The Love Story in James Cains Mildred Pierce :: Mildred Pierce Essays

The Love Story in James Cains Mildred PierceIn Mildred Pierce, by James Cain, the falsehood revolves around most very interesting and universal concepts that seem to be themes in many of his novels. As in his previous work, the novel revolves around jazz, money, and sex, tho though success is perverse and wish fulfillment destructive, there is no murder (Gale Group Biography) One most interesting theme is the theme of love and lust, and what drove the characters to their actions, and what motivated them. For some it was love, for some it was lust. So is Mildred Pierce a love story? Or is it just a tale of sex and scandals? In Cains works, love appears in almost a interdict appearance, though it is obviously an important aspect. Cain said he had only one story to tell apart a love story. I write of the wish that comes true for some reason a terrifying concept ... I think my stories have some quality of the opening of a forbidden disaster. The act of forcing the wish to come true isolates Cains obsesses lovers from baseball club and places them on what he calls a love-rack (Madden, journal) This forbidden box is very apparent in Mildred Pierce, as seen through the eyes of Mildred. Mildred appears to be a normal working mother, loving her children, and providing everything for them that she can, meanwhile struggling with her finances and problems with societys expectations, and even her miss, Vedas expectations, which are quite a few. But underneath, theres this very forbidden concept. Mildred loves her daughter, Veda, almost too much. James T. Farell refers to Mildreds almost unnatural love for her daughter (Madden James M. Cain, 79) It is never exactly said in so many words, but the idea of Mildred loving her daughter more than what is natural is there, lurking underneath, like a forbidden box, on the verge of opening. Yet, even though we see signs of it, we dont seem to lose watch over for Mildred, because of her character, and the way it is drawn out, because Mildred herself never even realizes it. This is something that would seem to be very hard to accomplish as a writer, and Cain does a fantastic job of it, illustrating the forbidden and the not forbidden love Mildred feels for Veda.