The Fascinating Scarlett O'Hara

I've never read Gone With the Wind. I've always intended to, but it's never actually happened. I finally watched the movie once or twice. I decided I needed to read the book.

So here it is. Summer!

Let me give you a math grad student translation of the above statement.

Summer = time to read books I've always wanted to read.

So last night, I bought the Kindle edition of Gone With the Wind. Why did I buy the Kindle edition, you ask?

Because I got a Kindle for my birthday!!!

Yes, I realize that a couple of weeks ago, I posted the Nook commercial. But I got a Kindle. And I like it a lot! It's pretty.

Back to my summer reading, though . . .

I just started the book, and I love it already.

I loved the first sentence. It's a brilliant first sentence, a brilliant first paragraph really.

Allow me to explain.

Exhibit A: Chapter One Paragraph One

"Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were. In her face were too sharply blended the delicate features of her mother, a Coast aristocrat of French descent, and the heavy ones of her florid Irish father. But it was an arresting face, pointed of chin, square of jaw. Her eyes were pale green without a touch of hazel, starred with bristly black lashes and slightly tilted at the ends. Above them, her black brows slanted upward, cutting a startling oblique line in her magnolia-white skin--that skin so prized by Southern women and so carefully guarded with bonnets, veils and mittens against hot Georgia suns."

Wow. The first sentence is perfect.

In order to convey my point, I will split Margaret Mitchell's audience into two groups.

Group 1: Women
Group 2: Men

Consider Group 1, shall we? As a young woman, I want to BE Scarlett O'Hara after line one. I think I speak for many women when I say that we all want to feel beautiful. However, most of us have those days where we get up in the morning, look in the mirror, and think something to the effect of "Why do I look so terrible?" A bad case of bed head does not help matters. Neither does the fact that we may have puffy, tired-looking eyes. Or sometimes, women spend two hours getting all dressed up, and then see their reflection or a photograph of themselves and think, "Oh . . . I thought I'd look better than that." Or the worst case. You see other women and decide that you are not as beautiful as they are. Oh, that cursed vanity and jealousy!

That being said, I think we also all hope that our charming personalities, wit, and intelligence will be enough to distract people from our bad hair day.

In the first line, Margaret Mitchell has affirmed women's hopes worldwide.

Read it again.

"Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarlton twins were."

Scarlett isn't beautiful, but she's so spectacular that no one even "realized" she was unattractive.

Everyday, normal-looking girls with puffy eyes across the globe are cheering and thinking that maybe, just maybe, if they were a character in such a book, the Tarlton twins would be caught by their charm, too.

It's true. It's corny, ridiculous, and anti-feminist, but I'm sorry. It's TRUE!

And personally as a Texan girl with the whitest skin you've ever seen, "magnolia-white skin" is one of the most flattering depictions of skin tone I have ever heard!!!

And that magnolia-white skin is considered to be "prized!" Granted, I don't carefully guard my skin with bonnets, veils and mittens against hot Georgia suns. I carefully guard my skin with SPF 50 Ocean Potion sunblock for sensitive skin. Unfortunately, I am not Scarlett O'Hara. I live in the decade of skin cancer and tan people are prized, regardless of the dangers of melanoma and the "prized magnolia-white skin" of Scarlett.

But such is life.

Anyway, Margaret Mitchell made sure that girls would like Scarlett O'Hara . . . especially us pale, porcelain, white girls.

Next, consider Group 2. Men like Scarlett O'Hara. It's in the first sentence. Didn't you catch it? The Tarleton twins are "caught" by her charm. She's so fantastic, they don't even "realize" her unique facial features.

This is another brilliant idea on Margaret Mitchell's part. She described Scarlett in such a way that men everywhere are picturing the perfect woman in their own minds.

Read it again. Margaret Mitchell has described a wide variety of facial features.

Let's say the male reader likes women with delicate features. Scarlett's "delicate."

Let's say he likes women with stronger features. Scarlett has "heavy" features.

Does he like Southern women? She's Southern.

American women? She's American.

Foreign women? Oh, well no worries. Her mother is a "Coast aristocrat of French descent," and she has a "florid Irish father."

And she looks like all of this blended together. So just take your pick, and let your imagination run wild.

Just in case men aren't "caught by her charm" and her unique, stunning looks, you should also notice that this face of hers isn't just any face. It's an "arresting face."

She has a "pointed chin" and a "square jaw."

I feel like these two facial features don't go together. Think about it for a moment. If you have a square jaw, "square" implies straight edged. "Pointed chin" implies that your face is shaped in such a way that it comes to a point . . . which means isn't straight. If you have a pointed chin, I would think you'd have a heart-shaped face. If you have a square jaw, you'd have a square face.

I'm not criticizing Margaret Mitchell.

I'm saying she's brilliant. Readers everywhere are picturing the perfect blending of all these contrasted features and then topping the whole image off with a dollop of charm and green eyes "starred" with naturally curled black lashes.

Let's summarize, shall we?

She's not beautiful.

She's better than beautiful.

She's exotic, unique, Southern, American, Irish, French, delicate, strong, magnolia-white, prized, and exudes a captivating, arresting charm which renders men incapable of thinking of her as anything but beautiful.

Gracious.

Scarlett hasn't even said anything yet, and everyone is already fascinated by her.

Or maybe it's just fair-skinned girls like me.

Either way, I applaud you, Margaret Mitchell.

I will now proceed to page two.

Don't worry. I won't write about every page. It's much too long of a book for commentary by Ashley.