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Gone with the Wind is a controversial novel while Scarlett is a controversial person. It is hard for Chinese to evaluate whether she is good or bad with traditional standard, in other words, her behaviors can not easily be regarded as kindness or wickedness. Some people hold a critical attitude towards Scarlett: she is not only vainglorious, selfish, cruel but also immoral and shameless. So they negate both Mitchell and Scarlett. However, some people hold a positive attitude: she is a heroine who rebuild her own life in the ruins, and she is a beauty who has inpidual personality, dares to against tradition, and pursues freedom and equality. Thus, there are mixed comments on Gone with the Wind that reflect this novel’s long-standing position in world literature.
1.2 Literature Review
Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell’s splendid work, tells a story of an indomitable lady Scarlett O’Hara and her experiences with her family, friends and lovers during the Civil War. It is undeniable that Gone with the Wind is a classical literature work for it had been sold more than 10,000,000 copies and translated into 25 languages in 29 countries. Also it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. However, it is still a controversial work with many different critics and praises from different perspectives. In recent years, feminist scholars have showed increasingly more interests in the relationship between the author and Gone with the Wind, Shakespeare’s impact on Mitchell, Mitchell’s severe feminist criticism on patriarchal society and the eco-criticism in the work. These explorations help to deepen the understanding and broaden the perspective of Mitchell’s work.
There are many studies of Gone with the Wind abroad. Many books on the relationship between Mitchell and her work go right to the top of the bestseller list, and Road to Tara: The Life of Margaret Mitchell is one of them. What is more, Jane Eskridge’s book Before Scarlett: Girlhood Writing of Margaret Mitchell (2002) introduces some manuscripts of Mitchell which were written in her girlhood consisting of short stories, children’s stories, diaries and articles. Letters from Margaret Mitchell is also very popular among readers which is a collection of Mitchell’s letters and was published in 2006 by Julian Granberry. With these letters, readers can have a better understanding on Mitchell’s real language, thoughts and main values even the theme she wanted to convey through her work, Gone with the Wind. “Margaret Mitchell, Reporter” (Patrick Allen, 2000) also provides readers with a good way to closely feel the active, lovely and knowledgeable girl, Mitchell. All that relationship between the author and her work can help to understand her work deeply.
Shakespeare’s impact on Mitchell is another topic which western writers as well as readers focus on. In “The Old and New South: Shakespeare in Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind” (2005), the author, Darlene Ciraulo argues that Margaret Mitchel use Shakespeare to represent his ideal condition of the old Southern area, in other words, the chivalry and gentility of South before the war. In the aspect of the spirit of the New South, which can be clearly seen from Scarlett’s ambition and both tough and tender characteristics. So understanding Gone with the Wind based on Shakespeare’s writing method is another way to seize the essence of the work.
In China, there are many essays about the novel Gone with the Wind and Scalett by Chinese scholars from different angles. Firstly, some from the perspective of feminist criticism, some scholar like He Yuanyuan analyzes Scarlett’s mental process as a spoiled daughter of a well-to-do southern plantation owner according to the order of pre-war, while-war and post-war to show female mental features in “Gone with the Wind” has not Gone (2006). In “Gone with the Wind” and Feminism (2003), Gu Shaoyang and Wang Yanli analyzed the inferior position of women in South America during the nineteenth century. They confirmed women’s contribution to society and their decision-making power.