What Scarlett O'Hara had for breakfast
It felt like the beginning of the end at the farmers market under the viaduct today. I know that's an exaggeration -- after all, it will be there every Sunday until the Sunday before Christmas -- but at 6:30 a.m., when I started thinking about driving down soon, it was still almost dark.
One vendor told me that he would only have peaches for another week, and the apples and pears were pushing out the other fruits on the stands. The end of summer has happened too fast for me. ...
Driving back from the market, I was listening to my current recorded book. Even though my daily commute is only 15 or 20 minutes, I always listen to a book to keep my road rage at an acceptable level. My current book, on my brother the history teacher's recommendation, is Gone With the Wind. The problem is that it's 41 discs, which is a lot of discs to get through in 15-minute segments when you borrow it from the library.
Anyway, as I was driving back to my breakfast of tea and toast, I listened to 16-year-old Scarlett O'Hara getting laced into her stays to create a 17-inch waist, and then her Mammy made her eat before she went to a morning barbecue because ladies weren't supposed to eat much in public.
Her breakfast tray consisted of a yam, cut open, steaming with butter at its center; a slice of ham with gravy and hot cakes. She was expected to eat this after she had been laced up. I wonder how accurate it was, and how long she would have kept her 17-inch waist eating meals like that.
(Photo courtesy of New Line Cinema)
Comments
We all know that as scarlett began to eat, gerald called down to her to hurry up, or she would be late... Seeing as how one of the recurring themes is hunger, it only makes sense that the southern belle go from one end of the spectrum to another-- eating decadent, huge meals three times a day to radishes and water... Plus, it's one more reason we love her... She's the girl we all want to be-- charming, elegant, and able to eat a lot while maintaining a 17- inch waist...
Interesting. I would say she's the girl none of us wants to be (except, of course, for the 17-inch waist); that's what makes her an unusual heroine for the time. And she did eat her breakfast, so much of it that she was afraid in the carriage ride she would belch. :-) EL
Posted by: ABC | September 6, 2009 12:20 PM
Oh c'mon, Scarlett was spoiled rotten all her young life. Sure, she found her strength during and after the War, but mixing that strength with spoiled just made her a totally self-absorbed woman.
The book and movie are different, probably because filming the book as written would've resulted in a six-hour movie rather than a four-hour movie. Two examples: In the book, Scarlett bears children by each of her husbands; in the movie she has only Rhett's child. In the book she ate her breakfast under Mammy's watchful eye; in the movie she ate a few bites before her father yelled up to her to hurry. There are differences all through the book, but that doesn't make it better or worse than the movie...just different. Enjoy!
Posted by: Dottie | September 6, 2009 10:29 PM
Literary history swerve--Margaret Mitchell originally named her heroine "Pansy." I for one am glad she switched to Scarlett, as I get totally different mental images of anyone named Pansy. Part of her fascination is the name, which suggests a wild, unconventional girl.
Posted by: Dahlink | September 7, 2009 8:13 AM
Interesting, Dahlink. Perhaps MM was inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne?
Posted by: Laura Lee | September 7, 2009 8:48 AM
What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
Posted by: Filbert E. Winchester | September 7, 2009 9:03 AM
I somehow doubt that GWTW woiuld be as memorable if Scarlett O'Hara had been named Pansy O'Hara -- or, for that matter, if Rhett Butler had been named Pansy Butler.
Posted by: hmpstd | September 7, 2009 11:08 AM
No argument there, hmpstd!
Posted by: Dahlink | September 7, 2009 11:19 AM
As far as the accuracy of the breakfast menu, it's pretty much dead on. Even though the story was set in the mid-19th century, that breakfast menu is typical of breakfasts I grew up with in the mid-20th century in Georgia. Whether she'd keep her 17-inch waist for long, however, depended on her individual metabolism and level of activity. I've known many, many women who ate like that daily and stayed quite slim. Of course, they were seriously physically active with children, house work, and farm work.
Posted by: Lana | September 9, 2009 1:04 PM
She was expected to eat a large breakfast to keep her full enough so she would only peck at the food at the barbeque like a lady. Though southerners do eat those things, not in such quantities, and all at once.
Posted by: jo | April 11, 2010 8:49 AM