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by Donald McCaig Rhett Butler is the disowned son of a cruel South Carolina rice planter, Langston Butler. Rhett rejects the life of a rice plantation owner and takes to the sea and the gold mines of California and various other fields of endeavor. During the Civil War he became a blockade runner. His best friend is a former slave, now a freeman, Tunis. He has a brother, Julian, and a sister, Rosemary, whom he loves dearly. He has a duel with Shad Watling, Belle’s brother, to defend his honor. Later he rescues Belle from a wretched life in New Orleans and becomes a mentor to her son, Tazewell. These are all characters in Rhett's background, who pave the way for Gone With the Wind and Scarlett. McCaig has a sure feel for Mitchell's Rhett, whom he paints as a worldwise charmer. He portrays the upper class society of the pre-Civil War South. But he also paints a picture of a Civil War South where poor whites seethe with resentment, with slavery and racism as brutal facts of life. The scenes of the battlefronts are graphic and powerful. This is a required read for any fan of Gone With the Wind as it completes many of the voids in the character's personalities. |
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Rhett Butler's People