Mildred Pierce

This section of the book details many transitions: Mildred loses a child, gains a business, gains a lover, and becomes the driving force in all her relationships. Monty transitions from a wealthy playboy to an impoverished hanger-on. Veda grows from a girl to an adolescent, and from being a middle-class snob to circulating in the upper crust of Los Angeles society.

The sudden illness and death of Ray, and particularly her funeral, allows Cain to dive into character psychology. Veda’s reading at the service is a performance— “a bit too loud, a shade too clear, as though intended for the company in the living room, rather than God” (132). Veda is, as typical, tries to make herself the center of attention, clearly not in touch with the gravity of the fact that her sister is dead. However, we also see that at least some of Vera’s coldness comes from her mother, as Mildred acknowledges how happy she is that Ray and not Veda died.

Meanwhile, almost everyone else uses the funeral to determine the social pecking order rather than to grieve Ray. Mildred’s sister Blanche grows upset that her family, the Engels, have treated Letty with more deference than a servant deserves because they didn’t realize her relationship to Mildred’s family. Blanche worries that Mildred’s in-laws, the Pierces, will look down on the Engels because of this error. Veda, who is extreme in her disdain for the lowly Engels, mocks them: “Well, personally, I don’t see why you should object to shaking hands with Letty. She’s really a very nice girl” (131). Veda insinuates that by worrying about their position relative to Letty, the Engels have revealed themselves to be social bottom dwellers—members of higher classes would not worry about being mistaken for being lower status just for being polite to the help. The only people who seem to understand that a child has died are Mildred’s former coworkers, who send over a beautiful gardenia arrangement.

Mildred’s surprising business acumen is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, her restaurant’s immediate success is gratifying after her employment struggles. We get the movie-ready scenes of Ida, Mildred’s old boss, reorganizing Mildred’s workers to meet demand, and of all of the principal characters toasting Mildred for being, as Bert puts it, “the best little woman that any guy was crazy enough to let get away from him” (148). At the same time, her newfound financial stability makes Mildred an outlier in the gender expectations of her day—rather than being dependent on a husband’s income, or at most inheriting property from her father, Mildred has become the family’s breadwinner, which complicates her already challenging relationship with Monty. Originally, the uneven power dynamic fell in Monty’s favor, as Mildred had a growing suspicion that to him she was a servant girl, an amusing servant girl, one with pretty legs and a flattering response in bed, but a servant girl just the same” (152). Now, however, being forced to rely on Mildred’s money makes Monty resentful and vicious; he accuses Mildred of paying him for sex.

Feeling emasculated, the selfish Monty starts looking for a less powerful target—the sexually precocious Veda, whom he can dominate because of his age and of his lingering elevated social status. Monty indicates his predatory sexual interest by pointing out to Mildred that Veda needs to start wearing a brassiere and by cultivating an elitist bond with the attractive, haughty, and socially attuned 13-year-old. Mildred realizes that Monty likes Veda because they are so similar: “[S]he was precisely the kind of snob that he was himself […] by doing so much for the child, he could neatly sidestep the necessity of doing anything for the mother” (170-71).

A common trope in 20th-century fiction is mothers blaming attractive daughters for luring away their lovers. Interestingly, Cain does not fall into this misogynist trap—no matter how angrily Mildred confronts Monty, she never criticizes Veda. Instead, Mildred is deeply supportive of Veda’s musical potential and the possible pathway to elite social circles that Monty offers. For example, though Mildred snaps “When did you learn so much about music” (154) when Monty proposes sending Veda to a highly regarded music teacher, Mildred takes Veda to try out with the demanding pianist Charlie Hannen. Tellingly, although Bert reacts to Charlie’s acceptance of Veda as a student with dreams of how Veda can parlay her musical gifts into a highly paid career, Mildred just thinks of how potentially rewarding and enriching grand musical achievements will be for her daughter.