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f course, is “the ideal of southern feminine graciousness, the great lady personified as is Ellen O′Hara, Scarlett’s mother; but there is a toughness in her that is surprising. It is she who, though may starve, cannot compromise her principles (Robert Y, 144). C. Scarlett and Ashley Ashley Wilkes, the last character to be discussed, has been Scarlett’s lover she has dreamed for many years. The same as Scarlett, he thinks that he loves Scarlett, too. He thinks he loves her for she is “so fine and strong and good,” so beautiful, not just her sweet face, but all of her, her body and her mind and her soul (Margaret, 270). He even tells her “I love you, your courage and your stubbornness and your fine and your utter ruthlessness. How much do I love you? So much that a moment ago I would have outraged the hospitality of the house which has sheltered me and my family, forgotten the best wife any man ever had, enough to take you here in the mud like a...” (Margaret, 520). Also while Melanie is dying he finally realizes that his lover is Melanie. Isn’t that too late? Conclusion Both Ashley and Melanie are anachronisms as the result of the disruption of the war (Dawson, 14). The old order, the life of tradition is, of course, represented in them. The Wilkeses are bookworms, they always send off for books of poetry, take European tours, and marry their cousins. Their plantation, Twelve Oaks, is everything romanticists would like to believe about the old south. Now we see, Scarlett and Rhett, the two strong figures, and Melanie and Ashley, the two weak ones, “were products of external characterization rather than psychological motivation, yet they gave the appearance of reality in manners and dialogue, seeming to be shaped by inner stresses and social forces rather than by prefabricated temperaments” (James D, 263). Only those who adapt themselves to the changes can survive, even if they are different in the old time. The weak ones are destined to be eliminated. In this aspect, Scarlett has done well. She can love and hate with a violence, “her voice was brisk and decisive and she made up her mind instantly and with no girlish shilly-shallying. She knew what she wanted and she went after it by the shortest route, like a man, not by the hidden and circuitous routes peculiar to women” (Margaret, 624). She wants not only to survive, but also to prevail and will use any means at hand to gain her ends, and she wins, still keeps an uneasily known kind heart. Those are characters needed for success, in 21st Century. If Scarlett were living in modern society, instead of the old time, she surely could lead a happy and comfortable life, like many other white-collar women do. In short, Scarlett is a new woman in the old time. She is different and damned. However, the society which we live in is an advanced one, so we can imitate her, of course not in all her ways. Fortunately, we could 〝be different〞as she is, moreover, not〝be damned〞as she is. Bibliography [1] Blanche H, Gelfant. “‘Gone with the Wind’and the Impossibilities of Fiction” [J]. The Southern Literary Journal, 1981, (13). [2] Dawson, Gaillard. “‘Gone with the Wind’As Bildungsroman; or, Why Did Rhett Butler Really Leaves Scarlett O′Hara?” [J]. The Georgia Review, 1974, (28). [3] Elizabeth, For-Genovess. “Scarlett O′Hara: The Southern Lady As New Woman” [J]. American Quarterly, 1981, (33). [4] Floyd C, Watkins. “ˋGone with the WindˊAs Vulgar Literature” [J]. The Southern Literature