The Relationship Between Mother and Daughter in James Cain’s Mildred Pierce

The women also found that the new control they had in their lives led to a significant increase in their independence. With leaving their home, parents found that they had less command over their daughters’ lives. This situation is seen in a concerned letter from a stepmother to her stepdaughter who was working in a mill in New Hampshire: “your reputation your happiness all you hold dear are I fear at stake” (21). This letter was written by a stepmother who feared that the boy the girl fell in love would not bring her full happiness. Unlike previous times, the mother was no longer able to be beside the young woman to give direct council and have more say in who her daughter can or cannot see, allowing more independence in the daughter’s life.

In many families, the relationship between a mother and her daughter is the closest relationship in the family. The bond a mother and daughter have can be similar to bonds between anyone else in the family, a mother’s and daughter’s relationship is different than anyone else’s in many ways.

She constantly worries that Veda will disapprove of something she does, and continually takes Veda's cruel and wicked abuse. Mildred's maternal love for Veda is an obsession, and she will do anything to make sure her daughter is happy. She is very protective of her daughter, warding off anyone and anything that poses a threat to Veda's happiness. She even goes so far as to live her romantic life around her daughter, thinking not of her own happiness, but of Veda's. She lives from one painful relationship to another, doing whatever she can to make sure Veda is living the life she wants to live. She goes above and beyond what a normal mother would do for a kind, respecting daughter, and the fact that Veda is so much the opposite of a model child makes it all the more shocking that her mother is so devoted to her. She even goes so far as to protect Veda and cater to her every whim, even when she has the affair with Monty! Mildred's constant sins, sacrifice, slaving away, and deep sorrow are all the tragic results of efforts to slake Veda's constant demanding. At times her devotion even renders Mildred emotionless and completely drained of all energy and will to live, and yet still she keeps trying to cling on to this relationship that has become almost masochistic for her to attempt to continue and maintain. Her life is Veda, and she will stop at nothing to make her happy.

Losing a parent is presumably an unthinkable concept for those lucky to have them alive, but sometimes the title of “parent” dies long before a body is placed in the ground. Toi Derricotte author of “Beginning Dialogues” unfortunately had to experience both the death of her mother’s title of “parent”, as well as her literal death. Derricotte’s parents had divorced when she was eighteen, and her father did not seem to play much of a role in her life; she was left to be raised by her mentally abusive mother. Her mother also had a tough road to walk growing up, having to face and deal with brutal issues like racism and bulling. Persevering through those tough times may be the underlining reason behind Derricotte’s mother’s negativity and abuse towards her daughter. Perhaps she just grew a thick skin at a very young age and had never learned how to feel, accept, or administer love. Derricotte’s had said: “She told me all my life she loved me, as if she completely forgot the hundred slights, humiliations, threats, and insinuations. Of course she loved me;

According to the novel, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Rollo May’s quote “The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it’s conformity” is inaccurate because for what these people in the society conformed to, is a coward act on it’s own. To go ahead and follow something you don’t have knowledge on with the stakes so high and then not give others a voice when they bring viewpoints that differ to what you originally conformed to, is known as a cowardly act. Conforming is just a cover up stuck in ignorance and stubbornness, an excuse for cowardice.

The word ‘family’ reveals how Mildred relies on technology like a real family instead of caring and being warm-hearted towards her husband, who is her actual family. In addition, it represents Mildred’s obsession towards the parlor. The word ‘sick’ shows that Montag needs care from someone and Mildred is not helping him, by not even decreasing the volume for a sick husband who is continually asking her to turn it off, indicates that Mildred has no care for her husband. Mildred’s subsequent reliance on technology makes her inseparable from it, trying to stay with technology all the time and not caring what happens to others hence making her selfish. Mildred’s egocentric behaviour is also illustrated when she puts the alarm when Montag brings the books to home and reads them in a society where they do not allow books. “She ran past with her body stiff, her face floured with powder, her mouth gone, without lipstick. ‘Mildred you didn’t put in the alarm!’ She shoved in the valise in the waiting beetle, climbed in and sat mumbling, ‘Poor family, poor family, oh everything gone, everything gone, everything gone now…’”(114). Mildred turned in Montag to the firehouse for having books. Mildred knew the consequences of what will happen when she puts in the alarm. Everything in the house will be destroyed along with the parlors that she loves. Also, Montag is going to be arrested for possessing books but Mildred still decides to report Montag because she wants her

Mildred, even though was someone that lacked excitement and interesting things, still was one of the biggest and most influential characters in the entire novel. Her purpose was not to only show the reader how a normal citizen would act and think, but to make them understand how someone could do such tremendous things after being brainwashed and believed to be someone that had no potential or reason in life.

Not only that but her questioning of gender role was a concern for her. After her parents were separated, her father’s expectations of her were no longer there and did not speak to one another. After a while, blaming one-self after a separation of the parents is always expected from young children and so Roberta’s feeling that the separation of her mother and father was due to her misbehavior at home allowed her to be not happy. The separation of her parents did not only cause Roberta to feel not happy but also her thinking was shaped in ways that blamed all men to be the exact same way and that on one could be the same. This can be related to what each child feels and thinks if that were to happen to their own family, and unfortunately in our current society there are people that still the same way as Roberta’s father and

The daughter knows very well that she will never be like the perfect children broadcasted on television or even the verizon of a daughter that her mother wants which causes the destructive relationship between them. The daughter eventually disregards what the mother wants and will only follow her own mind. The assertive parenting led to her daughter not wanting to put in any effort and distance between the two instead of helping her find her

“i am a linguist” says Tannen and briefly explains what that means and how it better helps her explore the topic. She lets it be known that in fact she is someone's daughter but does not have one of her own. But because she is well past her adolescent years makes her just as credible if she were to have one. At first it may appear that this piece was written for women and girls who presumably have wondered why their relationship with their mothers or daughters were so complex. On the contrary it grabs the attention of both genders. All though not directly targeted to men and boys it could give them a better insight to the women relationship in their lives. Tannen says “... there is a special intensity to the mother-daughter relationship because talk,particularly talk about personal topics -- plays a larger more complex role in girls’ and women's social lives than in boys and men.” this does not dismiss the male , and Tannen does an acceptable job at engaging both

A particularly strong theme that runs through the entire novel is the unusual power that women play over the men in their lives. Rather than simply being passive to the impulses of men, Mildred takes charge of her life and decides which men she will be with and leaves those that she no longer has an affection for. Cain dives into more controversial territory by having Mildred use men for her own sexual satisfaction. Cain also moves women into the role of successful ‘breadwinners’ during a time where men generally held financial power further blurring traditional roles of gender.

The author Linda Pastan, imagines a parent running breathlessly to regain her strength from the ending connection she once shared with her daughter in her poem, “To a Daughter Leaving Home.” It’s a mother’s biggest fear when it comes to their child or children leaving home while going their own ways when the time is right. This poem is based on childhood, fatherhood, and even motherhood.

     Mama’s relationship with Beneatha expresses a sense of nurturing shown in life lessons. A very subtle display of gentleness towards her daughter is in reference to relationships. When Mama inquires about a young African American man her daughter has an interest in, Beneatha tells her mother that he is a fool. Mama’s response is merely “Well – I guess you better not waste your time with no fools” (1420). Mama’s lack of questioning or second guessing her daughter and her understanding and respecting her view are well received by Beneatha. This sense of nurturing brings them closer together and leaves both mother and daughter happy.

In this writer?s opinion, popular attitudes on the nature of the love-hate contradiction in the Prioress?s tale are wrong; Edwards and Stevens help prove this. Rather than considering the most obvious stand-alone factors of love and hate in the story, specifically the description of the Prioress and her affinity for Christianity vs. the evil

In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Jane is an orphan who is often mistreated by the family and other people who surround her. Faced with constant abuse from her aunt and her cousins, Jane at a young age questions the treatment she receives: "All John Reed’s violent tyrannies, all his sister’s proud indifference, all his mother’s aversion, all the servants’ partiality, turned up in my disturbed mind like a dark deposit in a turbid well. Why was I always suffering, always brow-beaten, always accused, forever condemned?" (27; ch. 2). Despite her early suffering, as the novel progresses Jane is cared for and surrounded by various women who act as a sort of "substitute mother" in the way they guide,