I agree! Although I suppose Margaret Mitchell did intend her to look average - “Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful …” Vivien changed that, haha. Thanks for your thoughts!

I first read Gone With the Wind when I was 12, and for probably the first half I didn’t like Scarlett, but at the end I could understand her and the things she did after what she had been through. When I re-read the book last summer, 7 years later, I could easily see the arrogance of youth that Scarlett embodies at first, and how she changes, though it is gradual. She is self centered, but she knows she has to tote the weary load for everyone at Tara; despite her resentment, she does it and she gets things done. I was a bit surprised to realize how much of my own personality I saw in Ashley, rather than Scarlett, but I do love Scarlett and I admire her tenacity despite its being cloaked in selfishness. I doubt you are worse than Scarlett =) You can relate to her and not be everything she is. I love her because she is so far from perfect, and much more like a real person. Too often writers use lovely, flawless, entirely upstanding ladies as their protagonists, and it gets boring. Scarlett, whether you love her or hate her, is never boring.