Hi everybody, welcome back to Fiddle Dee Dee.
It is Halloween night where I am. I hope you
all have had a very spooky day if you celebrate.
Today we have quite an interesting topic. It
is about Rhett Butler and his early life. So,
out of the four main characters in the story,
I would say we probably know the least about
Rhett. I think an argument could be made for
Ashley. But in terms of Rhett, he's less genuine
than Ashley. He is quite mysterious, at least
to Scarlet. You never quite know what's going
on in his head. And he's always described as
being bland and impervious. completely unable
to be touched in any way so scarlet doesn't really
understand him and because she doesn't understand
him we never get his point of view which is a
really genius writing tactic i think because
the reader sees him through Scarlet's eyes. And
so we have to guess what his motivations are
almost as much as she does. Although some things
are quite obvious to us that are not to her,
such as him being madly in love with her. But
even that is up for debate at some points. So
today we're going to be looking at the text and
talking about his early life. and how that might
have influenced his behavior. I was kind of surprised,
actually, when I went back through the book and
I looked at all of the passages about his early
life because I realized that we actually do know
a lot about it. We don't know a lot of the nitty
-gritty details, and we don't know how he felt
about things, but we do... pretty much know where
he was and what he was doing throughout his youth.
So one of the early chapters in the book is pretty
much all about Rhett. And it's talking about
not only his image in Atlanta and his work as
a blockade runner, but also there are several
long paragraphs about his past. So let's start
there and just talk about what that said. So
here's how it starts. Outside of the Army Heroes,
he was the most talked about man in Atlanta.
Everyone knew in detail how he had been expelled
from West Point for drunkenness and something
about women. So let's stop there. So West Point,
as we know, was this very strict military school,
basically. And there is a really good post about
it on the blog, How We Do Run On, which was one
of my favorite Gone With the Wind blogs back
in the day. And I highly recommend checking out
the post about that because it goes in depth
about his education. But I do kind of wonder
what the drunkenness and something about women
thing really means. Because... This suggests
that Rhett was really into drinking even at a
young age. We know that when he's married to
Scarlett, he gets into the alcohol a little bit
too much. It says his face gets puffy and the
lines on his face are really harsh and his eyes
are bloodshot, have heavy bags under them. So
that suggests that His drinking is a lot worse
than it was before he married Scarlett. But this
whole sentence about West Point suggests that
he may have been drinking way too much even when
he was younger. So that's also interesting to
me because Scarlett describes Rhett as somebody
who at parties is always the one to help other
drunk people. not ever lose control of himself
or really get so drunk that he is unable to function.
So that is really only something she witnesses,
firstly on the night of Ashley's birthday party,
and then again after Bonnie's death. Margaret
Mitchell says during their marriage that he drank
heavily, but he was never actually drunk until
those moments. Maybe this means that at a young
age, he had a lot of experience with partying
and drinking, whatever that looked like back
in the Victorian era. And he kind of learned
from that how to control himself. So he went
through his crazy years. And then as an older
adult, he's no longer the guy to get super drunk
at a party. I don't know. I'm just conjecturing
here. Another thing that is something about women,
I do kind of wonder what that would be that would
cause somebody to get kicked out of school. I
don't know, maybe he got involved with a married
woman or something like involving prostitutes.
But I don't know, what would be grounds to get
kicked out of school? Uh, for something like
that, like would he have been sneaking women
into his room at night? I don't know. Somebody
look into that because that's interesting too.
Um, so then it keeps going. That terrific scandal
concerning the Charleston girl he had compromised
and the brother he had killed was public property.
Okay, let's stop again. So, the scandal with
the Charleston girl was something we learned
about earlier. It's pretty much our first introduction
to Rhett. It says that he went out riding with
her. And that something happened to the carriage,
the wheel broke or something. They had to find
their way home in the dark, in the woods. And
so when they got home, it was considered totally
inappropriate. And Rhett should have married
her to keep up with the standards of the day
or something like that. But Rhett was like, no,
I didn't do anything to her. And I'm not going
to marry her because I think she's a stupid fool.
Then he fights a duel with the brother and he
shoots the brother. Pretty much everybody knows
that, but that is for the benefit of the movie
fans because I don't think that they go into
it in the movie that much. But that's what got
Rhett kicked out of his home, even though his
father never really liked him. And I think it's
interesting here that... They describe his father
as a charming old gentleman because Rhett later
on describes him as being pretty much the opposite,
not even just because they hold different views.
It's evidenced by his father's actions as well.
But we'll get onto that later. All we know at
this point is that Rhett was kicked out of his
home when he was only 20, which is very, very
young to... be totally cast out without your
family if you think about it but that happens
to 20 year olds today still and kids even younger
so let's move on after that he had wandered to
california in the gold rush of 1849 and thence
to south america and cuba and the reports of
his activities in these parts were none too savory
savory sorry scrapes about women, several shootings,
gun running to the revolutionists in Central
America, and, worst of all, professional gambling
were included in his career, as Atlanta heard
it. There was hardly a family in Georgia who
could not own to their sorrow, at least one male
member or relative who gambled, losing money,
houses, land, and slaves. But that was different.
A man could gamble himself to poverty and still
be a gentleman, but a professional gambler could
never be anything but an outcast. Okay, so that
last sentence is really interesting to me because
that's something that Rhett says to Scarlett
later on. Scarlett is asking Rhett, why does
everybody hate me? All I've done is make a little
bit of money. She's talking about running the
sawmills. And he tells her flat out, they hate
you because you're successful. If you were trying
to... run a sawmill and were failing at it, everybody
would just feel bad for you and then they would
still like you because it's pleasant to feel
bad for people. But because she's succeeding,
they hate her. That's his argument anyway. So
Rhett clearly is aware of how everybody feels
about him being a professional gambler. He's
not totally ignorant to this reputation he has
as someone who is hated for being successful.
About the gambling too, I think it's important
to note that the reason Rhett is always able
to have that blank face all the time and to hide
his true feelings from Scarlett is because of
this background as a gambler, as a poker player.
It's very important to have a good poker face
if you're going to be a professional gambler.
So I think that that can explain. Where he got
his skills in hiding his feelings from. So that
is pretty important in the Rhett lore. So that
is really all that it says about him in that
passage. Obviously he has traveled everywhere.
He has seen a lot of different things. California,
South America, Cuba, Central America. That is
really quite impressive for his young age. But
moving on, Rhett loves to talk. So he has a very,
very long paragraph that he says to Scarlet later
when he is talking about the war and how it relates
back to him and his history. I forget what chapter
this was from, but I wrote it all down. So, I
think he's talking to Scarla about her mourning
clothes or something like that, but he says,
No, and yet you are a part of it like I was,
and I'll wager you don't like it any more than
I did. Why am I the black sheep of the Butler
family? For this reason and no other. I didn't
conform to Charleston, and I couldn't. And Charleston
is the South, only intensified. I wonder if you
realize yet what a bore it is. So many things
that one must do because they've always been
done. So many things, quite harmless, that one
must not do for the same reason. So many things
that annoyed me by their senselessness. Not marrying
the young lady of whom you have probably heard
was merely the last straw. Why should I marry
a boring fool simply because an accident prevented
me from getting her home before dark? And why
permit her wild -eyed brother to shoot and kill
me when I could shoot straighter? If I had been
a gentleman, of course, I would have let him
kill me and that would have wiped the blot from
the butler escutcheon. I'm sorry, I don't know
how to say that. But I like to live, and so I've
lived and I've had a good time. Okay, stopping
there. Rhett sounds kind of heartless here. I
mean, I know it was a different time that violence
was seen in a totally different light, but he
killed somebody in a duel, and he feels absolutely
no remorse for that. And as we see later on in
the book, When he lands himself in jail for killing
a black man, he also admits that he killed a
Yankee and let someone else get blamed for it.
Rhett really has no problem killing anybody.
And it's those sort of cold -blooded comments
that make you think, oh, you know, maybe he deserved
to see his daughter break her neck in front of
him if he's going to be that remorseless over...
ending somebody's life I mean I'm sure those
three murders aren't even the only ones he's
done at the end of the book he admits he might
have killed Frank all because he wanted to get
at his wife so one has to wonder where he developed
that you know complete lack of empathy for violence
and for the people he's killed and their families
that is something that is part of his culture
but also might be based on his past so I don't
know if it's possible that maybe his parents
were cold maybe his well we know his father was
pretty cold but something along the way convinced
him you know you have to Do what you can to survive
in the world and taking other people's lives
is part of that. But then if we talk about the
Charleston girl and her brother, he murdered
their brother in the duel before he was ever
disinherited. So that was before he was cast
out without a penny. So, yeah. know, but all
of the men in this book are kind of like that.
A lot of them are murderers, so that's not really
specific to Rhett alone, I guess. You kind of
have to wonder if it is mostly just the culture
he was raised in, but I don't know. Just his
whole attitude toward it is kind of weird to
me. He also talks about Charleston being a bore,
which comes up again. I think he's like Scarlet
in that way. He's very easily bored. So that's
also part of why he wants to break with convention.
And that, I think, is just part of his personality.
He doesn't really like rules and traditions weighing
him down. I think that he's always been that
way, and he's the opposite of his father in that
way. But let's keep going with this long paragraph.
When I think of my brother living among the sacred
cows of Charleston and most reverent toward them,
and remember his stodgy wife and his St. Cecilia
balls and his everlasting rice fields, then I
know the compensation for breaking with the system.
Okay, stopping after that. This is pretty much
the only reference, well, not the only reference,
but one of the only references Rhett ever gives
his brother. And this seems to imply that he
does not care for his brother whatsoever. He
doesn't care for his wife. He doesn't care for
his way of living. And as Rhett will say later
on, Rhett is the older brother. So even after
he was cast out, which was at age 20, he must
have kept up with this brother because his brother...
probably was not married yet at the time that
Rhett moved on I guess he could have been but
he seems like he's kept up with him like he knows
how he's living his life that he's inherited
things and he seems to know his wife relatively
well so I think that's interesting that he's
had correspondence with that side of his family
despite his father casting him out and disowning
him so I wonder if maybe they did still talk
to each other later on in life, even if his brother
didn't really like him and Rhett didn't really
like his brother. I wish that we had his name.
I know in the Scarlet sequel, his name is Ross,
I'm pretty sure, because all the kids have to
have our names or something. Oh, by the way,
I should have said this at the beginning. I know
about Rhett Butler's people. The book by Donald
McCaig. I've read it before. I read it a long
time ago, and I don't remember any of it. I am
going to make an episode later on about that
and Scarlet by Alexandra Ripley, but not right
now. I actually just got Rhett Butler's People
again today in the mail, so I have to go through
that again. I'm not examining anything that happens
in that book for this episode because to me,
it's not canon. It's just like a fan fiction.
It's not by Margaret Mitchell. So a lot of you
might be thinking, oh, they explain all of this
in the Rhett Butler's People book, but we're
just looking at Gone with the Wind. I should
have said that at the beginning, but oh well.
Okay, so enough about his brother. um he keeps
talking scarlet our southern way of living is
as antiquated as the feudal system of the middle
ages the wonder is that it's lasted as long as
it has it had to go and it's going now and yet
you expect me to listen to orators like dr mead
who tell me our cause is just and holy and get
so excited by the roll of drums that i'll grab
a musket and rush off to virginia to shed my
blood for marce robert what kind of a fool do
you think i am kissing the rod that chastised
me is not in my line So that line, ooh, that's
kind of juicy because that implies... Rhett is
kind of bitter. He says the South and I are even
now. The South threw me out to starve. That sounds
like he is very resentful of everything that's
gone on in his past. And I kind of wonder if
at the beginning it was rough for him. If he
really did suffer when he was first thrown out.
If he did starve to an extent. Because we know
that he wasn't received. Since he went to California
first, maybe he found his way there by luck and
was able to do so by gambling. I don't know.
It's interesting to think about if maybe that
experience hardened him. Like I said, he's a
bit cold -blooded about murders. Maybe that's
where he learned his hardness and his roughness
were the way to survive. He's a survivor just
like Scarlett is. And I think that he's probably
seen a lot of harsh things. We know he's seen
a lot of different environments, a lot of different
cultures in his time. He's traveled everywhere
all over Europe. He's been in Central America.
He has been in Asia. So yeah, I think having
all of those different experiences, enabled him
to see the South in a different way to kind of
see how traditions are different everywhere.
That can kind of be noted earlier, too, when
he's talking to Scarlet about how the Hindu women
burn themselves with their husbands when they
die. I forget what that's called. Sute or something
like that. I sound really ignorant right now.
Sorry. Yeah, that was something that was really
controversial at the time, if I recall correctly.
But where was I going with this? Yeah, I think
that Rhett really despises the South. It seems
like from the end of this passage that not only
because it threw him out, but also because he
really resents everything that the South stands
for. And the fact that Their traditions kept
him from doing what he wanted to do and that
it caused his father to disown him because he
didn't approve of him. I would probably be bitter
too if I, you know, I got caught in an accident
with somebody and it was deemed so inappropriate
that I had to marry them or be cast out forever.
I do understand Rhett to that extent. But let's
move on. Um, okay, so the next time the book
really talks about Rhett's early life is when
his father dies, and we learn about it after
the fact, but he's talking to Scarlet on the
porch when she's holding Ella, and he kind of
goes in depth with it. He talks about it for
several long paragraphs, so let's see what he
says. I cannot remember when the old gentleman
did not disapprove of me. I was too much like
his own father, and he disapproved heartily of
his father. And as I grew older, his disapproval
of me became downright dislike, which I admit
I did little to change. So this whole thing about
Rhett being like his father's father, that is
a motif that pops up often in the book. So Rhett
is like his grandfather, who was apparently descended
from pirates or something like that. And Scarlett
is always referring to Rhett as a pirate. Scarlett
is implied to be like her grandmother. Bonnie
is like Gerald. So this whole thing about kids
being like their grandparents is really common
for some reason. I don't know if maybe that was
something Margaret Mitchell experienced. I think
in her letters there was something about her
mother would always compare her to her grandfather
or something like that. So I don't know why it
comes up so often, but I think it's to show that
people often reject their parents' way of lives,
but then... And then their children might resent
them and their peers resent them. But then their
grandchildren think that they were awesome because
times change and traditions change. And kids
are able to look back at their grandparents who
rebelled and are like, oh, they were ahead of
their time or something like that. Or they just
think that they were funny or really adventurous
and they wish that they could be like them. That
is one passage in the book that comes up at one
point. Yeah, maybe it was just to expand on that
to kind of show how people are so often disapproved
of by their parents because they inherited some
recessive gene that made them like their grandparents.
I don't know. That's just worth thinking about.
And then Rhett says he admits he did little to
change his father's opinion of him. So he was
definitely not a people pleaser. Growing up,
he wasn't one of those kind of kids. And it seems
like he may have even gone out of his way to
make his father mad at him when he was younger.
He maybe had that kind of relationship with him.
But... I'm sorry. Let's keep going. All the things
father wanted me to do and be were such boring
things. And finally, he threw me out into the
world without a cent and no training whatsoever
to be anything but a Charleston gentleman, a
good pistol shot, and an excellent poker player.
So this is kind of like Scarlet, how Scarlet
was trained just to be pretty and ornamental.
raised to please men and catch a husband and
maybe one day run a plantation it didn't prepare
her whatsoever for all of the trials and hardships
that she would face after the war whereas Rhett
in his situation he was probably raised to run
a plantation or at least own one and to marry
well and carry on the family's good name and
like Scarlet he was suddenly stricken by poverty
when he was cast off. So his early life, because
this is when he was 20 that he was cast off,
was kind of similar to Scarlett's, I think, because
she was 19 when her mother died and she suddenly
became head of the household and went through
all that stuff. Now, Scarlett was living in a
more difficult time, I suppose, because it was
right after war and everybody around her was
poor and destitute. And there wasn't a lot of
food to be found and they had been robbed and
their houses burned down and stuff like that.
So Rhett was not living in as turbulent of a
time, but I think that he did have some of the
same experiences as her growing up. And probably
for the worse, honestly, because I think it hardened
both of them in the same way. We see how with
Scarlett, Right after the war, she becomes really
cold, or right before the war ended, when they're
first going through all of the poverty and the
starvation. There's a whole chapter about how
she changes and she loses her youthfulness and
her sweetness forever. I think that possibly
something like that happened with Rhett. Maybe
he used to be a lot kinder, a lot more innocent,
even if he was a bit of a rascal. Might have
had more softness in him at one point, and that
was lost forever when he was thrown out, and
he suffered a lot. Just a guess. We don't really
know, again, how much he suffered when he was
first thrown out. But he was kind of like Scarlet,
where all he had were his two hands and what
he had in his head in order to make his way.
And I think that he did that through gambling.
Whereas Scarlet, you know... stole her sister's
husband and bought a sawmill. So yeah, similar
enough, comparable enough. Let's keep going.
And he seemed to take it as a personal affront
that I did not starve, but put my poker playing
to excellent advantage and supported myself royally
by gambling. He was so affronted at a butler
becoming a gambler that when I came home for
the first time, he forbade my mother to see me.
And all during the war when I was blockading
out of Charleston, mother had to lie and slip
off to see me. Naturally, that didn't increase
my love for him. Okay, so how interesting is
that? So Rhett reiterates again, he did not starve.
So if he did suffer, it was not for long. But
we can kind of tell from earlier passages that
he was bitter and that it wasn't easy for him
to make his own way. But yeah, that... That pretty
much sums up his relationship with his father
right there. But we know that he did go back
and see his father for the first time. And you
do wonder why he came back home. If there was
never any love lost between him and his father.
Maybe he wanted to show him, hey, I'm successful
now. Maybe deep down he did want to be accepted
by him again. And with his mother, maybe he...
Always had this good relationship with her, at
least. And he wanted to go back and see her,
if not his father. I feel like that's the more
likely option. I don't think he really cared
about seeing his father again. I feel like he
just wanted to go see his mother and maybe his
sister. But his father forbade him, I guess.
There's one part earlier in the book where Ellen
writes to Scarlet and says, Rhett is not received
anywhere and only his mother receives him. That
implies that she does see him every now and then.
Yeah, and it said she had to lie and slip off
to see me. So he does have this continuing relationship
with his mother at the very least. But he is
very much rejected by his father, even if he
does have a little bit of contact with him. Okay,
so then he's describing his father. He says,
So... So... That is so cold that everyone was
like, oh yeah, he did the right thing cutting
off his son. No one appears to have any sympathy
for Rhett, where he came from. So that's another
way he might have been like Scarlet, because
early in the book, Scarlet is mentioned to be
rather disliked by her peers. It says that...
Nobody except maybe Kathleen Calvert really liked
her. Among the girls, anyway. Obviously, the
boys all liked her. But as popular as she was
with the boys, she never really had any close
girlfriends growing up. So I kind of wonder if
with Rhett, he also was disapproved of. Probably
he was not stealing all of his friends. girlfriends
or something like that but he probably had some
radical ideas that were maybe not accepted i
don't know if he would have had trouble making
friends as a guide though um as long as he was
able to just get along with everybody but we
know rat he likes to stir the pot and make everybody
mad for no reason all the time so who knows um
just another thought uh so then he goes on Well,
I could forgive all that, but I can't forgive
what he's done to Mother and my sister since
the war ended. They've been practically destitute.
The plantation house was burned and the rice
fields have gone back to marshlands. And the
townhouse went for taxes and they've been living
in two rooms. I've sent money to Mother, but
Father has sent it back. Several times I've gone
to Charleston and given money on the sly to my
sister. But Father always found out and raised
Mary Hell with her until her life wasn't worth
living, poor girl. Oh, so this is just a terrible
line right here. We have to wonder what the father
really did to his sister that made it that her
life wasn't worth living. Did it go beyond just
words at any point? Did he abuse her? I don't
know. It sounds pretty awful the way Rhett describes
it. Her life wasn't worth living. And just for
taking money from Rhett, seems to imply that
his father really hated Rhett. It wasn't just
like, oh, he made me angry. I no longer approve
of him. I'm going to disown him. It makes it
seem like I am so resentful of him that I am
never going to let anybody see him. I don't know
if anybody has somebody like that in their family
where, like, say your sibling has cut ties with
their parent but that doesn't mean they expect
their siblings to do the same thing to also cut
ties with their parent you know what I mean like
but Rhett's father is like I stopped associating
with Rhett so you have to as well that shows
a lot of hatred that has built up over the years.
And it's kind of sad that a father could have
that for his son. And I don't think Rhett's totally
immune to that. I think that that probably affects
him. So, and back the money came to me. I don't
know how they've lived. My brother's given what
he could, though he hasn't much to give and he
won't take anything from me either. Speculator's
money is unlucky money, you see. Again, this
is the only other mention we have of the brother.
And the brother also won't take his money. Who
knows if he's just emulating the father. But
this also shows once more that Rhett and his
brother do not really get along. But he seems
to have a fondness for his sister and for his
mother. So for whatever reason, he gets along
better with Rhett. the female members of his
family. And maybe this is a little bit of a hint
as to why he loved that Bonnie was a daughter
instead of a son. I don't know, just a little
idea because, like, who knows? Maybe it was because
of the whole thing with Belle Watling. And her
son, who is his legal ward, most likely. It might
even be Rhett's son. And that kid he doesn't
really like. But we'll get to that in a minute.
So, okay, and then it ends. And the charity of
their friends. Your aunt, you lolly, she's been
very kind. Or is it you, Laylee? I don't know,
sorry. She's one of mother's best friends, you
know. She's given them clothes. And good God,
my mother on charity. So Rhett loves his mother.
Probably loves his sister. Hates his father,
doesn't get along with his brother. Okay, so
lots to unpack there. Rhett, as we know from
the book and from the movie, is somebody who
really cannot show any sort of emotional vulnerability.
Vulnerability is just his biggest fear. He cannot
even... entertain the idea of scarlet laughing
at him if he tells her he loves her so in the
book at least he will never ever tell scarlet
that he loves her unless he thinks he's going
off to war and will probably die anyway um that's
just something that he doesn't ever want to face
head on and one working theory i've seen for
this that relates back to his early life is that
The pain of rejection from his father hurt him
so badly that he is no longer able to let his
guard down with anybody else because he doesn't
want to be rejected again. And I think I can
kind of get on board with this. I think that...
the way that he talks in the book, it makes it
sound like he does not really care what his father
says. And that might be the case. But I also
don't think he's totally immune to everything
that happens because he says the South and I
are even now. The South threw me out to starve.
That was caused by his father. Now, it's implied
everybody else followed suit, that everyone else
applauded his father for basically cutting off
his son and counting him as dead. So maybe that
just extends to everybody he knows, that sort
of resentment. But it all goes back to his father
in the end. He has a lot of daddy issues. And
that... may be the reason why he's not able to
have this intimate relationship with Scarlett
in the way he wants to because he doesn't know
how to communicate his emotions. Maybe he never
really learned how to do that or to do so in
a healthy way. That is definitely something to
think about. And then the last thing I want to
touch on is his ward. So it's indisputable that
Rhett has a ward, a little boy. And we also know
that Belle Watling has a son who's off at school,
who lives far away, and that these two characters
are probably one in the same. It might also be
Rhett's son, possibly. We don't really know the
answer to that. I think signs point to yes, but
I talked about that in a different episode. It
doesn't really matter, though. What we do know
is that along the way during his youth, before
Atlanta, Rhett met Belle Watling. Well, I think
he met her before Atlanta. I guess we don't really
know that for sure either. But... Yeah, Belle
Watling is another mysterious character. We don't
really know how they met, when they met, if they
have a kid together, or what would have made
Rhett take on her son as his own, if it's not
his son. That might be a good episode one day,
one on Belle Watling. She is definitely an interesting
lady. Imagine that. Let's say it's not that long
after. When he becomes this kid's legal ward,
he says he's a little boy. And Rhett is in his
mid -30s. I think that he's 33 at the beginning
of the book. So he must have been born when Rhett
was a little younger than that. I wish we knew
the kid's age. exactly, but we don't. We just
know Rhett describes him as a little boy. So
he really probably existed from the beginning
of the book, but not that much before. And that
means that Rhett has been a father or at least
a guardian for quite a while um but also when
he was younger when he was doing all of this
crazy stuff in far off countries and maybe it
was when he first came back to see his family
for the first time that he got involved with
bell something i also wonder is maybe bell was
the reason he got kicked out of west point it
said it was something involving women um So maybe
that was where they met when he was at West Point.
I don't know. But all of this is to say that
that was an added burden that Rhett has. He says
he wishes the child had never been born. And
he seems to not really like that duty and those
strings holding him down, even though he likes
children and he likes Wade Hampton. He likes
Ella and Bonnie. Well, he loves Bonnie. It's
his daughter. Yeah, so I think that maybe that
was another reason he viewed settling down as
a burden. And then with Scarlett, I think that
Rhett sees... A lot of the same qualities that
he had. Someone who is easily bored. Somebody
who doesn't really like convention but follows
it anyway. But I think that he is a little mistaken
about Scarlett. I don't think that she is quite
as chaotic as he is. Naturally. I think that
she's more neutral. She doesn't really care about
breaking convention. She just is practical. wants
to do what she feels like, but she also cares
more about public opinion than Rhett ever did.
Rhett purposely likes to go against the grain
and to do things differently than everyone else,
just for the heck of it, even if he didn't have
to. And I think that this is a good point I saw
somebody else bring up before. Rhett kind of
wants Scarlett to take the same path he did and
to break with society because That makes him
feel better about who he is, about how he was
cast off. And he wants validation. He wants proof
that it's okay to be that way and that the South
really is messed up, that the South was wrong
for rejecting him and cutting him off. But I
think that he assumes with Scarlett that they
are so alike that she couldn't ever dream of
Being happy. Well not that she couldn't have
dreamed of being happy. But that she wouldn't
be happy. Just going with the flow like everybody
else. Because I think that Scarlett. Is somebody
who can go either way. She. All she really wants
is money. Enough money to be able to do what
she wants. But then at the end of the day. When
she breaks with society. Later on in the book.
She's not really happy either. Because she loses
everyone. who she was close to. And I think that
she resents that too, and she pays the price
for it when Bonnie dies. I mean, that's a whole
other theme of the book is reputation and how
losing it can be freeing. But towards the end,
when you come to a tragedy in your life, it's
also nice to have a community. So it's a two
-edged sword. It's really hard to choose between
the two sometimes. So I'll just leave it there.
I think that we've talked a lot about Rhett and
his early life. Oh my goodness, this has gone
on longer than the other episodes. Yeah, a lot
to talk about with Rhett. A lot that we don't
know. But that is pretty much a summary of everything
we do know. I would love to know if anybody else
has some theories for how he spent his early
life. And what do you think about how this affected
Rhett and his upbringing and his psychology?
So thank you for listening. And it is still Halloween.
So happy Halloween, if it is Halloween and you
celebrate. And I'll see you next time. Bye.