pursues have the contradiction. If she decides to make much money， she should give up the traditional ladies gentleness， and go out of the family to compete with male for supremacy. On the other hand， Ashley only wants a wife like Melanie who is gentle and kindhearted. So no matter how hard Scarlett tries， she cant win Ashleys love. At last， she realizes that “It was Rhett， --Rhett who had strong arms to hold her， a broad chest to pillow her tired head， jeering laughter to pull her affairs into proper perspective. ... He loves her！... ”At that moment， Scarlett wakes up to the reality. “Ill tell him what a fool Ive been and how much I love him and Ill make it up to him.” [3]（P1010） Unfortunately， it is too late. Rhett has lost the confidence about their marriage and prepares to leave.

3 The alienation of Scarletts rebellion-- the

unprecedented development of masculinity during and after the civil war

“Masculinity is the development of the patriarchal world.

It is legal for the male paramount status. Their authoritative power is unquestionable， and also their dominative desire rises sharply.”[4] Scarlett has a lust for dominating others. At the beginning of the novel， the writer points out that “her manners had been imposed upon her by her mothers gentle admonitions and the sterner discipline of her Mammy； her eyes were her own.”[3]（P7） When Atlanta is fallen into enemy lands at that night， Scarlett nurses Melanie to birth the baby at the danger of death by the artillery fire. And then she takes them to the safe place Tara. Her brave action is to keep her promise to Ashley. Then the characteristic of her masculinity begins to turn up in public. After Ellens death and Geralds dementia， Scarlett becomes the supreme master of Tara. In order to live， she rules the whole family like a tyrant. That is to say， the femininity of Scarlett vanishes gradually. The males domination takes the place of her female indecisive mind. When she goes all out to work in the unpeaceful times， she ignores her femininity. There is no denying that Scarletts masculinity makes her gain material interests. But she cant control the degree. We can see that in Scarletts mind， women are not only equal to men， but also more powerful than men. So when she asks Ashley to work for her in the sawmill， Ashley says： “I dont want allowances made for me. I want to stand on my own feet for what Im worth. What have I done with my life， up till now？ Its time I made something of myself--or went down through my own fault. Ive been your pensioner too long already.” [3]（P717） Its a good example to prove that her terrible masculinity makes a male lose his pride. Rhett chooses the way of leaving， the basic reason is that Scarletts stubborn and independent characteristic hurt his self-respect and vanity of male chauvinism. As we know， if women want to be successful with establishing the female subjective status， they should go out of the family and enter into the patriarchal world to go all out to work. But when we make every effort to do this， we shouldnt forget our second sex. Both the undertaking and family are important to us in our life. But Scarletts masculinity develops unprecedentedly. She neither stays at home nor needs his protection. And she just wants her own hands to run the business. So Rhett thinks Scarlett never loves him and wants him. Maybe he loses the value as a husband. At last， he chooses the way of leaving. It is doomed that shell lose her love and family.

4 Conclusion

Scarletts rebellious spirit runs through the whole novel and also attracts many readers attention. But her last destiny is tragic. This fact makes us to think how is the female subjective status established firmly under the pressure of the patriarchal world？ There are four essential factors we should follow. The first factor is the awakening of the female subjective consciousness， and the second factor is the improvement of self-cultivation. The other two factors are that we should elevate our participant consciousness and adjust the role to expectant objective. There is no denying that Scarlett does very well for the former three factors， while she neglects the last but the most important one. She doesnt know what the proper role she should play. So her tragic ending tells us a fact， what role we should play when we rebel the unequal things. The author thinks that the “harmony” is the most important rule we should follow.

Bibliography

[1]邓玉芬，思佳丽.“飘”不走的梦和人——对《乱世佳人》的女性主义解读[J].湖南科技学院院报，2005.2： 183.

[2]熊欣.《飘》中思嘉丽的反叛精神浅析[J].琼州大学学报，2005.8： 59.

[3]Margaret Mitchell. Gone with the wind[M].The Hearst Corporation 959 English Avenue New York，1973.4.

[4]荆兴梅.《飘》的女性主义解读[J].江苏科技大学学报（社会科学版），2005.6：77.

作者简介：李芳（1982年-），女，湖南常德人，常德职业技术学院国际教育部讲师，主要从事文学翻译与英语教学研究。