The Heroine's Bookshelf: Life Lessons, from Jane Austen to Laura Ingalls Wilder

Editors' Note: A while back, we received a lovely email from Erin Blakemore, who had some very kind words for the blog. But that's not the cool part. This is: you see, not only is Erin is a longtime Gone with the Wind fan, she is also a first-time author! Her first book, The Heroine’s Bookshelf: Life Lessons, from Jane Austen to Laura Ingalls Wilder, debuts in bookstores today.

Erin was kind enough to send us a review copy of her book, which explores classic literary heroines and includes a chapter on our much-loved Scarlett O'Hara. So today we're delighted to offer you a look at The Heroine's Bookshelf.  Also, be sure to stay tuned later this week for an interview  with Erin about her book, literary heroines and, of course, GWTW and Scarlett. Thank you to Erin for her generosity and kindness in sharing her book with us. Congratulations to you!

--iso and Bugsie

It starts with a heroine—a larger-than-life, unforgettable heroine. Boil down the many divergent reasons why all of us are fans of Gone with the Wind and you’ll find that the reality is actually quite simple: the story of Scarlett O’Hara moved us at some intrinsic level, so much so that we return to her story again and again, trying to unlock what made her tick, sharing in her triumphs, mourning in her epic defeats. Scarlett’s journey is both her own and ours. 

And it is this very kind of intersection—the literary journey of the heroine and the emotional journey of reader—that Erin Blakemore explores in her insightful new book, The Heroine’s Bookshelf: Life Lessons, from Jane Austen to Laura Ingalls Wilder. The Heroine’s Bookshelf takes twelve classic heroines down from the bookshelf to explore the enduring values modern women can learn from their literary sisters. You’ll find many familiar and well-loved characters within its pages: Jane Eyre, Elizabeth Bennet, Jo March, and Anne Shirley, among others (including Scarlett O’Hara for us Windies).

The Heroine’s Bookshelf examines each heroine in light of her defining characteristic (ex: Anne Shirley embodies ‘Happiness,’ while Scarlett O’Hara naturally represents ‘Fight’). Blakemore offers reflections, at turns both poignant and funny, about how women can thoughtfully apply these timeless values in a modern world that can be infinitely harried and complex, one that all too often does not allow for moments of introspection. Each chapter also ends with two fun tidbits, “Read This Book” (life situations especially suited to the heroine’s novel) and “Literary Sisters” (a list of literary characters similar to the heroine).

But The Heroine’s Bookshelf doesn’t just discuss these remarkable heroines’ stories in a vacuum. For behind every literary heroine stands another powerful and even more important woman—the author of each book. Blakemore weaves in insights about how each author’s life informed the literary world she chose to create, from great personal joys, in some cases, to devastating life blows, in others. Taken together, the vignettes of both authors and literary heroines come together to offer a meditation about the nature of writing, the enduring meaning of literature and the power of the human spirit. 

Ultimately, there are many adjectives to describe The Heroine’s Bookshelf. “Clever,” “touching” and “insightful” are but some. But if we had to pick just one it would be “timely.” In today’s world, fraught with economic turmoil and flooded with problems large and small, who couldn’t use a little inspiration from some of the bravest, coolest women in literature? We here at How You Do Run On obviously can’t turn that down. We really enjoyed this charming book and we know you will too.

So be sure to check The Heroine's Bookshelf and reacquaint yourselves all over again with the tremendous heroines you know and love. You won't be disappointed.  In fact, it might just make you square your shoulders, gather up your strength and declare "Tomorrow is another day..."

The Quotable Rhett Butler: A Mouthful of Dead Sea Fruit

This week's quote was submitted by our reader Bella. It's one of the lines from Rhett's final speech:

"Something, someone has made you realize that the unfortunate Mr. Wilkes is too large a mouthful of Dead Sea fruit for even you to chew."

--Gone with the Wind, Chapter LXIII

The Dead Sea fruit, or the apple of Sodom as it was often called, had been a topic of fascination for the Western culture for centuries and by the 19th century it had become a popular trope. It was used to describe a thing whose attractive appearance was deceiving, for one who got hold of the apple of Sodom either tasted it only to find it bitter or, in some takes, was surprised to see it turn to ash before his eyes.

Both of these versions have a ground in reality, for the fruit actually exists. It has, as you can see in the wikipedia picture, the appearance of an edible fruit, perhaps even an apple, but the interior is empty and its flesh bitter. One can imagine many a traveler had a nasty surprise trying out this "apple." As for the other version, in which the fruit turns to ashes, it is probably related to the way this plant spreads its seeds. When the fruits are ripe, they burst, sending off their fibrous contents. Apparently, this also happens if one exerts the slightest pressure on a ripe fruit - they are left with only the remains of the fruit (the "ashes") in their hands.

The apple of Sodom was first mentioned in ancient sources. It appears in Tacitus' fifth book of the History and in Josephus Jewish War. Both these sources stress the fact that the fruit dissolves into smoke and ashes, not that it is bitter to the taste. Mentioned in the Bible as well, the Dead Sea fruit became a famous motif and elicited a great deal of curiosity in the Western world. Authentic reports from travelers were greatly valued, because there was an important current of suspicion regarding its actual existence. Some authors claimed that the apple of Sodom had never been the fruit of a real plant growing in the Dead Sea region, but just a cleverly-found metaphor to signify the vain pleasures of the world.

Rhett obviously uses this expression in the sense in which it was most often used in modern times - to indicate the bitterness of a fruit which had been pleasing to the eye. It is the sense in which it appears in Paradise Lost for example (via wiki): 

"(...) greedily they plucked
The fruitage fair to sight, like that which grew
Near that bituminous lake where Sodom flamed;
This more delusive, not the touch, but taste
Deceived; they, fondly thinking to allay
Their appetite with gust, instead of fruit
Chewed bitter ashes, which the offended taste
With spattering noise rejected: oft they assayed,
Hunger and thirst constraining; (...)"
                                          (book X, 560-568)

And now to close this post, let me ask you this. It's clear that once Scarlett got Ashley (no matter under what circumstances), she would have been disappointed and probably found him "a mouthful of Dead Sea fruit." But do you think that it was possible for her to realize that he wasn't good for her without getting him? Could anything other than actually getting him open her eyes to his real worth (or lack thereof)?

And, of course, a thank you to Bella for emailing us about this particular quote. 

Rue de la Paix

In keeping with our look yesterday at period inspirations for Scarlett's white dress, here's a little collage I made of Scarlett in all her white-ruffled glory at Tara. Enjoy!

Scarlett O'Hara at Tara by gwtwscrapbook featuring gold plated jewelry

Doppelganger Dresses, Part 7: Scarlett's White Ruffled Dress

Doppelganger Dresses returns from a small foray into accessories and back to our main focus--that's right, dresses! And this week we're highlighting one of my favorite dresses from Gone with the Wind, the white ruffled dress that Scarlett wears in the opening scene. It's such a great 'statement' dress, conveying volumes about Scarlett's pampered existence and coquettish personality from the very first moments of the film. I love it because it's so full and flouncy. It's also a familiar find in fashion plates.

After the jump, you'll find two period styles that resemble Scarlett's white ruffled frock. One exception to note, though: both of our look-a-like dresses are long-sleeved. Day dresses were universally long-sleeved in the 1860s. But don't let the discrepancy between history and Hollywood keep you from enjoying the fashion plates.  

And as always, we welcome your thoughts. Which one looks more like Scarlett's dress to you? Let us know in the comments. 

Mastering the Art of Ladyhood: The Education of Ellen Robillard

“From the day when Ellen first came to Tara, the place had been transformed.  If she was only fifteen years old, she was nevertheless ready for the responsibilities of the mistress of a plantation.  Before marriage, young girls must be, above all other things, sweet, gentle, beautiful and ornamental, but, after marriage, they were expected to manage households that numbered a hundred people or more, white and black, and they were trained with that in view.

"Ellen had been given this preparation for marriage which any well-brought-up young lady received, and she also had Mammy… She quickly brought order, dignity and grace into Gerald's household, and she gave Tara a beauty it had never had before.”

--Gone with the Wind, Chapter III

Gone with the Wind presents Ellen Robillard O’Hara as many things—a vivacious young belle, a melancholic woman doomed by a star-crossed love affair, Scarlett’s childhood idol, the embodiment of Southern ladyhood. We know Ellen’s sedate reign at Tara transformed Scarlett’s girlhood home into one imbued with “order, dignity, and grace” as MM describes in the passage above. But exactly what kind of schooling did young aristocratic women like Ellen receive towards achieving this end?

Before we move forward with answering that question, let’s quickly reacquaint ourselves with Ellen Robillard O’Hara’s vital stats. These clues will prove important in deciphering what kind of education a young lady like Ellen would have received. From her age (32) at the start of GWTW, we know that Ellen was born in 1829, the child of a coastal aristocratic family of French descent. She was raised in Savannah, Georgia, of course, but her mother’s family lived in and then fled Haiti during the revolution of 1791. Ellen grew up reared in the ways of the Southern elite, became a charming belle, and then married Gerald O’Hara at the tender age of 15.

Why is this all important? Several reasons. First and most importantly, women’s education in the antebellum South has traditionally received rather light attention from historians, meaning some level of detective work is involved in writing a post like this one. Secondly, American education in the early 19th century was in a constant state of flux. There were many different formats of schooling available and advances in education tended to blur into one another. So Ellen’s background is the very best evidence we have to examine what her formal education might have looked like.

Before we begin, some quick notes on sources: Much of my research for this post comes from a tremendous book called The Education of the Southern Belle: Higher Education and Student Socialization in the Antebellum South by Christine Anne Farnham. This book is also rounded out by a memoir of an antebellum girl of Ellen’s generation: Social Life in Old New Orleans, Being Recollections of my Girlhood by Eliza Moore Chinn McHatten Ripley. Eliza Ripley was born in 1832, making her three years younger than the lovely but fictitious Ellen Robillard. She also grew up in very similar societal context--planter class, living prominent Southern city with French influence. 

Fair warning: there's a lot of information to take in here, so I'm going to try to break it down as much as possible. First up is a brief overview of women's education in the South from the late colonial era through the early antebellum period.  Using this, we'll then move on to examining in greater detail what kinds of things a lady of Ellen's social stature would have learned in school.  

An Overview of Women's Education in the South 

By the mid 1700s, French schools started to became a means for girls' education in the South. These schools were largely concentrated in bigger coastal cities and operated by unmarried women, widows, or husband-and-wife teacher teams. As the name suggests, instruction in French was a core part of the curriculum, along with writing, reading, arithmetic, and needlework.  Instruction in the ornamental arts (dancing, music, drawing, and handicrafts) was an essential focus as well. Evidence indicates that French schools were likely more prominent in the South than the North. 

Why? First, Southern society was aristocratic in nature and, as such, sought to model itself upon European nobility and manners. Knowledge of French was considered to be an barometer of upper-class status. But the predominance of French schools was also likely a matter of mere geography. The South was a stone’s throw from the Caribbean—and many native French speakers originated from the Caribbean, particularly as immigrants fleeing the Haitian Revolution.   

French schools varied from small day schools to posh boarding schools with a number of additional academic subjects, such as history, philosophy, and geography. French schools were popular among the Southern elite, as they served two essential functions.  First, the schools afforded young belles the opportunity to cultivate "refinement" and master womanly arts such as needlework, French, and proper etiquette. But just as importantly, French schools offered girls the chance to mingle amongst the proper social set and thus expand their horizons for their true calling--marriage.  Because education, as we will soon see,  was largely designed towards this end, emphasizing the veneer of learning over, well, actual learning. 

But there's one more advancement in women's education that we need to note before moving on our subject list. And that is academies. Academies for girls began to appear in the late 1700s and gradually supplanted the earlier French schools throughout the South. But this transition was a slow one and the difference in educational offerings  between French schools and academies tends to be hazy. But one key distinction exists:  unlike French schools, academies emphasized academic subjects over the decorative arts (music, dancing, painting, needlework, etc.), minimizing these courses to elective offerings. 

Still with me? There's extra credit for all those pupils who follow me after the jump...that and a full curriculum of ladylike subjects a well-bred young girl like Ellen Robillard would have studied in school.

Poster of the Week

This week's poster from 1954 uses bold colors to depict a couple of momentous scenes from the movie.

Image from moviegoods.com. Poster information cited from Herb Bridges' "Frankly My Dear..."

A Dress That Makes a Statement

Most people love the red dress Walter Plunkett had Scarlett wear at Ashley's birthday party. Others prefer Margaret Mitchell's take and go with the green low-cut dress from the book. But here we are to tell you that both Mitchell and Plunkett were actually wrong! How We Do Run On has the definite answer. Here's Scarlett should have worn to Ashley's birthday party if she wanted to really make a statement: