If you know me very well at all you will know that I am a least a little bit obsessed with Gone with the Wind. I have been since, oh about 7th grade when I first saw the movie in its entirety. Then I read the book! WOW! I was completely swept up in the antebellum era, the romanticized version of the Civil War and the book's protagonist, Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler.
Many of my friends have probably heard me mutter, "Fiddle Dee Dee", and I picked that up from Scarlett. I have so many favorite characters from GWTW - especially Mammy, Melanie Hamilton Wilkes, and of course, the infamous Rhett Butler. I appreciate the pictures Margaret Mitchell was able to paint in my mind of Tara, Atlanta, Peachtree Street, New Orleans and the battles of the Civil War.
As a high school student I eagerly anticipated the release of the book Scarlett, a sequel commissioned by the Margaret Mitchell Trust. I read it cover to cover as soon as my grandmother gave it to me. There were things I really liked about the book. I must say that even as a teenager, the whole storyline about Ireland and the O'Hara family seemed a bit of a stretch to me. I never thought Scarlett would just run away and I definitely thought it seemed out of character for her to sell/give Tara away to her brother-in-law, Will Benteen. I then watched the mini-series version of the book. Once again, the characters were alive on the screen. Sadly the Scarlett was NOT Vivien Leigh and the Rhett was definitely not Clark Gable! But it was decent and entertaining.
When I was walking through Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago, I was drawn to the sales table. There was a book on top called Rhett Butler's People. I picked up and read eagerly the synopsis of the book. It too had been commissioned by the Margaret Mitchell trust. It said it was the story from Rhett's perspective. I was instantly ready to read it. Instead of purchasing it that night, I made a note to check it out at the library the next time I was there.
So, I just finished reading Rhett Butler's People about two weeks ago. It was a quick read. I found myself questioning a few story lines. I was fascinated by the back story on Rhett and his family life growing up in Charleston. I love to read books about that area of the South. I wondered why both of these books were commissioned to be written by the same group of people and yet their stories did not match up at all. It has been several years since I read Scarlett, but I recall Scarlett going to Charleston after Rhett when he left at the end of GWTW. She settles herself in and tries to win him back - a believable plot. They have a love scene in the midst of a hurricane-like storm. He rejects Scarlett again and she leaves for Savannah to visit her mother and father's families. We find her setting off for Ireland and finding out she is pregnant with Rhett's child. On and on the story goes until at last, Rhett and Scarlett end up together.
In Rhett Butler's People, we find Rhett indeed leaving after Bonnie and Miss Melanie die. But instead of pursuing him, Scarlett returns to Tara. She works the fields again and fights off one of Rhett's enemies from Charleston. Rhett comes back at the end to help save the day and Tara is burned. WOW! What a twist and seemingly not real to me.
If somehow the two authors could have conspired and written interwoven tales, I think I would have been more satisfied. Don't misunderstand me, I still enjoyed being swept back up by Scarlett and Rhett. But I think throughout the book I was disenchanted and distracted by the discrepancies.
Overall, I would say that it has to be a difficult task to take characters that originated from one author and try to take them on as your own. Obviously Mrs. Mitchell imagined them and knew them best. Perhaps the Margaret Mitchell trust should not commission any more sequels and let her character be.
Quince: Affordable Luxury for Everyday Style
10 hours ago
Posts
