Books |
Go to the archives |
By
Published: May 20, 2009
Category: Fiction
A man tends to his lawn, showers, gets dressed, tells his wife that he's going for a walk. She knows better --- he's going to see his mistress “and then unbutton that red dress she's always wearing without any brassieres under it.” But it's not the mistress that annoys her most. It's the way, in 1931, he's without work and not exactly looking for any.
So far, so ordinary.
Then the author steps in: “They spoke quickly, as though they were saying things that scalded their mouths, and had to cooled with spit. “
That's James M. Cain, folks, the master of the quick, dark truth.
When Cain wrote “Mildred Pierce,” his fame and fortune were assured. In the 1930s, he had published “The Postman Always Rings Twice” and “Double Indemnity.” These two short, brutal novels had scandalized the bluenoses and become bestsellers. He'd found a formula that, in a repressed culture, never fails --- serving up hot, illicit sex and then punishing the lovers.
In “Mildred Pierce,” he adapted the formula and, in the process, wrote what I believe is his best novel. Here the shapely, sexy woman is a wife and mother who wants to stay married. She throws her husband out as a statement of self-respect. It's a costly gesture. As a friend says, “You've joined the biggest army on earth. You're the great American institution that never gets mentioned on Fourth of July --- a grass widow with two small children to support. The dirty bastards.”
Mildred's assets are few. She can bake. And she's got a bod for sin. “Her brassiere ballooned a little, with an extremely seductive burden.” Although she's got great gams, she feels she's slightly bow-legged, so she takes short steps when she walks. To great effect --- “her bottom twitched in a wholly provocative way.”
It's not long before two realities collide. She has no trouble finding a lover (and discovering that she enjoys sex) --- but it's impossible to get a job. For one thing, she is without qualifications. For another, she fears that her eldest daughter, the beautiful and haughty Veda, will scorn her if she wears a waitress's uniform or becomes a clerk in a store.
But a waitress she becomes. And money flows in. Veda is, as expected, horrified. She says Mildred has “degraded” the family. Mildred's response: She spanks Veda silly. To no point. Veda crawls to a couch, laughs and whispers: “A waitress.”
It is then that Mildred realizes that she fears her daughter's judgment, “her snobbery, her contempt, her unbreakable spirit.” She resolves to open a restaurant, to be a waitress no more. And she thanks her daughter for prodding her to aim higher: “We'll have something. And it'll all be on account of you. Every good thing that happens is on account of you, if Mother only had the good sense to know it.”
On the eve of the opening of Mildred's restaurant, she spends the weekend with a society swell and becomes his lover. Back home, her younger daughter has spiked a fever and is in the hospital. The death scene is terrible. Even worse is Mildred's reaction: Thank God it wasn't Veda.
Death and birth collide: As she buries her child, Mildred opens her restaurant. It's a great success. But we have half a book to go, and this half is a slow-mo train wreck --- the story of Veda's evil ways, her schemes to escape her mother and Mildred's shameless effort to win her love.
You think your kids have foul, disrespectful mouths? Listen to Veda: “With this money I can get away from you. From you and your chickens and your pies and your kitchens and everything that smells of grease. I can get away from this shack with its cheap furniture. And this town and its dollar days, and its women that wear uniforms and its men that wear overalls.”
Through it all, Mildred is Mother Courage. Her will and her work ethic dazzle. But can Veda be redeemed?
In the movie --- directed by Michael (“Casablanca”) Curtiz and starring Joan Crawford, her shoulders so padded she could be a linebacker --- the story is changed for greater dramatic effect. In the book, there's no need; this time, the female is punished and punished and punished, though she's done nothing to deserve it.
“Mildred Pierce” is twice as long as “Postman” and “Double Indemnity” --- and, say I, twice as satisfying. Face it, you're not likely to take a married lover and then kill his/her spouse. But most parents have, at one time or another, a child whose ingratitude is sharper than a serpent's tooth. Well, here's the worst case --- read it and weep for Mildred, then count your blessings.
To buy “Mildred Pierce” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy a collection of Cain's best books --- 'The Postman Always Rings Twice', 'Double Indemnity', 'Mildred Pierce' and Selected Stories --- in one volume from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy the DVD of the movie from Amazon, click here.