论文总字数：36950字

摘 要

玛格丽特.米切尔的传世之作《飘》一直广受公众赞誉。学者们纷纷从不同的角度对小说女主人公-斯佳丽进行了不同侧重点的研究。但至今, 在从女性主义角度分析这部小说时，很少有评论家聚焦于她的成长过程。再者，在现代社会中，有许多像斯佳丽一样不甘于“他者”身份，追求独立和解放的女性。据此，本论文将从女性主义角度对这部小说进行重新解读。通过对斯佳丽成长过程的女性主义分析来剖析女性寻求个人独立历程。

本论文由五个部分组成。第一部分是对小说作者玛格丽特生平以及《飘》的主要观点和文献综述的概述。第二部分是对女性主义理论的简介。第三部分，集中分析斯嘉丽女性意识的形成及其存在的不足以及导致斯嘉丽女性意识不成熟的原因。最后，对本论文进行总结，并重申重要观点。当女性在成长道路上遇到困难时应学会社会定位。只有这样女性才能逐渐成熟并获得成功，才能在现代社会赢得与男性平等的地位。

关键词：玛格丽特.米切尔；斯佳丽；《飘》；女性主义意识

Contents

1. Introduction….................................................................................................1

1.1 ABrief Introduction to Margaret Mitchell…………………………………...1

1.2 The Main Ideas about Gone with the Wind………………………………......2

2. Literature Review…………………………………………………………....2

3. A Brief Introduction to the Feminist Theory…………………………........3

3.1 The Definition of Feminism…........................................................................3

3.2 A Brief Introduction to the History of Feminism……………………………4

4. An Analysis of Scarlett’s Feminine Consciousness………………………...5

4.1 Scarlett’s Gradual Formation of Feminine Consciousness.............................5

4.2 The Immaturity of Scarlett’s feminine Consciousness...................................8

5. The Reasons for Scarlett’s Immature Feminine Consciousness………... .11

5.1 The Traditonal Constraints Held on Women........................……………….11

5.2 Her Character 12

5.3 Her Education…………………………………………………………...….12

5.4 Margaret Mitchell’s Limitation…………………………………………….13

6. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………..13

Works Cited…………………………………………………………………...15

1. Introduction

In this part, I give a brief introduction to Margaret, Mitchell’s life and the main ideas about Gone with the Wind.

1.1 A Brief Introduction to Margaret Mitchell

Margaret Mitchell (November 8, 1900-August 16, 1949) is an American writer who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937 for her novel Gone with the Wind. The film adoption of it, released in 1939, becomes one of the most popular films in the history of Hollywood. Margaret Mitchell is born into an upper class family in Atlanta, Georgia. Her mother, Maybelle Mitchell is a suffragist. Her father, Eugene Mitchell is a famous lawyer. Margaret Mitchell likes listening to the stories, especially stories about the battles during the Civil War. Margaret’s life is deeply influenced by the Civil War.

Margaret Mitchell is a rebellious woman who shares some qualities with Scarlett. She refuses the marriage arranged and makes her first marriage to an idealistic, handsome man. Unfortunately, the marriage is ended within months. After that, Mitchell starts her career as a journalist for the Atlanta Journal.

Margaret Mitchell is considered to be a successful American feminist author. Even during the hard times, Mitchell makes her effort to survive. She lives through terrible disasters many times. And these misfortunes make her become braver and strong-minded. She experiences car accidents more than once and is killed in a car accident in 1949.

1.2 The Main Ideas about Gone with the Wind

Gone with the Wind describes a story about changes of American South during the time of 1860s. The story takes place in 1861 and ends in 1871. The novel begins in pre-war Georgia where tradition, chivalry thrive. As the Civil War begins, the Atlanta changes a lot. The war causes the breakdown of traditional doctrines and power structures. In the process of struggling for survival, Scarlett becomes a strong-willed and independent woman.

The novel tells a love story. Scarlett is crazy in love with Ashley. Scarlett’s feelings for Ashley drive the novel’s plot. Because of the love for Ashley, Scarlett stands by Melanie and supports the Wilkes family for Ashley’s sake. Unfortunately, Scarlett fails to appreciate the love and support that Rhett lavishes upon her over the years till the end of the novel. This novel indicates that Scarlett is a girl who doest’t know what the true love is till the novel’s end.

The theme in Gone with the Wind is survival. Just because of the war, the traditional ways of life and thinking, old power structure, even love are gone with the wind. People who live through the war become more independent and strong than before.

2. Literature Review

After it was published, Gone with the Wind won immense popularity but little critical success. Oxford American Literature Handbook does not mention Gone with the Wind at all. One early appraisals of Gone with the Wind noted its memorable characters and historical accuracy as well as Mitchell’s remarkable story telling ability. (Yang Jingyuan, 1981: 42) Generally speaking, contemporary researches abroad focus on four aspects.

1. Research on the novel’s theme. Henry Steele Commager gives the comprehensive and unique analysis for this novel in the front-page review for the New York Herald Tribune Books (Zhu Chuan, 2011: 5). Compared with other critics, Commager’s advantages are that he is not a literary critic but also a historian. He emphasizes the history as tradition, as epic, as politics and as the study of individual historical characters. In the Civil War, the characters suffer changes in all aspects. They are involved in the political, social, military life experience passively and are forced to make some actions.

2. Research on the main character-Scarlett O’Hara. It can be divided into two kinds. First, Scarlett is criticized as a courageous and independent heroine. For instance: For-Genress Elizabeth’s Scarlett O’ Hara: the Southern Lady as New Woman. Second, Scarlett is a woman who is not well-mannered independent completely. For instance: Belle Rosenbaum’s 1937 essay calls Scarlett’s O’ Hara“a harlot”. This essay also reveals Scarlett’s independence. Because she gets money from men by fair means or foul and wants to rely on men and always seeks consolation from her family. (Li Meihua, 2000: 34-37)

3. Research on literary value of the novel. Commager holds that Gone with the Wind has its profound academic values for her successfully description of the characters like Scarlett, her passion to memorize the Old Southern life which creates a romantic atmosphere of this novel and these were highly agreed by other critics. But there are many negative voices after Gone with the Wind was published. Malcolm, Cowley gives harshly criticisms and his views have dominated the mainstream of this novel for 40 years. He depreciates the commercialization of Gone with the Wind. (Zhu Chuan, 2011: 6)

4. Research from feminist perspective, for example, For-Genress, Elizabeth’s Scarlett O’Hara: the Southern Lady as New Woman. She regards Scarlett as an independent, confident, competent, strong as well as rebellious new woman.

In China, Fu Donghua translated Gone with the Wind into Chinese in 1940.Since then, its reputation in China experienced the change from a reactive popular to a masterpiece of world literature.

The character which attracts most critics and scholars is the female protagonist of the novel-Scarlett O’ Hara. Due to the complexities of Scarlett, critics study her from different aspects with different focuses. Zhao Junbo, in his article Analysis of Scarlett O’Hara in the Feminist Approach Based on the Novel Gone with the Wind published in Science and Technology Information in 2009. He analyzes the theme of this novel in three aspects: Scarlett’s rebelling against the orthodoxy, Scarlett’s growth and Scarlett’s love. In his point of view, Scarlett is an independent, brave, shrewd and also successful woman.

Despite the analysis of Scarlett in the feminist perspective, some researchers pay their attention to the course of Scarlett’s love pursuit. Bing Wen, in her article, Gone with the Wind-A Course of Scarlett’s Love Pursuit analyzes Scarlett from her love experience and her sentimental relationships with Rhett, Ashley as well as Tara. The good point of this article is that she not only mentions Scarlett’s love with Ashley and Rhett but also reveals Scarlett’s affection and relationship with Tara which plays an important role in her pursuit of love. Wu Xiaopeng tries to focus on the realistic aspect of this character. He deems that all of Scarlett’s marriages are to get away from her miserable life. Researches did by home and abroad scholars and authors do attribute a lot to readers appreciate the novel.

Since this thesis will analyze Scarlett’s growth process from the feminist perspective. Therefore, it might be necessary to have a brief review to the feminist theory.

3. A Brief Introduction to the Feminist Theory

3.1 The Definition of Feminism

“Feminism refers to political, cultural, economic movement’s aims at establishing greater rights, legal protection for women or women’s liberation. Feminism includes some of the sociologic theories and philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference. It is also a movement that campaigns for women’s rights and interests”. (Harding, 2004: 36)

Feminists call for equality in a male-dominated society. They not only appeal to female struggling for their rights but also have many pro-feminists practice their beliefs in reality.

In modern society, more and more women become the main workers in the economic fields. New inequality and discrimination exist in everywhere. Women have to work and spend the same time on their work as their husbands, what’s more, they usually have to devote some other time to their family. Women sacrifice so much for their family which is considered as their duty and obligation to do so. For the feminists, they clearly see the unfair situation between men and women. It is unfair to expect women to be a good traditional wife and ask them to devote more time and energy to the domestic housework and child care.

The feminist ideas and theories have a good influence to facilitate the heterosexual relationship, and they strengthen the roles of women in the male-dominated society. They also make men think about the hardship of women as mothers and occupational women.

3.2 A Brief Introduction to the History of Feminism

The history of feminism movement is divided into three waves. The first wave is in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the second in the 1960s and 1970s, and the third is from the 1990s to now.

Feminist movements contribute a lot to liberating the traditional ideals about women in a male-dominated society. In different fields, the feminist advocates women’s right, such as voting rights and property rights. Feminists do their best to protect women from violence, rape, etc.

“One is not born a woman, but becomes one.” written by Simona de. Beauvior. She is a famous feminist for her novel The Second Sex and agrees that women were suppressed by the male for a long time in history.

The feminist theory points out the status of women throughout history. It points out that females are controlled by males. And females become the “Other”, an object whose existence is defined by males. It also indicates that women’s status as the “Other” is determined by their living conditions, especially the economic condition. Therefore, the emancipation of women basically depends on whether they can obtain financial independence or not. In a word, the feminist theory gives an objective description of women’s position, traits in society and the reasons of their conquest.

4. An Analysis of Scarlett’s Feminine Consciousness

Since this paper is to reinterpret the novel from a feminist perspective, analyzing women’s independence-seeking process through feminist analysis of Gone with the Wind with a focus on Scarlett’s growth process. Therefore, in the following part, I analyze how Scarlett’s feminine consciousness formed and the immaturity of her feminine consciousness.

4.1 Scarlett’s Gradual Formation of Feminine Consciousness

According to the time sequence, Scarlett’s development process is divided into three stages. Before the Civil War, as the whole, Scarlett lives as a traditional girl. But she has a potential sense of feminine consciousness. During the war years, Scarlett overcomes many difficulties by herself to seek independence and liberation. In the Reconstruction years, she becomes mature and independent. Through this growth process, Scarlett gradually forms her own feminine consciousness.

4.1.1Before the War: Having a Potential Sense of Feminine Consciousness

Before the War, the Southern economy is based on the plantation. Certain roles are assigned to men and women, men being in charge of the plantation and the women in charge of the household and raising children. As the role being given by men, most women get used to their identity. But Scarlett is an exception. She has the nature of perusing freedom and hates to be restrained.

“The green eyes in the carefully sweet face were turbulent ，willful，lusty with life，distinctly at variance with her decorous demeanor. Her manners had been imposed upon her by her mother’s gentle admonitions and the stemmer discipline of her mammy，her eyes were her own.”(Mitchell, 2010: 83)

In the nineteenth century, American southern society emphasizes great importance on education and behaviors. In order to be a standard Southern lady, Scarlett and her sisters had been taught by their mother Ellen and black maid mummy with every effort to behave carefully. In such a male-dominated society, the role of women is just like men’s “dolls”. They should behave as men’s orders or they would be abandoned or abused by men and society. But Scarlett is such a girl who takes a contemptuous attitude towards all of those doctrines. When the black mammy teaches that she should be a lady, pretending to be small appetite, fragile. She says angrily:

“I’m tired of everlastingly being unnatural and never doing anything I want to do. I’m tired of acting like I don’t eat more than a bird, and walking when I want to run and saying I feel faint after a waltz, when I could dance for two days and never get tired．I’m tired of saying‘How wonderful you are!’ to fool men who haven’t got one-half the sense I’ve got, and I’m tired of pretending I don’t know anything, so men can tell me things and feel important while they’re doing it.” (Mitchell, 2010: 51)

Scarlett’s “hatreds” are queries and challenges to patriarchy and the moral standards. She openly despises men, against men. At that time, her behavior is a kind of “betray”. But Scarlett just embodies this kind of “betray”. What’s more, Scarlett is a girl who never waits for love, but pursues love. She shows her love to Ashley and even proposes to elope with Ashley. All of these reflect that Scarlett has a potential sense of feminine consciousness.

4.1.2 In the War Time: Seeking Independence in a Male-dominated Society

The reason that enables Scarlett break out of her role as a Southern lady and becomes a successful, independent businesswoman is the war. Generally speaking, before the fall of Atlanta, Scarlett is a traditional woman. But after going back to Tara from Atlanta, she throws away the bondage that is held by tradition on Southern women.

“For a brief moment she considered the unfairness of it all. How short was the time for fun, for pretty clothes, for dancing, for coquetting! Only a few, too few years! Then you married and wore dull-colored dresses and had babies that mined your waist line and sat in corners at dances with other sober matrons and only emerged to dance with husband or with old gentlemen who stepped on your feet. If you didn’t do these things，the other matrons talked about you and then your reputation was mined and your family disgraced.” (Mitchell, 2010: 163)

At that very moment, Scarlett realizes that how short is the time for fun, for dancing and for coquetting. And she also realizes their identity is tied up to their marriage and those doctrines. Then, she begins to think for herself instead of listening to others’ evaluation. At that time, she forgets herself and doesn’t care what she could be criticized; she just wants to dance, to release herself. What’s more, under Scarlett’s help, Melanie’s baby is born. After successful delivery, Scarlett is exhausted. But she still makes decision to return home. With the help of Rhett, Scarlett goes through the city and the dangerous countryside successfully. Scarlett shows the traits of strength, confidence and bravery. After a day and night’s painful journey, Scarlett succeeds in going back to Tara, with all of her company alive. After returning to Tara, Scarlett finds that everything has been changed. The plantation leaves nothing to her and all their cotton has been burnt to ashes. What is worse, her mother Ellen passes away the day before．Scarlett’s father is demented. Her two sisters Suellen and Carren are also badly ill. Their lot of Confederate cash becomes worthless. Meanwhile, there remains not enough food. Under such an urgent situation, Scarlett tries to think of how she will save Tara and support family. When she looks for food, she realizes that she must change herself and makes her efforts to earn money. She makes a decision that she will never lead such poor life at all costs.

“As God is my witness, the Yankees aren’t going to lick me. I am going to live through this, and when it’s over, I’m never going to be hungry again. No, or any of my folks. If I have to steal or kill-as God is my witness, I’m never going to be hungry again.”(Mitchell, 2010: 419)

Scarlett talks and works like a man, takes charge of family and works hard from morning till night. She does not have time to make-ups, or think about the parties. The only thing she thinks about every day is how to earn more money. In such a harsh condition, life is very hard for Scarlett. But she does not flinch or escape. She becomes more independent and brave.

The war destroys the plantations and the traditional economic and the social system. The strongest and most adaptable is left to become the new generators, such as Scarlett. During the war time, Scarlett becomes an independent and strong-minded woman.

4.1.3 In the Reconstruction Years: Independence Achieved after Self-fulfillments

Scarlett chooses to reconstruct Tara. When she finds that the carpetbaggers have raised the property taxes. She must pay three hundred dollars; otherwise Tara would be bought by Hilton. She asks Ashley for some suggestions. But Ashley’s useless words make her disappointed. In order to protect Tara, Scarlett goes back to Atlanta to borrow the tax money from Rhett. She tries to attract Rhett. Unfortunately, she fails to get any money from Rhett. Then, Scarlett meets Frank, who is her sister Suellen’s only beau, by accident. When she learns that Frank becomes a little rich and has a store, she decides to marry him and gets the money to pay taxes. Scarlett makes use of Frank and runs her own business. Being a businesswoman turns a new leaf of Scarlett’s life. Through the experience of running business, Scarlett becomes more strong-minded and independent. But as the only woman running business in Atlanta, Scarlett is opposed by others. Rhett says: “They aren’t successful and so they aren’t affronting the hot Southern pride of their men folks….But obviously you do like to work and obviously you aren’t going to let any man tend to your business for you, and so no one can feel sorry for you. And Atlanta is never going forgive you for that. It’s so pleasant to feel sorry for people.” (Mitchell, 2010: 434) Her success in her business poses a threat to Southern gentlemen. Scarlett is a shrewd business woman in Atlanta. In order to earn more money and to keep the sawmill safe, she hires rascal as the overseer and employs convicts as the workers. Her great efforts to business make her rich and win her own financial independence. From now on, she can live as she wishes rather than relying on men.

Scarlett surpasses the traditional expectations on women. And meanwhile she desires for her goals through her efforts. She becomes an independent, heroic figure with her own identity. By her own struggling, Scarlett finds the place she belongs to and succeeds in the pursuit of independence.

4.2 The Immaturity of Scarlett’s feminine Consciousness

In the novel, we can see Scarlett’s progress and maturity through the process of solving difficulties in her life bravely. But through a feminist analysis of Scarlett with a focus on her growth process, her immature feminine consciousness is reflected in the following aspects.

4.2.1 Her Immature Feminist Thinking

According to Harding theory, feminism refers to the area of social, political and economic equality of men and women. Feminists are struggling for their equal rights all along. In the novel, although Scarlett becomes mature and wins her own identity in the process of growth, her opinion about men never changes. When she thinks about men, her thought will be quickly connected with money. And her marriages are all based on money to some degree. She wants to get money from men and depends on men. Beauvoir points out that “women’s self-consciousness is not determined by her femininity，but by the social economic circumstances”.(Beauvoir, 1953: 11)

Scarlett’s feminist thinking does not grow with her age. She never thinks about to be equal with men. What she wants from men is just the privilege as a beautiful woman. Scarlett, like all the other Southern women, needs marriage as her shelter. This kind of belief also suggests her ironic ignorance to her advanced feminist thinking. She is also a woman who isn’t so independent.

Before the Civil War, first, Scarlett admires her mother- Ellen and desires to please her. She thinks her mother is a real lady and she wishes to become such a great woman.

“Ellen O’ Hara was different, and Scarlett regarded her as something holy and apart from all the rest of humankind．When Scarlett was a child，she had confused her mother with the Virgin Mary, and now that she was older she saw no reason for changing her opinion.”(Mitchell, 2010: 59) This belief shows her compromise to the Old South value. Second, Scarlett admires Ashley and desires to win his love. Ashley who is a typical Southern gentleman stands for the Old South. Rhett, who is realistic and sly, thrives by standing one foot in the Old South and one foot in the new North. Scarlett’s crazy, pure love with Ashley indicates that in her deep heart, she still embodies the traditional value. Meanwhile, her ignorance of Rhett also is a reflection of her ironic advancement. She can’t appreciate Rhett and realize how similar they are.

During the war time, to some extent, Scarlett is a traditional girl, too. Although Scarlett overcomes many difficulties and lives through the war due to her own efforts, she still shows a sense of compromising to the traditional value. For that, Scarlett’s own moral value was vague at that time. Her efforts to struggling for survival in the war are, to some extent, behaviors that drive by her intuition. Just like Li Zhaobing, in his critique: The Complexity of Feminist Consciousness in Gone with the Wind says: “Scarlett’s struggling for the economic independence is a behavior that is aroused by the tough social reality-the Civil War. At the bottom of Scarlett’s heart, she still approves the Old South value.” After the war, Scarlett tries to regain Rhett’s love because she needs marriage. As to her, marriage is her shelter which makes her feel safe and satisfying. This action reflects Scarlett’s compromise to the reality too.

4.2.2 Her Economic Dependence

After marrying with Rhett, Scarlett’s life has been changed a lot. She needn’t worry about money any more and does not have to work very hard. She enjoys this kind of life with beautiful clothes and parties very much.

“Oh, what fun it was to be rich! To give parties and never count the cost! To buy the most expensive furniture and dresses and food and never think about the bills! How marvelous to be able to send tidy checks to Aunt Pauline and Aunt Eulalie in Charleston，and to Will at Tara! Oh, the jealous fools who said money wasn’t everything! How perverse of Rhett to say it had done nothing for her!”(Mitchell, 2010: 805)

She has lots of money that she desires for. But this money is not earned by her but Rhett. She relies on Rhett not herself. That is to say, her satisfying and wonderful life is based on Rhett’s money. Although she has her own business, she does not make effort to run her business and the desire of being independent is not as strong as before. When money is not so urgent to her, Scarlett likes to be a lady that she wants to.

“All during the honeymoon she had been thinking how she could bring up the subject of the thousand dollars she needed to buy fifty feet more of land to enlarge her lumber yard.”(Mitchell, 2010: 795)

When life becomes comfortable, Scarlett is just lack of the consciousness that running the mills is her chance to be independent and to obtain equal rights with men in such a male-dominated society.

“the mills went from her control it would mean that she would seldom see Ashley and probably never see him alone…..In the course of business she could find many opportune times for conversations without it appearing to anyone that she was seeking him out．And，given times，she knew she could gain back whatever ground she had lost in his heart．But if she sold the mills.”(Mitchell, 2010: 905)

In the following part, I focus my attention to analyze the reasons that lead to Scarlett’s immature feminine consciousness.

5. The Reasons for Scarlett’s Immature Feminine Consciousness

5.1The Traditional Constraints Held on Women

During the time of 1830s, one of the important standards of judging women is to be an ideal Southern “lady”. Women’s liberation begins in the 1960s and starts by women who are concerned about their identity, their role in society, their work, and the views of women that many people hold. In Scarlett’s time, women’s liberation movement does not existed yet. Most women hold traditional ideas. Therefore, we are surely about that the traditional constrains are factors that limit Scarlett’s growth. Simone de Beauvoir points out the reasons for women lack concrete ways to organize themselves into a unit are that they has no past, no history, no religion of their own and no such solidarity as the proletariat.

5.1.1The Male-dominated Society

In the Old south, men takes charge of the plantation. While women takes care of their families and in charge of delivering baby.

In such a male-dominated society, men oppress women in every aspect. Firstly, they makes women stay at home to make sure women’s purity won’t be influenced by the society and makes women willing to be “lady in the house”. On the surface, men protect women and provide food, clothes for them. But, in fact, it is men who must be in authority in families. Women gradually lose their capability of economic independence. Secondly, men oppress women from spiritual aspect. They protect women and satisfy their material needs. Meanwhile if women have any independent mind, men will be very worried. Just like Frank who is coward, but he can not accept the idea that his wife runs her business. Frank thinks that wife should respect her husband and admit that husband is always more capable than wife.

“Frank, all men he knew, felt that a wife should be guided by her husband’s superior knowledge，should accept his opinions in full and have none of her own．He would have given most women their own way. Women were such funny little creatures and it never hurt to humor their small whims．Mild and gentle by nature，it was not in him to deny a wife much．He would have enjoyed gratifying the foolish notions of some soft little person and scolding her lovingly for her stupidity and extravagance．But the things Scarlett set her mind on were unthinkable.”(Mitchell, 2010: 588) From here, we can see men’s tolerance upon women is based on the precondition of men’s authority.

5.2 Her Character

In the novel, Scarlett is brave and independent. But Scarlett also has the negative side of her character. Sometimes Scarlett appears to be timid, when she meets with difficulties. For example, whenever she meets with difficulties, she always say: “I’ll think it tomorrow”. This attitude is passive. even though she finally solve problems. The point is not that she likes to solve the problem, but she has to do. The power of her advancement is under the heavy pressure of her life. When life becomes comfortable, her steps of advancement also stop.

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