The Death of Bryan Lyndon: An Analogue in "Gone with the Wind"

Abstract

IN VIEW OF the generally recognized resemblances between Vanity Fair and Gone With the Wind, it is interesting to note a similarity in episode between Miss Mitchell's novel and another work by Thackeray, The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. I refer to the deaths of Bryan Lyndon and Bonnie Butler. Readers of Thackeray's novel will recall the account of Bryan's death which is given in chapter xix. Thackeray tells us that Barry Lyndon, a man of many faults, had the one saving grace of being a loving father to his nine-year-old son, Bryan. This boy of amazing high spirit was impatient even of his father's control and often rebelled against it. One day on a trip to Dublin, Barry Lyndon, according to promise, bought a high-spirited little horse which was to be a present for Bryan's approaching tenth birthday.