A Dill Pickle – Story Synopsis

True to form for Mansfield, A Dill Pickle explores alienation and power relationships between men and women. Vera and the unnamed male protagonist were once lovers. After a six-year hiatus, they meet again in a café, whether by chance or arrangement, we are not told. A Dill Pickle is typical of many of Katherine Mansfield’s short stories in that it seems to start in the middle. The reader is not told what happened before the story starts, nor what comes after. Although the story is told from Vera’s viewpoint, we learn very little about her. The man, on the other hand, provides a great deal of detail about himself.

Vera and her former lover reminisce about their time together — an outing at Kew Gardens, plans to travel, a Christmas — and their lives since. He has clearly prospered since the end of their relationship.

Vera, on the other hand, has gone down in the world since they parted. Her beloved piano has gone: ‘sold, ages ago,’ and she no longer has time for music. She is a woman alone in a male society, a woman with a past, struggling to make a living. With only thinly disguised glee, he highlights the power imbalance that prosperity has created between them. She fascinates him still, but he is no longer in her thrall. He makes a point of reminding her of a cruel letter she wrote to him at the end of their relationship.

With carefully chosen anecdotes, he parades before Vera a world of travel and the finer things of life he now enjoys. He confesses he was ‘such a kid’ before, but now he seeks to impress her with the wisdom and sophistication he has gained. We have access to Vera’s reactions, but only through her memories and interior musings and monologues. Vera is tempted, but the balance of power between them has clearly shifted. The conversation reaches its zenith as both reach the same conclusion at the same time: that they had been alone together, “so wrapped up in ourselves that we hadn’t a corner in our hearts for anybody else.” At the close, she leaves swiftly and without a word, as if trying to hold onto some last remnant of her dignity. Although the man’s crushing sense of his own self-importance is clear, Mansfield also suggests a hint of egotism on Vera’s part too.

[Adapted by the composer from an essay by Bobby Seal]