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itute, she accepts her and makes an independent house for her.
Xinbi is just a traditional Chinese woman, she keeps the virtue that is passed down from the ancestors and never doubts whether it is right to do so.
6.2During the war
There is an old saying that life is connected with the world, and each people make choices through his around environment and through it to make sure of him. The pre-war period are sweet memories for both Scarlet and Xinbi, however, the war stimulates them to be strong.
Scarlet becomes a widow during the war. Atlanta is falling; she wants to turn back to Tara for help. However, Melanie is going to give birth. Without the doctor’s help, she becomes a midwife and delivers her child. With Rhett’s help, she gets away from Atlanta successfully, but Rhett also leaves her in the half way because he is going to take part in the war. Scarlet feels sad, the only word she can remind is “leaving”, and Rhett is going to leave her. But she has no time to feel sad; she has to return to Tara. However, the situation in Tara is much more serious-- Mum Ellen died the day before, father is in a state of dementia, her pitiful two sisters are hit by the typhoid, she has to look after Melanie for she just gives birth to a child… In a word, the war throws her into a homeless and starved state. Scarlet has to become strong; she tries every means to save Tara and becomes a competent businesswoman. When a Yankee soldier intrudes, she even kills him and takes away his treasure.
The life during war is no better for Xinbi--Jiren passes away, her mother-in-law is old, madam Xinjin is weak, what is more, she never cares about the domestic affairs, and her children are still young…she has no other choice but to becomes strong and supports the family all by herself. In addition, she is hard working: She plants vegetables and make clothes for her children in her own.
Xinbi is dauntless. The death of Runyu shocks her severely, but she comes to herself within two days, because she still has five other children. Shen Chen is the second man that she falls love into, however, he is shot by her son-in-law—Wang Qianfan. God plays a serious joke on her, but she struggles for herself. Xinbi also kills a soldier, because that Japanese solider is going to insult her daughter. She kills him and takes away his money.
According to Woolf, “There are two kinds of power in one’s body, the masculine power and the female one… and the excellent state is when the two powers combine and work together harmoniously and heartedly.” [24] For Xinbi and Scarlet the two ladies in the turbulent world, the wartime is just the time for them to be the embodiments of combining the two powers together. But Scarlet somehow does better than Xinbi, because the individualist “she is eager to get a seat in the history, she demands that she should gain the chance of sharing the opportunity and power equally with men.” [25]
6.3After the war
After the war, Scarlet measures money much more important than before. She dares to ask her neighbors to pay back the debts, employ the free black slaves even the prisoners. “Now, all what she does is masculine. She is clear out, firm, decisive and sharp, without any hesitation. She knows what she needs and looks for it in an easiest way like men.” [26] The same is true to Xinbi. At the end of the war, Xinbi and her children go back home. Now, she is “actually under bi-pressures, she is not only has to be a traditional dutiful wife and loving mother, but also to seek for personal finance and the independent social status.” [27] Being the backbone, she has to keep her children and to raise her family. When other people interrupt her family, she tries every means to recapture her property.
The two ladies are strong, but they are weakening in their feelings.
The event that shocks Scarlet most is that when she finally clears about her feeling—the one she really loves is Rhett. However, it is too late for Rhett to accept because he is too tired to accept her love. But luckily, she is full of hope and believes that “I will think of it all tomorrow, at Tara. I can stand it then. Tomorrow, I will think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.” [28]
The death of Kejian after the war is the biggest shock to Xinbi. She loses heart and even commits to suicide many times. She is so weary that “the next spring, when Xiaoyu brings her son from Shanghai to visit mum. She could only see an old lady with grey hair on entering the door. She is puzzled whether she is a relative or not. But she is her mother Xinbi. That year, Xinbi is only fifty one years old.” [29] (开春的时候，小玉抱着她周岁的儿子从上海回来看娘。踏进家门，只见迎着阳光的门洞里坐着一个白发苍然的老太太。小玉先是一愣，不知道这是家中哪一位老太太，细看，才知道原来是她娘。这一年，心碧不过五十一岁。)
7. Conclusion
Both Dong Xinbi and Scarlet are ladies in the turbulent world. Scarlet is the representative of the westerners; while Dong Xinbi stands for the traditional Chinese woman. They
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