DANCE AND BE DAMMED!

Teenagers lie to themselves about who they are and what they can handle during different parts of their life and because of this teenagers accept burdens too heavy for their own shoulders and are faced with situations that will change their look on themselves and the world. 

   

Teen years are right in the middle of an already lost childhood and an inevitable adulthood - and because of this awkward life stage teenagers are always trying to prove to others that they take on responsibilities. But another side affect of being a teen is the inability to ask for help, to admit that all they want is for their mom or dad to take away all their problems.

Scarlet O'Hara, a rich, white teenager living on a plantation in Georgia during the Civil War and also the main character in the book Gone With The Wind is struggling through bigger burdens, more problems, and stronger fears then the average teen today. In Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell Scarlet O'Hara is shown how everything she knows can flip upside down within the course of months. From having to flee her home in Atlanta, coming home to her mother dead, her father becoming mentally unstable, to losing all her family's money and crops and anything she could live off of with her growing family. Scarlet was once a person who had everything handed to her on a golden plate with her hundreds of slaves to dress her in elegant, rich gowns every morning, but through burdens too large for her slim shoulders to carry she became an adult too early having to take care of her unwanted son, harvesting any cotton left to make an earning, put food on the plates of her sisters and father and friends, taking care of ill women, facing raider Yankees, and doing anything she can to keep her family surviving. 

Scarlet is a role model to these teens struggling with the idea of losing their beloved life of ease who need a character who is strong and brave and relentless to show them that challenges are only given to those who are strong enough to handle them. Although Scarlett’s external issues aren’t necessarily relatable to the average teen today, the way she processes and deals with her internal issues is what has really helped me and hopefully many other teens.

Socially I can relate to Scarlett. She is trying her hardest to fit in and be noticed. Scarlett is somewhat of a southern belle or social butterfly in Georgia, wanted by every man and hated by every woman. Scarlett takes this trait and turns it into a medal to wear around her neck. She is proud of her social standing and she “takes after her father’s Irish roots” and goes running head first into any of her problems never avoiding a situation and never, ever letting her dignity or social standing come into question. Scarlett once heard another teenage girl talking about her behind her back, and the next day she married a man she is utterly annoyed by but who was the girls beaux just to prove that “she doesn’t care what they think” and to withstand her position on top.

When I read this section I was appalled and I also applauded. Being a teenage girl living in an age with social media I can’t say I haven’t had my fair share of back talking, snitching, and bullying, but never once would I have ever dreamed of manipulating and misleading another woman’s man to get revenge. Scarlett is impulsive and frankly quite intimidating, but you have to respect her. She holds her own in a way no other woman did back then. Men talked to her as though she was one of them, never worrying whether or not she would faint at news of war or anything. She didn’t allow herself to be demeaned and I look up to that trait of which I don’t fully posses myself.

Scarlett O’Hara holds herself to a certain standard, that is unquestionable, but she can sometimes loose sight of who she is while trying to fit all of her societies standards. Especially during the time of the Civil War, there were so many rules and Scarlett didn’t understand a single one, but she tried to follow them anyway. Until she met a man named Rhett Butler, a rejected member of southern higher class and known for behaving in manners not suited for a “gentleman”. Scarlett tries to fight Rhett and tries to deny everything he states about her and tries to fight her undeniable urge to just screw it all like Rhett did and forget about the rules. But she can’t fight it.

Although waiting any longer then three years to take off her mourning cloths and begin to even think about another man in her life would always be frowned upon, Scarlett really, really missed her days as a child. She admits that’s marrying Charles was a terrible plan and she admits to missing her days as every mans dream girl. Rhett can see through Scarlett like a window and he can see that what she really wants is to get back into a scandalous bright dress and dance all night long. But Rhett knows that if he out and says the facts he knows to be true about her, she would deny and deny and fight him off. So during a party/auction that Scarlett was helping out in because her sister-in-law forced her to, Rhett bid on Scarlett for the leading dance in the first Virginia wheel.

This put Scarlett in a dangerous position. She knew she wanted to drop everything and run to the dance floor, but with everyone looking at her as though they were just waiting for a reason to scorn her she had to ask herself, was she going to give into temptation? Was her social standing worth the risk for one dance?

If I was in this position, like any other sane girl I would probably walk away in accept in the most respectful way possible. But Scarlett is a bull and she took Rhett’s bait and flaunted her own. She really did drop everything and dance all night long, she was herself and she didn’t care what the other woman thought of her that night, or really any night before and after. She danced until her feet hurt and her hair a mess because that is the kind of person Scarlett is and she owns it. She refuses to be looked down on, she refuses to be fake, and she refuses to be beaten by anyone, especially Rhett Butler.

“That is one unforgivable sin in any society. Be different and be dammed!” Scarlett is a sinner through and through and she never cared, and this I exactly what makes her the perfect role model to teens today and forever. Before the war when everything was simple for her and she could marry any man and dance any day she wished, and after when all that was on her mind was survival and whether or not today she would eat, Scarlett danced her way through every situation life threw at her and would never be pushed around. Because she is Scarlett O’Hara and she will forever rather be dammed then exactly like every other girl at the party.