Thursday, November 1, 2012

Melanie Hamilton in Gone With The Wind


Although she was not made the main character in Gone With The Wind, I think Melanie was the real heroine. Melanie was a timid, simple, humble woman with a very kind heart. Her main strength was how she could see the positive side of every person; she followed her own instinct, not what people around thought about the person.

Melanie was not typical women who glow in parties; and being the center of attention was never her aim. She even preferred to be behind the curtain all the time. However people always love her, I can’t think of any character in this story who did not love Melanie—not even Scarlett although she tried hard to. People love her because she was always genuine in heart, no pretense, always willingly to pour her love and affection to everyone because she wanted to, not because she needed something from them in return. All they’ve got to do was just opened their heart.

On the earlier stages of her life, I thought Melanie was a passive woman with the lack of initiative, but apparently she developed very much throughout the story. Hard times reshaped her a lot. She might be shy, but she was very brave when needed. Twice in a crisis, she calmly made quick decisions and acted right.



Her only weakness was that she only believed what she wanted to, she could not accept that people she loved made a mistake. She definitely closed her eyes of what happened between her husband and Scarlett. Instead of analyzing every details, she just threw the idea away only because she loved both of them, and they won't therefore do such a thing.

Anyway…Melanie was a real lady with her inner beauty, as Rhett Butler said…. “Beauty doesn’t make a lady, nor clothes a great lady.”


6 comments:

  1. hebat ya melanie..tapi gemes juga kok nerima2 aja suaminya sama scarlet =(

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    1. Tapi kayaknya memang ada (cukup banyak) wanita tipe ini ya, apalagi di jaman itu...

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  2. Belum baca bukunya, tapi kalo di film dia ini ngegemesin bgt karena sifat nrimo-nya itu :p
    btw, aku perdana ikutan CT :D

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    1. yayyy...thanks udah ikutan!
      Tapi sesungguhnya karakter yang menonjol di Melly ada di keberaniannya dan kebaikan hatinya. Meski kelihatannya lemah, tapi sebenarnya Melly adalah wanita yang tegar. Mungkin menepis pikiran bahwa suaminya selingkuh, juga salah 1 cara Melly untuk tegar menjalani hidup. Karena kalau dipikir-pikir, pada jama itu, apa yang bisa dia lakukan? Daripada harus hidup dalam kemarahan, lebih baik terus maju saja, toh sebenarnya Ashley dan Scarlett tidak terang-terangan juga selingkuh, mereka cuma masih menyimpan rasa suka saja. Dan justru kebesaran hati Melly itu yang membuat Ashley makin menghargainya dan akan tetap setia kepadanya.

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  3. Hi Fanda. Sorry this comment has nothing to do with your post (I haven't read Gone with The Wind but it looks like you're doing a good job reading it in detail!) I just wanted to say that I made a master post for a Social Justice theme read I'm doing in February, and I noted in my post that you're doing a Dickens theme read that same month. I just wanted you know know I did that and make sure that you don't mind! :) Let me know if you do, and I'll take that bit out.

    http://rachelreadingnthinking.blogspot.com/2012/11/social-justice-theme-read-2012.html

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    1. Of course I don't mind, Rachel! Actually I must thank you for promoting my event in advance (I haven't even been thinking about it, as I'm still busy with Let's Read Plays). And as Dickens' theme are mostly about social injustice, we could gain more participants by reading one book for two events. :) I'll sign up your event!

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What do you think?