Different cup of tea,,,contd,

Scarlett O'Hara,, The most unheroine-like heroine that I've come across in these years, in the few books that I've managed to read. She always fascinated me from the first read, there have been many re-re-re-reads to follow, of course, and the first thing that struck me was how human she seemed, jealous, spiteful, petty, selfish and spoilt with a rich father to boot, a girl who expected things to go her way,,ALWAYS,, and yet they seldom did,, no matter how hard she tried. She had the looks and yet men, especially those whom she loved, went for the plain looking Melanie, who was her anti-thesis, to say the least. She made every mistake in the book and suffered for them, and yet when the time comes, she rises to the ocassion, unwillingly and with the choicest abuses on her lips, but rise she does, going as far as to deliver her rival's baby, and almost single handedly saving all their lives during the seige of Atlanta, with the help of the incorrigible Rhett Butler, whom she detested, and who was the only person who saw her for what she really was, (the rest of the people were busy putting her on a pedestal). She fights off amorous, drunk soldiers, protects her beloved Tara from intruders, another very unwomanly and ahead of her times- love for land, for its intrinsic beauty and attatched sentiments, no doubt, but also very much for the money it represented. She was so unwillingly positive, if such a term makes any sense at all, and to top it all , was her attitude of saying, that there always was a new day to follow, to every misery, and that things would probably look and be better the next day. Very often, swept away in the heat of our current crisis, we tend to forget this very important fact, that there always IS another day to follow,,,and Scarlett seemed so much better than Melanie and so many of the other heroines from so many other books, in that she was so much more real and close to what real people, with their follies and faults are like,

She made that huge tome seem like a real fast read, and this is one book I shall have on my bookshelf, for as long as I can,,,,!