Scarlett O'Hara as the New Woman: Gender Roles and Independence in Gone with the Wind
Overview
This argumentative essay analyzes Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind as a representation of changing female roles during the American Civil War era. It contrasts Scarlett O'Hara as the prototype of the independent 'new woman' with Melanie Wilkes as the traditional Southern belle, arguing that Mitchell's narrative demonstrates how independent women overcome limitations faced by compliant, traditional women.
What this essay covers
- Introduction and thesis establishing the contrast between Scarlett and Melanie as representations of new versus traditional womanhood
- Character analysis of Melanie as the prototypical traditional Southern belle: compliant, sacrificial, chaste, and forgiving
- Discussion of women's roles during the Civil War and the emergence of the independent new woman
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ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY “GONE WITH THE WIND”
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Margaret Mitchel’s 1936 classic novel “Gone with the Wind” is a famous reference because of how justifiable it is in presenting what the civil war and the reconstruction in the American society. Mitchel who was a Southerner writes the novel from the viewpoint of the slave owners. The American Civil War brought women entirely new responsibilities both at home and in the battlefield[1]. The war impacted different groups of women differently. Some women contributed to the confederacy while some provided for the families, managed businesses and farms while the men went to war. Native women in the American society dealt with divided tribal loyalties, others were forcefully removed from their ancestral lands and enslaved in the South. Overall, the different roles played by women during the war inspired an entirely new way of thinking about the place of a woman in society. The “new woman” started fighting for her independence[2]. This essay discusses how Scarlet is a representation of an entirely new woman with changing ideals during the civil war era as compared to Melanie who is presumed a traditional female and a “southern belle”. With Scarlett’s contradictory survival, Melanie’s frailty and ultimate death, this essay portrays how the new woman who is also independent overcomes as opposed to the inferior traditional woman who is also perceived as compliant.
The prototypical lady in the novel is represented by Melanie.