Railton, Ben. “What Else Could a Southern Gentleman Do?: Quentin Compson, Rhett Butler, Miscegenation.” The Southern Literary Journal, 35.2 (2003). .

Ben Railton draws both comparisons and stark contrasts between two eminent novels that emerged in 1936, Gone with the Wind and Absalom, Absalom! Both novels serve as introspections into the history of the southern states, racial tensions, and the sentiments and characteristics of individuals who have had experience with the “Old South” lifestyle at some point in time. Both novels have been reprimanded for the lack of a more thorough inclusion of race and other pertinent issues aside from love and daily life. However, there is more criticism regarding racial factors in Absalom, Absalom than in Gone with the Wind. The emergence of both novels around the same time helped in reinforcing similar concepts and ideas, while also introducing diverse viewpoints from two completely different authors. I found that one of the most interesting aspects of the article was the similarity drawn between both protagonists in the novels, Scarlett O’Hara and Thomas Sutpen.

This article provided information regarding a new novel that was complementary to the story of Gone with the Wind, providing a new perspective on another author’s thoughts and experiences regarding the American South during the Civil War Period. It was interesting to find that the use of African American characters to coincide with white protagonists, for example the interaction between Mammy and Scarlett in Gone with the Wind, was actually not unique to that story but had been a key factor in American novel and film production for many years. The innocence and naiveté that Margaret Mitchell has been criticized to demonstrate in Gone with the Wind in regard to racial tensions and discrimination is found mainly in the second half of the story, during the Reconstruction period; these sentiments are made even more apparent when contrasted with other novels of the era in which authors confront such questions boldly and without much hesitation.

This article, by Ben Railton, compares and contrasts two immensely successful novels, Gone with the Wind and Absalom, Absalom!. 1936 was an incredible time for both the historical and Southern novel. The two novels studied are perfect paradigms of this fact. Gone with the Wind and Absalom, Absalom! present many similarities and differences between their key characters and settings. These are "two interpretations of history which were coming into conflict at precisely the moment of this coincidental joint publication."

This article provides a unique view of Gone with the Wind. By comparing the novel to another important work of the time, a very different perspective is presented in light of the historical issues of Absalom, Absalom!. This comparison of the two important novels is a means of understanding the framework of Gone with the Wind from a completely different perspective.