读完《飘》的英文版《Gone With The Wind》，飘中两个女主斯嘉丽Scarlett和梅兰妮Melanie，明显斯嘉丽更光芒四射一些，所以开始， 我会更喜欢斯嘉丽Scarlett， 因为她勇敢， 果断，活得很精彩，但越往后看越喜欢梅兰妮， 因为她的大爱。
很多人不能理解Melanie明知道斯嘉丽爱着Ashley，却还是待斯嘉丽如亲姐妹,为什么这么傻？
首先Melanie确实是知道斯嘉丽爱Ashley，原文如下：
At the mention of Ashley’s name, Scarlett’s heart stood still, cold as granite within her. Melanie had known all the time. Scarlett dropped her head on the coverlet and a sob that would not rise caught her throat with a cruel hand. Melanie knew. Scarlett was beyond shame now, beyond any feeling save a wild remorse that she had hurt this gentle creature throughout the long years. Melanie had known—and yet, she had remained her loyal friend. Oh, if she could only live those years over again! She would never even let her eyes meet those of Ashley. （补充点，虽然Scarlett知道了梅兰妮原来一直都知道， 但是斯嘉丽并没有向梅兰妮坦白自己的错误，她觉得自己错了，愿意接受老天的惩罚， 不愿意在这个时刻， 让梅兰妮分时间给她， 给她机会认错，求得梅兰妮的谅解。而且她知道梅兰妮不怪她，原谅她了，但她自己无法原谅自己，所以愿意带着愧疚活下去。这些是后文中写道的。）
其次，斯嘉丽和梅兰妮的友谊是在患难中慢慢建立起来的。 开始是梅生孩子那天， 斯嘉丽帮忙接生， 生完后，在瑞德帮助下，带着梅兰妮和刚出生的宝宝穿过战火， 回到Tara庄园。途中斯嘉丽几乎是拼了命才护得梅兰妮母子无碍。 虽然斯嘉丽是信守对Ashley的承诺，但在梅兰妮看来， 这种恩情， 是一辈子都还不完了。 之后斯嘉丽重建Tara家园，有次一个士兵（也是小偷）来家里偷钱，斯嘉丽无奈用手枪打死了来人，杀人后震惊之余看到梅兰妮手握宝剑， 在楼顶看着自己。
这是斯嘉丽第一次感到梅兰妮的支持和理解。 下面是斯嘉丽的心理活动：
“Why—why—she’s like me! She understands how I feel!” thought Scarlett in. Yes, Melanie had been there that day with a sword in her small hand, ready to that long moment “She’d have done the same thing!” With a thrill she looked up at the frail swaying girl for whom she had never had any feelings but of dislike and contempt. Now, straggling against hatred for Ashley’s wife, there surged a feeling of admiration and comradeship. She saw in a flash of clarity untouched by any petty emotion that beneath the gentle voice and the dove like eyes of Melanie. there was a thin flashing blade of unbreakable steel, felt too that there were banners and bugles of courage in Melanie’s quiet blood.
斯嘉丽开始不再是藐视梅兰妮， 开始感受到两人共同的地方，开始意识到梅兰妮骨子里的力量。
她们之间感情的加深的另一个转折点是在后面的一次抢劫中。 彼时，南北战争还没有结束， 北方军队时不时抢劫一些财物，食品等。抢劫中， 斯嘉丽为了保住夫家的传家宝剑， 跟一个士兵起了争执， 士兵走后，背地里放了一把火，梅兰妮及时赶回，帮着灭火， 救下Scarlett，也救了庄园。灭火时， 斯嘉丽晕倒了。下文是Scarlett 苏醒过来后，她们两个的对话和心理描写：
But she was pushed back as Melanie’s calm voice said: “Lie still, dear. The fire’s out.”
She lay quiet for a moment, eyes closed, sighing with relief, and heard the slobbery gurgle of the baby near by and the reassuring sound of Wade’s hiccoughing. So he wasn’t dead, thank God! She opened her eyes and looked up into Melanie’s face. Her curls were singed, her face black with smut but her eyes were sparkling with excitement and she was smiling.（梅兰妮灭火后的样子）
“You look like a nigger,” murmured Scarlett, burrowing her head wearily into its soft pillow.
“And you look like the end man in a minstrel show,” replied Melanie equably.
“Why did you have to hit me?” （因为斯嘉丽背上着火，梅兰妮才推她的，没想到一推斯嘉丽晕倒了。）
“Because, my darling, your back was on fire. I didn’t dream you’d faint,though the Lord knows you’ve had enough today to kill you. ... I came back as soon as I got the stock safe in the woods. I nearly died, thinking about you and the baby alone. Did—the Yankees harm you?”
“If you mean did they rape me, no,” said Scarlett, groaning as she tried to sit up. Though Melanie’s lap was soft, the porch on which she was lying was far from comfortable. “But they’ve stolen everything, everything. We’ve lost everything—Well, what is there to look so happy about?”
“We haven’t lost each other and our babies are all right and we have a roof over our heads,” said Melanie and there was a lilt in her voice. “And that’s all anyone can hope for now. ... Goodness but Beau is wet! I suppose the Yankees even stole his extra diapers. He— Scarlett, what on earth is in his diaper?”（梅兰妮发现了斯嘉丽藏在尿布里面的钱包）
She thrust a suddenly frightened hand down the baby’s back and brought up the wallet. For a moment she looked at it as if she had never seen it before and then she began to laugh, peal on peal of mirth that had in it no hint of hysteria.
“Nobody but you would ever have thought of it,” she cried and flinging her arms around Scarlett’s neck she kissed her. “You are the beatenest sister I ever had!”（你是我最古灵精怪的妹妹）
Scarlett permitted the embrace because she was too tired to struggle, because the words of praise brought balm to her spirit and because, in the dark smoke-filled kitchen, there had been born a greater respect for her sister-in-law, a closer feeling of comradeship.
“I’ll say this for her,” she thought grudgingly, “she’s always there when you need her.”
在这两段中形容她们之间的深厚感情，都用到了一个词， comradeship。
Comradeship：friendship and loyalty among people who work together, fight together, etc. 同志的意思。这是一种关系。不仅仅是朋友关系，这种关系里更有一起奋斗的忠诚。
看完这些就不难理解她们相互依存的关系，也就不难理解梅兰妮为什么要将斯嘉丽看得那么重，为什么在斯嘉丽与自己丈夫传出绯闻的时候， 还要力排众议， 带着斯嘉丽出入老南方贵族家庭， 始终站在斯嘉丽背后支持她。
关系铁是一方面， 另一方面， 其实梅兰妮非常睿智。她知道Scarlett爱的不是Ashley， 只是个梦，这个事实是Melly弥留时， Scarlett才明白的。
她爱的只是个想象， 她“做了个漂亮的外衣，正好Ashley走过来，他那么帅，于是把外衣披他身上，而从来不明白他真实的样子，只是爱那个美丽的外衣，爱的根本就不是他 。” 原文如下：
“He never really existed at all, except in my imagination,” she thought wearily. “I loved something I made up, something that’s just as dead as Melly is. I made a pretty suit of clothes and fell in love with it. And when Ashley came riding along, so handsome, so different, I put that suit on him and made him wear it whether it fitted him or not. And I wouldn’t see what he really was. I kept on loving the pretty clothes—and not him at all.”
她也懂自己的丈夫Ashley的想法，在梅兰妮眼里，他只是个孩子。梅兰妮从来都是默默支持丈夫，从不说丈夫不好， 至死才说了一句， 他不现实。
“Ashley isn’t—practical.” Only death could have forced that disloyalty from Melanie.
“Look after him, Scarlett—but—don’t ever let him know.”
下面是Ashley自己说的：
“If I’ve ever been strong, it was because she was behind me,” he said.
“And—and—all the strength I ever had is going with her.”
Ashley自己也明白，是妻子梅兰妮一直在背后给他力量， 所以他才走到现在。他自己其实是懦弱的。没了梅兰妮， 他所有的力量也不在了。
Ashley自己，他一直在梅兰妮和斯嘉丽之间摇摆。下面是梅兰妮弥留之际斯嘉丽和Ashley之间的对话：
“Why—” she said slowly, “why, Ashley, you love her, don’t you?”
He spoke as with an effort. “She is the only dream I ever had that lived and breathed and did not die in the face of reality.”
“Dreams!” she thought, an old irritation stirring. “Always dreams with him! Never common sense!”
" 全是梦想！" 她心里暗忖着，以前那种容易恼怒的脾气又要发作了。
With a heart that was heavy and a little bitter, she said: “You’ve been such a fool, Ashley. Why couldn’t you see that she was worth a million of me?” （连Scarlett自己后面也承认， 其实不只是Ashley笨，她自己也是a fool，自己没看出， 真爱是Butler，而不是Ashley）
“Scarlett, please! If you only knew what I’ve gone through since the doctor—”
“What you’ve gone through! Don’t you think that I— Oh, Ashley, you should have known, years ago, that you loved her and not me! Why didn’t you! Everything would have been so different, so— Oh, you should have realized and not kept me dangling with all your talk about honor and sacrifice! If you’d told me, years ago, I’d have— It would have killed me but I could have stood it somehow. But you wait till now, till Melly’s dying, to find it out and now it’s too late to do anything. Oh, Ashley, men are supposed to know such things—not women! You should have seen so clearly that you loved her all the time and only wanted me like—like Rhett wants that Watling woman!”
这里也是证据Ashley吊着Scarlett的一个证据， 并非Scarllet一直一厢情愿，纠缠不休，确实Ashley给了Scarllet很多暗示。 梅兰妮知道所有真相，知道他丈夫的摇摆不定， 也知道Scarllet不懂Ashley，他们两个人都是没长大的孩子，所以一直包容。
梅兰妮也懂Captain Butler对Scarlett的爱， 所以在弥留之际还让斯嘉丽对Bultler好。
"Captain Butler----be kind to him. He -- loves you so"
Butler听了梅兰妮的话， 也承认她说得对。
"Well, she was right, as far as she knew, But, Scarlett, did it ever occur to you that even the most deathless love could wear out?"
这也是梅兰妮的魅力所在，对一切都明白， 却默默承受下来。 作为背后的力量， 他支持者丈夫； 也支持者斯嘉丽；在Butler失去爱女，崩溃之际拉了他一把。 下文是Scarlett对Melly的回忆：
And now, as Scarlett looked sadly back, she realized that Melanie had always been there beside her with a sword in her hand, unobtrusive as her own shadow, loving her, fighting for her with blind passionate loyalty, fighting Yankees, fire, hunger, poverty, public opinion and even her beloved blood kin. Scarlett felt her courage and self-confidence ooze from her as she realized that the sword which had flashed between her and the world was sheathed forever.
梅兰妮代表了真善美，是南方文明的精髓所在，Gone With The Wind,我理解的消逝的就是梅兰妮代表的精神。这种精神不只是Ashley的梦，也是Butler船长，这个藐视一切的人，在失去女儿后想找寻的。
以下是Butler决定离开时说的话：
I want the outer semblance of the things I used to know, the utter boredom of respectability—other people’s respectability, my pet, not my own—the calm dignity life can have when it’s lived by gentle folks, the genial grace of days that are gone. When I lived those days I didn’t realize the slow charm of them—”
这时Scarlett想起来Ashley之前在Tara果园的话， 于是接着Butler的话，说: “A glamour to it—a perfection, a symmetry like Grecian art.”
当时Tara果园里， Ashley说的是：
Scarlett, before the war, life was beautiful. There was a glamour to it, a perfection and a completeness and a symmetry to it like Grecian art. Maybe it wasn’t so to everyone. I know that now. But to me, living at Twelve Oaks, there was a real beauty to living. I belonged in that life. I was a part of it. And now it is gone.
梅兰妮是一种完美的圣母形象，《 飘》的杰出就在于， 这么个完美的形象， 却让我们觉得很真实。
恕我愚笨， 我不能深入体会不到南方文明的魅力， 完美， 完整和对称， 像希腊艺术一样的美。我只是想到逝去的我爷爷奶奶的那个时代，我老家的乡村， 那些淳朴人，那些善良的心，缓慢的节奏，奶奶的慈祥，还有爷爷大公无私的精神， 艾希礼和瑞德对南方精神的怀念， 恰如我对逝去的乡村桃源一样往日的怀念。 读一本《飘》， 让我读出了无论中西，作为人类大家都共有的一些东西。
真的是所有的爱， 善良这些美好都随风而逝了吗？我不这么认为。 其实很多东西并非消逝了， 她只是换了个形式， 比如大爱如梅兰妮。 现如今，难道就没有大爱了吗？不是的， 只是它更加深埋心底。 无论乡村还是大都市，很多人都宁愿做好事不留名，人们不是不心怀善良，只是更加愿意默默奉献爱心， 不为名， 不为利，只为自己心里愉快，只为能体会到幸福。 这是更加纯真的美好。 我觉得这是时代的进步，更人性了。
在我看来，要像梅兰妮一样，完全像她难度太大，要牺牲很多， 但是却真的很希望做到她的一部分。 比如她对孩子的和蔼可亲， 她对不管什么阶层的人的一视同仁。她的种种， 都是如此让人敬佩，发自内心的敬仰。
无论什么时代，无论什么阶层，都需要梅兰妮代表的大爱精神， 它撑起我们整个文明。 或许我们都很渺小， 无法做到梅兰妮从内而外散发出来的大爱， 但或许，我们可以在一些关键时刻， 把握住底线，做出向善的选择，给我们自己的心自由，把精神传递给下一代。
点滴小善汇聚在一起，注入到文化底蕴的灵魂， 这是我从飘中看到的， 也是我们普通人可以做到的。
扯远了，扯回来， 我觉得斯嘉丽和梅兰妮都代表一种美好，斯嘉丽是表， 梅兰妮是里，显然梅兰妮代表的美好的精神是更久远的， 更令人向往的。
我其实对斯嘉丽失去Butler也挺惋惜的，Butler深爱Scarlett，Scarlett却错失了真爱。
下文是Butler觉得离开前对Scarlett说的话：
" Did it ever occur to you that I loved you as much as a man can love a woman?
"I knew you didn't love me when I married you. I knew about Ashley, you see. if you like, but I wanted to take care of you, to pet you, to give you everything you wanted. I wanted to marry you and protect you and give you a free rein in anything that would make you happy-- just as I did Bonnie.
You'd had such a struggle, Scarltte. No one knew better than I what you'd gone through and I wanted you to stop fighting and let me fight for you, I wanted you to play, like a child- for you were a child, a brave, frightened, bull-headed child.
I think you are still a child. No one but a child could be so headstrong and so insensitive."
得不到Scarlett爱的回应，转而专注于宠爱女儿Bonnie。
She（Bonnie） was so like you, so willful, so brave and gay and full of high spirits, and I could pet her and spoil her- just as I wanted to pet you.
可是女儿死了，Butler心也死了。等到Scarlett明白，想要重头再来已经太晚了。
"I was never one to patienly pick up broken fragments and glue them together and tell myself that mended whole was as good as new. What is broken is broken- and I'd rather remember it as it was at its best than mend it and see the broken places as long as I lived.
Perhaps, if I were younger.. 此时Butler船长已经45岁了，一个是他不相信破镜还可以重圆，另一个是他已不再年轻，好累了，累得不想假装，累得假装也装不好。
But I'm too old to believe in such sentimentalities as clean slates and starting all over.
I'm too old to shoulder the burden of constant lies that go with that go with living in polite disillusionment.
I couldn't live with you and lie to you and I certainly could't lie to myself.
I can't even lie to you now. I wish I could care what you do or where you go, but I can't.
说到底， 还是斯嘉丽自己不懂感情导致了最后的悲剧吧。 每个人对她的爱，只要被她知晓，就被她当做利剑刺向爱她的人。 她自己的情感从来不去深究，也从来不想长大。 这种小女孩的状态， 最终只能Hold不住Butler深厚的完整的爱，就像小男孩Ashley辜负梅兰妮的爱一样。
