Scarlett O'Hara a Heartless Bitch? You Bet!
by Susan Shepley
Scarlett O'Hara, from "Gone With the Wind", is a Heartless Bitch. What other
heroine starts out with nothing but her wits and courage and ends up with
more money and power than she could have ever imagined?
Scarlett manages to carry herself through the American Civil War and come out on
top, in a society dominated entirely by men. First of all, she delivers
her friend's baby all by herself without any guidance from anyone. After
this baby was delivered, Scarlett used her resources to get a horse and
wagon. She drove herself, the new born baby, the sickly mother and a
slave from Atlanta, across the war torn countryside to her home.
When Scarlett arrived at her childhood home, Tara, she discovered
it in ruins. Her mother had died, her father had gone insane, the house
had been used as a Yankee head-quarters and almost everything had been
stolen or burned. Despite this unhappy homecoming, Scarlett did not give
up, or wait for a man to come a rescue her. Instead she swore
that she would take care of her family come hell or high water. She took
care of everything, including picking and planting cotton with her own
bare hands.
This fiesty belle also committed murder to protect her own. A Yankee
deserter came upon her home and threatened her with more than just a
robbery. Scarlett pulled out her father's revolver, and shot the intruder
in the head.
After the war ended, the carpet bagger and tax man took
over, and Scarlett realized that cotton planting just wasn't going to cut
it anymore. She had to get some money to support herself and her family
somehow. She had no cash or power, and the fact that she was a woman
further hindered her prospects. So Scarlett married her sister's
boyfriend because he had a little store that was making a good bit of
money, plus he had a lumber mill on the side. She acquired enough
money to save her home and her family and then went on to take over the
lumber mill herself!
Without the approval of her husband, or most of the
people in Atlanta for that matter, Scarlett turned the lumber mill into the
most prosperous business in the city. Scarlett even took to driving her
own carriage, which shocked the city, because women just did not do that
sort of thing.
When her husband was killed, she showed little remorse-- she
had only married him to gain access to his finanical resources and influence.
Now that the war was over, and her husband dead, she had money, power,
the lumber mill and the store. Like so many Heartless Bitches, she had
to face the disdain of others, because she had worked hard and
risen above her detractors. While many people were living in poverty and despair because
they wallowed in self pity and refused to do business with any Yankees,
Scarlet had a grip on reality. She knew she couldn't live in the past, so she
moved on, and became the richest woman in Altanta.
In the end Scarlett had all the power and money she could have ever
dreamed of. Though she lost her child and then her true love, she did not
lay down and die from her misfortunes. After having a good cry she
picked herself up and went on with her life because after all, tomorrow was
another day, and Heartless Bitches never give up the fight!
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