Study on Female Characters of Scarlett in Gone With The Wind---开题报告

1.A brief introduction to Margaret Mitchell

Margaret Mitchell(November 8，1900-August 16，1949)was an American author, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937 for her epic novel Gone with the rand, her only major publication．This novel is one of the most popular books of all time，selling more than 30 million copies(see list of best-selling books)．The film adaptation of it, released in 1939，became the highest-grossing film in the history of Hollywood，and it received a record—breaking ten Academy Awards(a record since eclipsed by Ben Hur，The Lord of the Rings：The Return of the King and Titanic)．Mitchell has been honored by the United States Postal Service with a Great Americans series postage stamp．

Margaret Mitchell Was born into all upper-class family in Atlanta, Georgia．Her mother, Maybelle Mitchell，was a suffragist．Margaret Mitchell’s father, Eugene Mitchell，who worked as a prominent lawyer．Margaret Mitchell Was found of listening to the old stories about her hometown in the past time．And she was also interested in stories of the battles during the American Civil War．At the age of fifteen，she wrote in her journal：“If I were a boy, I would try for West Point，if I could make it，or well I'd be a prize fighter—anything for the thrills．”Margaret’s life Was deeply influenced by the effects of Civil War．Her childhood Was spent in the laps of Civil War veterans and of her maternal relatives，who had lived through the Civil War．

After graduating from Washington Seminary(now The Westminster Schools)，she attended Smith College，but withdrew during her freshman year in 191 8．She returned to Atlanta to take over the household after her mother's death earlier that year from the great Spanish flu pandemic of 1918．When she Was nineteen years old，she took the responsibility of taking care of her family．And，formally，she entered into the society of Atlanta at that time．

Margaret Mitchell herself is also a rebellious and independent woman whose nature and experience share some similarities with Scarier O’Hara's．She refused the marriage arranged for her by elders of the family，and made her first marriage to an idealistic，wild，handsome guy despite the opposition of her relatives．Unfortunately，the disastrous marriage Was ended within months．After that Mitchell started her career as a journalist in 1 922 for the Atlanta Journal and rose in status from a fledging reporter to one of the newspaper’s best feature writers．Under the name Peggy Mitchell she wrote a weekly column for the newspaper’s Sunday edition，thereby making her mark as one of the first female columnists at the South’s largest newspaper．Mitchell’s first professional writing assignment Was an interview with an Atlanta socialite，whose couture—buying trip to Italy Was interrupted by the Fascist takeover．At that time，in Atlanta, Mitchell Was the only woman reporter．Through her work, she experienced the ups and downs of life．Especially through the hardships，Mitchell had learned how to confront the difficulties and bad luck of her life．

Margaret Mitchell Was considered to be a successful American woman writer．Meanwhile she Was a woman of firmness of will in modem times．She Was a feminist．Even during the hard times，she made her effort to survive．She Was all independent woman and always hold on to her own ideas．In her life，Mitchell lived through terrible disasters many times．While these misfortunes made her become more brave．She experienced car accidents more than once．She Was badly injured from these accidents．And because of the serious accident，she had to stay at home．Thus，she obtained more time to write the long novel Gone with the Wind．Unfortunately，Mitchell Was killed in a serious accident in 1949．

Gone with the Wind was such a great success．It Was published on June 30，1936．It Was the second best—selling book, next to the Bible，at the time of publication．The book was made into a film by David O．Selznick，and released three years later．The premiere of the film Was held in Atlanta on December 1 5，1 939．

In Gone with the Wind, Mitchell successfully created some lively characters which made a very deep impression on readers．Mitchell’s  Success proves that the novelists Can hit the target of the greatest accomplishment in their literary works as long as they are familiar with the life referred to the literary creation．With the influence from the family and her personal experience，Mitchell successfully created the attractive classical woman image—Scarier O’Hara, a rebellious，strong—willed girl growing into a mature woman in the process of struggling for survival；a convincing character that is directly from her, also a Southern woman’s view．

2.A Brief Introduction of Gone with the Wind

Under the context of the American Civil War and Reconstruction in Georgia and Atlanta, Gone with the Wind portrays a series of female characters．It depicts the story of the life of Scarlett O’Hara and her relationships with Rhett Butler, and Ashley, Ellen and Melanie Wilkes．They have their distinct personality and fate．Facing the fortune and misfortune in their lives，they make their own choice，learn important lessons about life and love，and lead to different endings．

The plot concentrates on the story of a rebellious Georgia Southern belle named Scarlett O’Hara and her persistence and resistance during that turbulent period in American history．Throughout the antebellum period，the War of Northern Aggression，and Reconstruction era, there witnesses Scarlett’s experiences and maturity with friends, family, lovers and enemies．

There is no doubt that Gone with the Wind is a love story．It is also an epic about the struggle and changes of American South during the time of 1860s.In the novel，Mitchell traces the hardships that the Southern people face and how they surmount numerous difficulties and rehabilitate their homeland．

3.Feminist Analysis of Gone with the Wind

Gone with the Wind is the only novel written by Margaret Mitchell. The story is set in Jonesboro and Atlanta, Georgia during the American Civil War and Reconstruction and follows the life of Scarlett O’Hara. Scarlett is the daughter of an Irish immigrant plantation owner. Scarlett marries two men she does not love, all the while thinking that she is in love with Ashley Wilkes, who has married Melanie Hamilton. During both marriages, Scarlett spends a lot of time with Rhett Butler. After her second husband dies, Scarlett marries Rhett, who is aware of her passion for Ashley but hopes that one day she will come to love him instead. Scarlett eventually comes to realize that she does love Rhett, but only after both of them have been through so much that Rhett has fallen out of love with her.

There are many lively and vivid characters in Gone with the Wind: Scarlett O’Hara, Melanie Hamilton, Ashley Wilkes, Rhett Bultler… However, only the heroine Scarlett and Rhett are survivors after the Civil War. Ashley is an ineffectual dreamer, and he is defeated in spirit. Melanie is a docile Southern woman, and she dies at last. The most important character in Gone with the Wind is Scarlett O’Hara. She is an overbearingly beautiful, strong-willed and passionate woman. She endures great hardships and triumphs over them. She is an opportunist who uses every available resource to further her goals. She makes her own decisions, actively pursues her desire and takes responsibility for her actions. Scarlett is the master of her own life.

4.Literature Review

Gone with the Wind has gained unparalleled popularity since the day it published．By late 1965，the sales volume of Gone with the Wind had reached more than 1 0，000，000 copies and had been translated into twenty-five languages in twenty-nine countries．The film version of it，which Was released in 1939，became the classic and splendid film in the history of Hollywood．The book or its film have the ever-lasting attraction and charm through all ages．

In spite of these immense popularity and award，it fails to earn its rightful place in American Literature．It has been overlooked by critics due to some controversial questions．“Questions about the book’s literary status, racism, historical view and depiction of the Ku Klux Klan, (which had many similarities to D.W. Griffith's, film Birth of a Nation l915), led to a critical neglect which continued well into the 1960s”

Regardless of the critics’ neglect for the first few years since its publication, with its memorable characters，a perfect evocation of the Civil War period, and vivid portrait of human’s instinct, Gone with the Wind always appeals to massive readers．Nevertheless，since its first Chinese version Was published in 1940，Gone with the Wind has gained intense reception and has been attached more attention by many scholars．Since 1970s，the studies of the novel are conducted from various perspectives：its theme，characterization, archetypal perspective，psychoanalysis，text study, feminist, cultural criticism and So on．All these studies would contribute to the understanding and broadening of the perspective of Gone with the Wind．The relatively valuable and significant views are going to be explored in the coming section．

The first aspect which has attracted the most attention is the study on the main heroine of the novel---Scarlett O’Hara．Due to the complexity of Scarlett, she can be viewed as a rebellious，and unruly egotists On the other hand，she is criticized as an indomitable and unyielding heroines．For instance：Jonathan D．Austin’s Pat Conroy：I was raised by Scarlett O'Hara, Dawson Gaillard’s Gone with the Wind As Bildungsroman，Elizabeth，For-Genovess’s Scarlett O’Hara：The Southern Lady As New Woman．

Some scholars analyze the aesthetic worth of Scarlett, whereas Others have focused on the realistic value of this character．The next method to gain a comprehensive and unbiased view of Scarlett is by comparison．It involves the comparison between Scarlett O’Hara with other protagonists in Gone with the Wind．Scarlett is a woman who will never go to Canossa in fighting against her destiny；while the other heroine Melanie is a shy but determined girl who never makes compromise with hardship and bows to fate．

Secondly, the parallel study of Gone with the Wind and other famous literary works is always a popular topic．In his essay How the Proletarian Novel Became Mass Culture：Gods Utile Acre and the Realist Aesthetics of the 1930s Left, Chris Vials compares the politics as Well as their contemporary critical reception between Gods Utile Acre and Gone with the Wind. In addition，some articles make a comparison between Scarlett O’Hara with the other heroines in other literary works．Li Shasha compared Gone with the Wind and Thackeray’s Vanity Fair．Both stories in these two fictions ale developing in line with the life experience of two main female characters．Generally speaking，these four characters Call be divided into two types．On one hand，Scarlett and Rebecca are very strong women since They exhibit optimistic attitude and impavid courage towards life and never overwhelmed by any difficulties they come across．On the other hand，Melanie and Amelia are very kind and traditional women who stand for the female virtue．And the analysis and study of these heroines will help to have a understanding of the female literary images in the Western literatures．

Furthermore，Chinese scholars also come to focus on the parallel study between Gone with the Wind and Chinese literature works．Among them the most popular study is focused on the comparison between Scarlett O’Hara and Wang Xifeng, a main female Character in A Dream Of Red Mansions．Though Gone with the Wind and A Dream of Red Mansions arc set in totally different era and social backgrounds，these two works share spectacular similarities in narrative skills，pragmatic spirit and self-awareness．In addition to the comparison and contrast between Scarlett O’Hara and Wang Xifeng，Scholars also explore the similarities between Scarlett O’Hara With Yang Yuhuan and Yao Mulan．These contrast and analysis of these literary images Can not only help readers to uncover the internal relationships between different cultures，but also pave the way for a brand-new literary concept---“women’s personality”

At last，there are also plenty of scholars concentrate on discussing the female consciousness in Gone with the Wind from the perspective of feminine criticism．For instance，Dong Jinwei’s “The Charm, Value and Characteristic of Gone with the Wind”，affirms that Gone with the Wind is of great significance to women’s liberation．

In that period of time，women lie in the inferior and vulnerable position．However, Scarlett represents a heroic female，who dares to break the tradition and prejudice towards women．She also confirms women’s pursuit for independence，competence，fortitude and rebellious spirit, as well as their contribution to the society．

二、^范文提纲

1. Scarlett’s Background and Appearance.

2. Scarlett’s nature, growth and maturity. 

2.1 Scarlett’s nature.

2.2 Scarlett’s growth.

2.3 Scarlett’s maturity.

3. Scarlett’s Attitude toward Society.

4. Scarlett’s Attitude towards Difficulties and Fates.

三、参考文献

[1]Felder, Deborah G. “Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind Is Published.” A Century of Women: The Most Influential Women Events in Twentieth Century Women’s History. New York: Citadel Press, 2003. 157-161. Print.

[2]DeBlasio, Donna. “Scarlett O’Hara and the New South.”Illinois Quarterly 42.3 (Spring 1980):12-23. Print.

[3]Gaillard, Dawson. “Gone With the Wind as Bildungsroman or Why Did Rhett Butler Leave Scarlett O’Hara.”Georgia Review 28.1 (Spring 1974): 9-18. Print.

[4]Mitchell, Margaret. Gone With the Wind. Scribner Press, 1936.

[5]Darden Asbury Pyron. Recasting:“Gone With the Wind” in American Culture. Miami: University Presses of Florida, 1983. 

[6]Edwards, Anne. Road to Tara: The life of Margaret Mitchell [M]. New York: Dell.1983. 

[7]Palmer, Joyce. Key thinkers on the Environment.Routledge.2001.p.283-288

[8]Anne Sarah Rubin, Revisiting Classic Civil War Books:“Why Gone With the Wind 

Still Matters; or, Why I Still Love Gone With the Wind.” [J]. Civil War History.2013, 59, (1):93-98.

[9]Danielle Barkley, No Happy Loves: Desire, Nostalgia, and Failure in Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind. [J].The Southern Literary Journal, 2014, 47, (1):54-67.

[10]ZHAO Baohe, A Comparative Study of Two Chinese Versions of Gone With the Wind from a Social-Cultural Perspective. [J]. Studies in Literature and Language. 2012, 4, (2):59-64.