Will Benteen | |
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Appears in | Gone With the Wind (book) |
Gender | Male |
Homeland | Southern Georgia |
Family | Unnamed Sister Suellen O'Hara (wife, book only] |
Affiliations | Cracker (Poor White) |
Will Benteen is a character appearing in Margaret Mitchell's novel, but notably absent from the 1939 motion picture. He represents the changing circumstance of the time in that he is a 'Cracker' and therefore not of the same social class as the O'Hara's, the family he eventually marries into.
Overview[]
Will Benteen doesn't make an appearance until half-way through the novel, after the battle of Gettysburg and after Scarlett has returned to Tara with Wade, Melanie, Prissy and Melanie's baby. He is a representative of those men who had gone to war and on return found there was nothing of their former life to go back to. Prior to the war, he had "owned a small farm in south Georgia and two negros."
Will initially comes to Tara after the war is finished, "acutely ill with pneumonia" and in need of aid. Scarlett begrudgingly gives what little she has but in return comes to rely on Will for his silent acquiescence and aptitude for hard work. Will admires Scarlett's strength of character and although may question her moral motives, he understands that she does what she feels she has to do.
Eventually, although in love with Careen, he marries Suellen in order to stop her from becoming an outcast after the manipulation of Gerald O'Hara before his death. Will Benteen in the end runs Tara for Scarlett, making it his home. He achieves the respect of those who were before of a far higher social class than he.
Family[]
His only family was his unnamed sister who "moved to Texas with her husband years ago and he was alone in the world." Later, he becomes officially part of the O'Hara family by marrying Scarlett's sister Suellen. They have three children together, two daughters and a son. The eldest daughter is named Susan "Susy" Benteen.
Physical Description[]
During his time in the war, he lost his leg while fighting in Virginia. He arrives at Tara with a roughly whittled wooden peg for his leg. He is described as having "the sallow malarial face of the south Georgia Cracker, pale pinkish hair and washed-out blue eyes which even in delirium were patient and mild. One of his legs was gone at the knee and to the stump was fitted a roughly whittled wooden peg." It is claimed that, even though he is no worse off in appearance and language than any other soldier they've seen, the O'Hara girls can instinctively tell that "as they knew thoroughbred horsed from scrubs, that he was not of their class."
Character Importance[]
Will's story is important as a literary device because it shows the drastic changes that occurred with southern social order and class after the war. Prior to the war, Scarlett and her family would have never associated with a person like Will simply based on his social status. However, after the war, Will has the opportunity to prove himself as a trustworthy person to the O'Hara family, and eventually marries into it, which is something that he never could have done before the war. As a literary device, Will's ascension and acceptance into the former upper class is used to show how much of an effect the war has had on the south's way of living. The entire social structure that existed prior to the war is completely gone with the wind.
v - e - d | ||||||||
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Characters |
Scarlett O'Hara · Melanie Hamilton · Rhett Butler · Ashley Wilkes · Aunt Pittypat · Gerald O'Hara · Will Benteen |
Locations |
Georgia · Tara · Twelve Oaks · Atlanta · Five Points · Rough and Ready · Macon |
Events |
Introduction · Picnic of Twelve Oaks · Off to War · Move to Atlanta · The Confederate Ball · Messages of Death · Home on Furlough · Siege of Atlanta · Journey Back to Tara · The Neighborhood in Ruins · Death of a Yankee · A Fresh Start · Home from the War · The Return of Jonas · Rhett's Imprisonment · Fanny Elsing's Wedding |