Chapter 4 Conclusion

From the analysis on the ambitions of the main female character, it can be concluded that there are many factors behind the ambitions of O’Hara to preserve Tara and to win ’ love, which drive her to enthusiastically achieve them. The aspiration to preserve Tara is aroused firstly at the time before the war. There are three aspects in this factor that is first, the sense of belonging to the land, second the Southern value that deals with the traditional point of view, and third Tara itself as the biggest source of income for the O’Hara family. Secondly, the aspiration to preserve Tara is also affected by the factors that come after the war that is, her great love toward Tara, as if it is her own mother and the fear that she might lose it and live in poverty. The factors behind her desire to win Ashley Wilkes’ love can be found in the long and close relationship during their childhood. Besides, Scarlett O’Hara also lives in the illusion of love. She has a strong belief that Ashley is her destiny; thus she dearly longs to capture his heart. During these times of struggles, the aggressiveness of her characters appear and impel her to be more fearless in facing all of the sorrowful impact of the Civil war. Her strong traits make her possible to do such contradictory ways and strengthen her ambitions. What she has done in those difficult times shows her power in which the others do not possess it. Hence, I conclude that Scarlett carries the message that a Southern woman is able to establish her own life and shoulder the man’s responsibility [in this case, to support Tara and Ashley’s needs]. For this cause, she employs many things in the second and the third marriage in order to make her ways easier. In the second marriage, she uses Frank Kennedy, her husband, and takes over his money to rebuild the ruined Tara and fulfill her promise to Ashley. The way Scarlett O’Hara does it is by betraying her sister, Suellen O’Hara. To get Suellen O’Hara’s lover, Frank Kennedy, she sacrifices the relationship with her sister. She can restore Tara, however, she cannot create “home” for her family or children. She avoids doing the domestic chores, which actually, can make her

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close with the family. Thus, she just gives the money to them and supplies all of their needs, but she does not give them “motherly touch” to the children and fondness toward the family. Furthermore, she also does not care about her reputation in the society. In everything she does, she just thinks about how she can use every chance to achieve the ambitions. Her deeds show that she is deliberately against the point of view of the South. Due to this fact, she suffers the isolation from the society, and the rumor about her awful endeavors is spread among them. She also uses the second marriage in order to win Ashley’s love but she fails. Even though she has done everything to support Ashley’s life and his family, she cannot successfully conquer his heart. In the third marriage, after the birth of Bonnie, she rejects to have sex with in the aim to show to Ashley that she can keeps herself for him because of her true love toward him. By all means, she has sacrificed to possess him, including taking advantages of her husbands’ money to support Ashley’s life. Still, she cannot win his love. In her ways to achieve the ambitions I see the elements of feminism in her traits. Even though she I consider her to be the feminist forerunner in the South, still her goal, actually, is not to gain the equality in her marriages. Instead, she only intends to reach the ambitions and during the process of the accomplishment, her traits demonstrate some of the elements of feminism. By analyzing the factors of her ambitions and the ways she uses to reach the ambitions, I learn that Scarlett O’Hara is truly a survivor. Despite the fact that she fails to accomplish the two ambitions, she still becomes the pioneer of a brave woman in the South who has courage and endures the hardship and poverty. She can survive in the time of shortage, recover the ruined Tara, and seek her true love at the same time; meaning that she is an incredible woman. The endurance and the strong characters in her life make her come out as the winner. Hopefully, the insight about this strong courageous character would give something to learn about that life goes on and in order to survive one needs to be strong as well.