Twenty-Six Days of Creative Inspiration
When we create characters, we must give them flaws. Scarlett O'Hara from Gone With the Wind hits the jackpot in the flaws department.
She is self-serving, ruthless, conniving, petulant, manipulative, inflexible, conceited, arrogant, and a downright mean man-stealing witch. Scarlett makes false promises to men so they idolize her. She even marries her sister's beau on a whim and spends the better part of the book chasing Ashley Wilkes, a married man.
So why are readers so drawn to her?
The girl's got gumption. Gone With the Wind is the official handbook of gumption. She faces her challenges head on. I'd love to be that brave.
Scarlett also had a profound sense of family. She may torture the people she loves, but you know she would die for them if she had to. As much as she wanted to flee in the face of the Yankees marching on Atlanta, she didn't leave Melanie and her newborn. When everyone was starving at Tara in the waning days of the Civil War she did everything she could to put food on the table. Scarlett was willing to sacrifice her virtue to Rhett Butler to get tax money to save her family home.
We spend the book torn between slapping Scarlett and rooting her on. She transforms as the story progresses and the Scarlett at the end of the book is not the same one flirting with the Tarleton twins on page one. Her character journey is a great ride and somewhere along the way we all get behind her.
How do you feel about Scarlett O'Hara?
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Aw, well put!
ReplyDeleteI love Scarlett!She's a strong lady.
I hate to admit it, but I've never read this book or seen the movie... oops!
ReplyDeleteI've seen the movie, but haven't read the book. It's hard for me to empathize with her. They're upholding slavery. I'm rooting for her slaves the entire time. It's a plantation built on oppression.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what I think of Scarlet O'Hara. She certainly has gumption, but I would never want to see my kids end up like her!
ReplyDeleteI've read the book and seen the movie, and Scarlett is a great character to study. Her flaws make us love her, as well as her strengths. We should all have a little Scarlett in us.
ReplyDeleteI think she is a fine b**** of a woman. I too love her raw courage, but she aint really my role model!
ReplyDeleteYay! I was able to make it on to your blog finally. It must have been my computer:)
ReplyDeleteI love Scarlett because of her journey. Any character that is flawed is a plus for me too because we may not love them for their flaws but they are human and I like a good character that isn't perfect:)
It's curius to me how Scarlett is best revealed by her juxtaposition with Melanie Wilkes. Put the best of both females together and you'd have one heck of a woman! Just like me. ;)
ReplyDeleteYa know, I haven't read Gone With the Wind in about 20 years. I think I need to re-read it to re-acquaint myself with Scarlett before I can comment LOL I loved the book though, so that's not really a hardship ;)
ReplyDelete~ Rhonda Parrish
I think gumption sums it up, Leslie. That and the tantalizing bad girl that we all have in us, but like to keep out of sight. Scarlett let's us enjoy that part of us. :-)
ReplyDeleteLeslie, you are a kindred spirit! I LOVE this book! I first read it age 14 when my life was in chaos. It was my way of emotional escape. Over the next three years I read the book a total of 13 times! I almost have it memorized. I actually memorized the opening lines. The book saved my life and my sanity. I saw the movie when I was about 11 (years before I read the book). There was a Gone with the Wind revival and we saw it on the BIG SCREEN at the theatre. It was awesome. Later when I read the book I was disappointed how different the book and movie were. The movie didn't say anything about Wade and Ella. And I did not picture Ashley Wilkes as Leslie Howard! However, Rhett was Clark Gable, make no mistake. I always thought if there were a remake in the 1970s or 1980s, Susan Lucci should play Scarlett and Burt Reynolds play Rhett.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I haven't seen that movie in ages.. I need to watch it again. I know, I know, I should read the book, but there's something about that movie...
ReplyDeleteAs I remember it, I was torn between rooting her on and disliking her. Just like you've said!
ReplyDeleteAt first I didn't like her, but I was fascinated by her. She was immature, conniving, spoiled, cruel and selfish.
ReplyDeleteBy the end of the movie I had a lot of respect. She had grown up, learned a lot of hard lessons and showed great strength by facing difficulties head on. She was a survivor.
By the end of the movie, I found myself admiring her and even felt sorry for her when Rhett left. (Even though she brought it on herself.)
Hey Janyce - It gets me every time Rhett walks out. I did read the sequel, Scarlett. There's at least closure in that extension even though it doesn't hold a candle to the original.
DeleteI do love characters with flaws, but I've never cared for Scarlet. She is just too selfish, regardless of her family. I have a hard time seeing past that. Good post though.
ReplyDeleteI'm a new follower via the A to Z. Nice to meet you, Leslie!
"self-serving, ruthless, conniving, petulant, manipulative, inflexible, conceited, arrogant, and a downright mean man-stealing witch" - never better said!!! And yet we love her, for the reasons you listed and possibly also because we can't wait to see what outrageous thing she'll do next!
ReplyDeleteYay!! I'm your 200th follower! Nice to meet you! *waves*
ReplyDeleteMs. O'Hara definitely plays tug-o-war with one's emotions... she's the girl-you-love-to-hate...
Enjoy the rest of the challenge!
Hey Michelle - Thank you for helping me hit the 200 mark. Welcome, welcome.
DeleteTorn between slapping her and cheering her on...that's exactly how I feel about her! I want to scream at the screen, "Scarlett, don't let him go!"
ReplyDeleteTotally love/hate relationship with Scarlett! GWTW is one of my favorite movies. I've even read the book!! (Do you know HOW LONG that is??) :) Great post!
ReplyDeleteOh I just love, love, love Scarlett O'Hara! Gone With the Wind is one of my all time favorite reads. I first read it in my junior of high school and have read it several times since. Considering that the book was written in the 1930s (& the movie filmed shortly thereafter) Scarlett was a woman ahead of her time. If you haven't read the sequel written 50 years later "Scarlett" you should. It's just as good.
ReplyDeleteI remember I wanted to see the movie when I was little , and my mom didn't let me see it! And then I never read the book :( When I read classics I read in Spanish only--a long time ago--and I never found this one in Spanish.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, nice to come to your blog again. Sorry I've been MIA lately, but I've been so busy with kids' homework--lots of it this year! I never have the afternoons free--which I totally had last year! Ack.
Thanks for the post...now at least I'll have to see the movie! lol
Ha! I had a rough day and thought to myself, "Tomorrow is anotha day!" Funny she is your inspiration du jour! The heroine I love to hate. Vivian Leigh is absolute perfection in the movie, though I wish Ashley were more like the book.
ReplyDeleteI read this in high school. Now I remember why I liked her. Also, I learned the word "gumption" from reading the book.
ReplyDeleteAll time favorite heroine - the first character I read that I wanted to hate. My first read I stayed up most of a weekend to finish and started a brand new job on Monday morning blurry-eyed. The first story I ever wanted to write was about two friends trying to share the book and movie experience. Thanks for the reminder about that first story idea from 20 years ago; only now am I trying to write. Beautiful post, I will return to read every comment later!
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