Scarlett O"Hara of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind is far from an admirable literary heroine. She is self-centered, vain, manipulative, curt, abrupt, shallow, and stubborn. She is also misjudged by her appearance and subsequently proves herself an equal in a Civil War-era man's world. She is a self-made woman who uses every device at her disposal to her advantage to get what she wants. In these ways, I identify with her and with the universality of wanting to (and ensuring that you do) have the best of all possible worlds- with having your cake and eating it too. With being more than what you seem to be.
Scarlett's privileged childhood, poise, rearing, good looks, charm, and the other various feminine wiles she possesses make her an unlikely fighter. Through the course of the novel, however, roles are reversed in every relationship in her life, and she is forced to be the unlikely provider, protector, worker, mother, adult in many situations. Just as modern society often assumes that swimsuit models are just pretty faces, Scarlett's assumed that southern belle debutantes are raised for cotillions. The general thought that actresses are false and vapid or generally something nice to look at or something pleasing to listen to is a stereotype I will have to work hard in my life to overcome. Just as Brooke Shields attended Columbia and Cindy Crawford graduated second in her class, just as half the LA Laker girls are putting themselves through law school and last year's Miss America is studying to be a nuclear physicist, Scarlett single-handedly farmed her family's plantation and saved them all from starving, started more than one successful business, married three times without effort for money, and made her own fortune. I, an actress, have unlimited intellectual and artistic vision to pour into my work to come- more insight to provide into theatre craft. .
Another way in which I identify with Scarlett O"Hara is her tenacity.
