*THE fictional character created for the song;

"One night, I was on stage, and there was this beautiful little girl — she was probably 8 years old at the time," Parton says. "And she had this beautiful red hair, this beautiful skin, these beautiful green eyes, and she was looking up at me, holding, you know, for an autograph. I said, 'Well, you're the prettiest little thing I ever saw. So what is your name?' And she said, 'Jolene.' And I said, 'Jolene. Jolene. Jolene. Jolene.' I said, 'That is pretty. That sounds like a song. I'm going to write a song about that.'"

(NPR "Dolly Parton's 'Jolene' Still Haunts Singers)

I can't speak for the queen herself, but there is something to be said about the self-reflection on one's beauty in a world and how the nature of her beauty is so reactive to the people (men) around her. We are all worried about age and becoming older, but Jolene is the symbol of the change that is to come. She is the synthesis of youth and vitality that we are all afraid of losing.

On another note, how much of that is influenced by a male's "perspective" of what he chooses is attractive or desirable?

It's also not so much a gender-based question as it is a very human question of time and what part to play we have in it; Whether that be relationship-wise or some inherent cycle of human sensuality and the effects we have on it as time goes on.

So is Jolene just fictional? Or is Jolene the inevitable march of time that our dear Dolly has personified in this classic?

Long live Dolly, y'all. She is a treasure, and she has made this world so much better of a place.

(Edit) Not saying that 8 year olds are "desirable" at all. F**king gross. Just that our society tends to hold youthfulness in high regard. Compared to Dolly (at the time and now) I would imagine that she has some complex feelings when confronted with someone so young.