Mother's Advice

Now, my Mum was not prone to soundbite pop culture characters to demonstrate a point, truly, but when we watched 'Gone with the Wind' together, one drizzly Sunday when I was about ten she decided to share a little theory with me, her gullible lone daughter.

Based on characters in the film (you know it? It was le big hit you know) she proclaimed that there were two types of women. Only two mind, things were simpler then, none of this five people you meet in heaven complication, no, just two. Those two types were either

Scarlet O'Hara, namely a manipulative shrew who you somehow can't help rooting for.





OR

Melanie Hamilton, AKA " Miss Mellie" The sweet and lovely southern belle who gets the man ultimately (and what other goal could she possibly have?)



I remember being a bit shocked that the many layers that make up a personality, all those diverse cultural influences, the effect of time and location, even genetic predispositions, all of this could be reduced to the two choices that fall to women.

If of course you are looking to simplify your life and put yourself in a box but you are unsure whether you are a Scarlett or a Melanie, the eyebrows are key. Apparently tweezed, slanty ones mean wickedly charming or just wicked but the Miss Mellies of the world have infinitely softer, more yielding examples.

I wonder if this insight will make gauging folks any easier? I might try it today.