Do we like Scarlett O'Hara?
A character from Gone with the Wind (1936 (novel), 1939 ()
Our score: 4 out of 10. Dazzlingly tough and impossible to look away from, but so selfish and manipulative that we'd admire her survival and still keep our wallets close.
Scarlett is the spoiled, charming, vain daughter of an Irish-born Georgia planter. As the story opens on the eve of the Civil War, she is used to having every young man in the county at her feet. The one she truly wants is Ashley Wilkes, who is promised to someone else.
War, hardship and loss strip away the comfortable life she took for granted. Scarlett responds with grit, cunning and a refusal to be beaten, vowing never to go hungry again. That resilience is the best thing about her, and it is why readers have argued for decades over whether she is a heroine or a selfish brat.
We score her a 4. Her courage and drive are thrilling, and she carries responsibility few others would. But she is also self-absorbed, and she uses and discards people, including those who love her. She is a compelling survivor rather than someone we'd really back.