Los Angeles (compare and contrast two books/Articles)
Aesthetic Judgment: "Mildred Pierce" compared to "What Makes Sammy Run"
What Makes Sammy Run
The tale of Sammy Glick has been told by Al Manheim in the first person narrative. Al Manheim is the drama critic working for the esteemed New York Record. The tale of Sammy Glick is about an uneducated boy who becomes a screenwriter from a copy buy in Hollywood back in the 1930s. Glick achieves this success by backstabbing many people (Schulberg, 2011).
Manheim starts his narrative by recalling the first time that he met Sammy Glick when he was a 16 years old boy and was working at Manheim's newspaper as a copy boy. Manheim starts to observe Sammy very keenly as, Sammy's aggressive personality disturbs Manheim a lot. Therefore, in this way not only does Manheim become a mentor to Sammy but he also becomes his best friend as claimed by Glick on many occasions (Schulberg, 2011).
The Hollywood system has also been described by Manheim in great detail. He has described this system as a money machine that oppresses the talented writers. It is preferred by the bosses that they have free range when it comes to dealing with the writers. This includes giving them work on weekly basis or signing a 7-year contract with them (Schulberg, 2011).
It has been remarked by Manheim in the novel that in Hollywood it is a rule and not an exception that "the convictions are for sale" and people don't let any chance to double-cross someone go by. It was observed by Manheim that there are three products that are being produced by Hollywood and these are: fear, moving pictures and ambition. The creation of Writer's Guild was witnessed by Manheim. The main purpose behind building this organization was to protect and defend the rights of screenwriters (Schulberg, 2011).
Right after a periodic reshuffling of the studio, Manheim comes back to New York as, he loses his job. Back in New York he is still obsessed with Sammy Glick and his stardom and therefore, he starts investigating Glick's past. "The machinery that made Sammy who he was today" as well as "the anarchy of the poor" was understood by Manheim to a certain extent. Manheim came to the realization that it was in the "dog-eat-dog world" of the Lower east side of New York that Sammy grew up in, he realizes that this world is a lot similar to the dog-eat-dog world of the Hollywood. The only difference between the childhood days and present life of Sammy was that in the childhood he was the one who regularly got beaten up by a Sheikh but today a Sheikh who works for Sammy gets beaten up by him. Manheim feels that it is either some kind of a delayed act of revenge from Sammy's side or maybe it's the "victim's triumph" (Schulberg, 2011).
Manheim starts writing for Glick when he moves back to Hollywood and it is then that he realizes that there are still some honorable and honest men working in the industry such as the producer Sidney Fineman who is Glick's boss. After teaming up with Kit Sargent, Manheim writes a number of films for Glick who by that time has switched to production successfully and has shifted into a huge manor within Beverly Hills (Schulberg, 2011).
After a series of flops Fineman's position gets compromised but Manheim tries to convince Harrington, who is a banker on the Wall Street and also represents the financers of the film company, that Fineman still is the most suitable man for the job. Glick sees this moment as an opportunity to get rid of Fineman once and for all and take his place instead. Glick meets with the daughter of Harrington - Laurette - at a reception and falls in love with the girl and even breaks up with his own girlfriend. Glick feels that by getting together with Harrington's daughter he will be killing two birds with a single stone as he will get Fineman's job as well as the love of this life (Schulberg, 2011).
Summary: Mildred Pierce
When it comes to crime novels two of my all-time favorite novels have been The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity by James M. Cain. Although in the movie on Mildred Pierce that starred Joan Crawford the story was turned somewhat into a crime story whereas, the book itself...
She has two daughters whom she now has to bring up herself. Left with no other choice she tries to earn herself and thus becomes a pie maker. Later on she becomes a waitress and with hard work and pure determination learns all the skills that she needs to open up her own restaurant. But we see that there is nothing but contempt in Veda's (Mildred's elder daughter) heart for all the efforts that her mother has made throughout her life and Veda feels embarrassed about her mother as she feels that her mother doesn't have any class (Cain, 2010).
Veda most definitely seems like a daughter sent from Hell. She mocks all the efforts and sacrifices that have been made by her mom in order to provide for her and her sister. She misbehaves with her mother and is truly a very ungrateful human being who is not thankful for what she has but is always complaining about what she doesn't have. This approach can be compared to Glick who has now become so obsessed with the aim to survive and stay on top in Hollywood that he is willing to let Fineman take the fall instead of being grateful for the work he had done for Glick in the past. The interesting thing, in this novel however, is that Mildred is crazy about her elder daughter and she keeps on ignoring all her misbehaves and tries to fulfill all of Veda's wishes until at the end they face a serious crisis (Cain, 2010).
Through this novel two of the most memorable characters have been made by Cain in the history of American fiction. The story revolves around Mildred's effort as a single woman and mother to provide for her family, gaining her daughter's satisfaction and her ungrateful daughter. Although I did enjoy reading the book and the way that he has described the story but I have to say that there wasn't any character in the book that I really connected with. In fact it was very early on in the book that my patience with Mildred ran out when it came to the way that she kept on letting her daughter ridicule her. I know it is a terrible thing to say but had I been in Mildred's place her daughter would have been in traction by the 3rd or 4th chapter and I would have been in the jail. But then again the story would have been very short then (Cain, 2010).
The story of "Mildred Pierce" is written in a nice manner as; it portrays the struggles of a woman who tries to be successful in the depression era in a very realistic manner. While I was reading the book, the story reminded me of the novel Revolutionary Road by the author Yates, this novel has also been adapted very nicely on the big screen. Both these novels are very similar to each other as they both show a decline of the family structure, losing the things that are dear to you in the world and overall it portrays a good life learning and heartwarming story. If the major protagonist Mildred has got some light waiting for her at the end of the tunnel? We see different aspects of a relationship between a mother and a daughter. Will Mildred be able to give her daughters the essential emotional and financial upbringing? Although we see a lot of determination in Mildred, but, there are also a few negative forces related to her as well (Cain, 2010).
In this essay the entry point for my argument regarding the comparative assessment of these two novels and their literary value is the linkage that is present between the aesthetics and labor politics in 'What Makes Sammy Runs' and the family structure on 'Mildred Pierce'. 'What Makes Sammy Runs' is treated with the critical rigor which is mostly used for the "superior" Hollywood novels such as The Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West. The typical narration of the history of "What Makes Sammy Run?" is basically taken as a way of indicating the so called liberalism that is found in Hollywood and which was adopted by numerous politicized screenwriters back in the thirties. The family structure and its aesthetics represented in Mildred Pierce again seem to be taken as a means…
