Abstract

Gone with the Wind is a world-famous novel written by Margaret Mitchell with her ten-year hard work. It successfully depicts the protagonist Scarlett, a woman with rebelliousness, determination and perseverance. Half a century later, Alexandra Ripley spent five years writing Scarlett: the Sequel to Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind. No matter in the original work or in the sequel, Scarlett always has strong passion for life, dares to fight and leads her own life. However, in the sequel, Scarlett is endowed with quite dissimilar characters and temperaments, which greatly differs from the original work. In Gone with the Wind, she is selfish and greedy, only demands without paying; while in Scarlett, she learns to be considerate for others, educates her child with democracy and equity, and is no longer in endless pursuit for love. After the comparison of these two novels, this essay tries to find out the reasons for the differences between the two Scarletts. Both of the writers were born in Southern American, but they came from two families with totally different backgrounds, and their life experiences didn’t share many similarities. What’s more, the two novels were written in different historical periods, which inevitably influenced the writers’ creations.

Key words: Gone with the Wind; Scarlett; Sequel; Reason Analysis

摘要

《飘》是美国女作家玛格丽特•米切尔经十年磨砺之功而创作的杰出作品，成功塑造了主人公斯佳丽坚强反叛、不屈不挠、自强不息的形象。半个世纪之后，亚历山德拉•里普莉笔耕不辍历时五年写出《飘》的续集¬——《斯佳丽》。无论是原作还是续集，斯佳丽总是对生活充满热情，有强烈的占有欲，勇于尝试，敢于抗争，精明能干。然而，续集中斯佳丽的气质、性格、态度等都与原作大相径庭：在对待爱情与生活上，原作中斯佳丽贪婪自私，一味索取不知付出；续作中斯佳丽学会体谅他人，不再对爱情孤注一掷，并对自己的孩子进行民主平等的教育。在对两者的异同进行比较的基础上，本课题将进一步重点分析主人公性格异同的原因：《飘》与《斯佳丽》的作者虽然同是出生在美国南方，但两位作者有着不同的家庭背景与成长历程；另外，两部作品诞生于不同的历史时期，这对作品的创作有着不可避免的影响。

关键词：《飘》；《斯佳丽》；对比；原因分析

1. Introduction
Gone with the Wind (hereafter GWTW) is a world-famous romantic novel written by Margaret Mitchell in 1936, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. The novel depicts the protagonist Scarlett O’Hara, a selfish and determined woman with great possessiveness. Though Mitchell had no intention to write any sequel when she was alive, the Mitchell Trusts have authorized derivatives of GWTW. In 1991, Scarlett: the Sequel to Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind (hereafter Scarlett) written by Alexandra Ripley was published by Warner books in 1991. The long-anticipated novel has received both praises and critics, especially the latter one.