Chapter 3 The Factors of Scarlett O’Hara’s Ambitions and Her Ways to Obtain Them I begin the analysis by revealing the factors of O’Hara’s two ambitions, namely the willingness to rebuild Tara and the desire to win Wilkes’ love. I divide this chapter into two main subchapters. The first subchapter is about the factors of the two ambitions that Scarlett O’Hara has, whereas the second subchapter explains how she tries to accomplish those ambitions. 3.1. The Factors of Scarlett O’Hara’s Ambitions The main female character in Gone with the Wind has two great ambitions; her desires to preserve the family plantation called Tara, and to win Ashley Wilkes’ love by supporting his family’s needs. Scarlett O’Hara herself confesses that “Every part of her, almost everything she had ever done, striven after, attained, belonged to Ashley, were done because she loved him. Ashley and Tara, she belonged to them” (Mitchell, 1936, p.826). I am convinced that there are many factors which stimulate O’Hara to get these two ambitions. Thus, I use the literary tools: the theories of characterization, conflict and setting to analyze the factors. 3.1.1. The Ambition to Preserve Tara Scarlett O’Hara’s ambition to preserve the family’s plantation is stimulated by many factors within her life. I divide the factors that incite Scarlett O’Hara’s ambitions into two parts, the factors found before the war and after. The factors before the war are the sense of belonging to her land, the Southern tradition, and Tara which becomes the source of income. 3.1.1.1. The Factors Found Before the War First of all, the rising of the ambition begins when the sense of belonging to the land grows in her life. This sense of belonging, actually, consists of two aspects; they are the teachings of Gerald O’Hara and the greater love toward the land. The sense of belonging to the land is caused by the teachings of Gerald O’Hara [Scarlett O’Hara’s father] which have been planted for such a long time in Scarlett 18 19 O’Hara’s mind during her childhood. It is about the worthiness of Tara to fight or die for. He explicitly puts this view into his eldest daughter since he wants to give it to her as an inheritance “…when I’m [Gerald O’Hara] gone…I’ll leave Tara to you [Scarlett O’Hara]…” (p.38). As a result, after Tara is ruined, she nurses the land for it is her father’s wish [before he loses his mind]. Nonetheless, the teachings of her father make her indeed believe that the family’s pride is sited on the land. They provoke Scarlett to have the ambition to preserve the land in her whole life. One of the evidences is her true feeling toward Tara that never changes [even though so many things else are changing due to the war], as it is stated, her love for this land with its softly rolling hills of bright-red soil, this beautiful red earth that was blood colored, garnet, brick dust, vermilion, which so miraculously grew green bushes starred with white puffs…Nowhere else in the world was there land like this. (p.428) Through this quotation, it can be seen that Tara is the icon of the O’Hara’s pride ever because it is gorgeously covered with beautiful nature and only a few members of the white society in South could own a place as beautiful as that. Furthermore, the other aspect of the sense of belonging to the land is her enormous love to this land, “loved it as she loved her mother’s face under the lamp at prayer time” (p.30). She likens her great love to Tara with her love to her mother and she uses this comparison in order to show that as her mother gave her life so does the land give her spirit and the family’s pride. Moreover, before the civil war, her mother, Ellen O’Hara, becomes the only source to cure her pain, to heal her broken heart, to share all burdens and to escape from many miserable things that occur in her life. The death of Ellen at the same time when the family plantation is ruined truly breaks her heart. She has no other person to share about her painful feelings looking at the worst condition of Tara. Since then, Tara replaces Ellen’s place in her life. Her love toward Tara grows bigger and bigger until it equals her love toward her mother. Tara becomes the only thing [besides Ashley Wilkes] that can capture Scarlett O’Hara’s love and this love remains the same day by day until the very end. Therefore, soon Tara becomes the great motivator for Scarlett O’Hara 20 to keep surviving in any difficult situation, and becomes the stimulator every time she gets tired over the miserable life. Even Rhett Butler [Scarlett O’Hara’s third husband] says, “…Tara will do her [Scarlett O’Hara] good…” (p.957). When she almost gives up knowing there is no food at all at Tara, she looks at the red earth [Tara], and again it reminds her how she loves this land. Then, her spirit is enthusiastically awakened, her pain is cured and she can go on living with the help of Tara as the source of her life. Besides, there is a string between them that attaches one another throughout her life and it is showed through her thought about her relationship with Tara, “she could not desert Tara; she belonged to the red acres far more than they could ever belong to her. Her roots went deep into the blood-colored soil and sucked up life, as did the cotton. She would stay at Tara and keep it...” (p.413). She belongs to it, especially after her father gives Tara to her when she is 16 years old. Gerald gives it to her because he realizes that Scarlett O’Hara inherits his strong figure and courage. He persuades Scarlett O’Hara to accept this heritage and transfers his sense of belonging to the land into her mind. Hence, he consciously or unconsciously makes her tied to Tara and so that Tara becomes one of the most important things in her life. As time goes, she has a chance to leave Tara and live in Manson with Miss Pittypat [Frank Kennedy’s aunt], but she strongly determines her thought by saying this, “I cannot let Tara go. It’s home. I won’t let it go. Not while I’ve got breath left in me!” (p.574). She calls it “home” instead of “house”, which shows her emotional feelings are closer to it than to an ordinary farm or building. Calling Tara “home” as “an institution for people needing care or rest” (Oxford dictionary), proves that she appreciates it more as a comfortable place to live and to share anything than just a common house for living. She cannot betray either her family or Tara for it is also a part of the life of O’Hara’s family. Her love toward Tara proves that she is willing to sacrifice and has already done it by experiencing the hardship, a full time of fear, and lots of risks throughout her life just to preserve it. The second factor that becomes the reason for Scarlett O’Hara to preserve Tara is the Southern tradition i.e. the code of honor that is to be kept as long as they live. This code becomes the measurement of their pride as stated “the life of white 21 people in the South possesses its vital view concerning the plantation and its relation with their pride” (Tindal, 2000, p.477). In addition, they called it “the first code of honor” [Boorstin, 1970, p.206] of the South. It points up to the status symbol in the society; or in other words, the plantation establishes the owner’s position, whether in the upper, middle or lower classes; it develops their pride and encourages them to keep it over their life. As a matter of fact, Scarlett O’Hara knows that the Southern class line is determined by the land [the family plantation]. This way of thinking, absolutely, arouses her eagerness to rebuild Tara even in the period just after the war. As a matter of fact, she is surrounded by the elite people who own big plantations and have a point of view that they belong to the honored group because of their land. Consequently, those who own plantations feel that it is a kind of hereditary tradition to defend the land as it is the source of their pride. Hence, to be the owners of immense plantations may trigger the raise of their pride. The last factor that becomes the reason for Scarlett O’Hara to preserve Tara is because Tara is the source of income for the whole family. Before the war, Tara holds an important role to sustain their life. Tara yields a lot of money to pay their luxurious life (p.417). The O’Haras live in splendor and the daughters are raised by the high-toned life style, served by hundreds of slaves, dressed with fashionable gowns, treated by serenity and compassion especially from their mother and so on. The source to pay all of their needs comes from Tara. Due to this fact, as the eldest daughter Scarlett O’Hara really understands about the value of the existence of Tara and how it affords the expense of the necessities for her family.