The Postman Always Rings Twice (Book) (1934)

 The Postman Always Rings Twice, by James M. Cain

New York, NY: Triangle Books, 1934

(Originally published in 1934 by Alfred A. Knopf)

List of main characters:

Frank Chambers, drifter hired by Nick Papadakis

Nick Papadakis, owner of Twin Oaks Tavern

Cora Papadakis, née Smith, Nick’s wife

Sackett, district attorney

Katz, defense attorney

The image of the dust jacket comes from the first edition published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1934. The quotations in this blog post come from the Triangle Books edition, which is probably difficult to find. I happened to find it in my local library system. I think it’s an advantage to read an early edition, especially when something was published as far back as 1934. It adds to the historical perspective.

For my one-year anniversary blogging about noir, I am going with the novel The Postman Always Rings Twice. Even if you have never read it, you have undoubtedly heard of it and know something of its reputation. At least two U.S. films have been made of this story by James M. Cain: one in 1946 starring John Garfield and Lana Turner, and one in 1981 starring Jessica Lange and Jack Nicholson. Several foreign-language adaptations have also been made: Two examples are Ossessione (1943) and Jerichow (2008).

I have read The Postman Always Rings Twice (the Triangle Books edition) at least twice, and the novel is worth a reread. The ending came as a complete surprise (always a plus) the first time that I read it. The second time, I found that knowing the ending was a plus in a different way: It enhanced the noir characteristics that much more. I had heard a lot about this novel and the U.S. films based on it before I read it: The steamy love affair and the passion of the characters are always sensationalized, especially in the marketing for the U.S. films. But the story is more layered than its reputation had me believing. For me, it is a real treat to go back to the source and wipe away all my preconceived ideas about the story.

(This blog post about the novel The Postman Always Rings Twice contains spoilers.)

Frank Chambers, the main character, is a drifter and the narrator of the story. He makes an unplanned stop at a roadside eatery, the Twin Oaks Tavern, in California, and begins an affair with the proprietor’s wife, Cora. It isn’t long before they start planning the murder of Cora’s husband, but the two of them are attracted to violence before murder is mentioned in the novel. Their sex life includes some violence from the very beginning. Here is one example:

. . . Except for the shape, she [Nick Papadakis’s wife] really wasn’t any raving beauty, but she had a sulky look to her, and her lips stuck out in a way that made me want to mash them in for her. (page 6)

When Frank has his first chance to kiss Cora, he bites her lips, making them bleed, and leaves his teeth marks.

Frank equates his love for Cora with religion, even though he is carrying on an affair with another man’s wife and planning murder:

“That’s it, Frank. That’s all that matters, isn’t it? Not you and me and the road, or anything else but you and me.”

                “You must be a hell cat, though. You couldn’t make me feel like this if you weren’t.”

                “That’s what we’re going to do. Kiss me, Frank. On the mouth.”

                I kissed her. Her eyes were shining up at me like two blue stars. It was like being in church. (page 24)

It’s a jarring comparison in a novel about murder, violence, and betrayal. Frank and Cora’s first attempt at killing her husband is thwarted, and Nick is hospitalized with a head injury. Again, Frank thinks of religion as he and Cora continue their affair:

Then one day, stead of her going in alone [to the hospital] we both went in, and after she came out of the hospital, we cut for the beach. They gave her a yellow suit and a red cap, and when she came out I didn’t know her at first. She looked like a little girl. It was the first time I ever really saw how young she was. E played in the sand, and then we went way out and let the swells rock u. I like my head to the waves, she like her feet. We lay there, face to face, and held hands under water. I looked up at the sky. It was all you could see. I thought about God. (page 42)

In the last chapter, the reader finds out that the novel is a manuscript that Frank wrote while waiting on death row for his execution. He ends his “manuscript” by addressing readers directly and by again referring to religion: He asks readers to pray so that he and Cora can be together again.

Violence, betrayal, sex, murder: All of these characteristics are what readers would expect from noir literature. But I never heard anything about religion being part of The Postman Always Rings Twice. I wonder if it added to the novel’s pulp reputation in the 1930s.

The novel is surprisingly modern in one respect: Insurance money is what keeps Frank and Cora from being convicted of murder. Their second attempt to kill Nick in an automobile accident that they staged themselves is successful. Sackett, the district attorney, and even their own defense lawyer Katz get Frank and Cora to turn on each other, and Cora is eventually the one who will go on trial for Nick’s murder. But Katz has an ulterior plan.

Nick Papadakis signed up for several insurance policies before he died, and none of them had anything to do with “the accident” (the first time that Frank and Cora tried to kill him). Katz explains to Frank why all those insurance policies were so important in getting Cora acquitted, and so quickly, too:

“First, I read them [the insurance companies] the law. I read them the guest clause, Section 141¾, California Vehicle Act. That says if a guest in an automobile gets hurt, he has no right of recovery, provided, that if his injury resulted from intoxication or willful misconduct on the part of the driver, then he can recover. You see, you were a guest, and I had pleaded her guilty to murder and assault. Plenty of willful misconduct there, wasn’t there? And they couldn’t be sure, you know. Maybe she did do it alone. So those two companies on the liability policies, the ones that had their chin hanging out for a wallop from you, they chipped in $5,000 apiece to pay the Pacific States Accident policy, and the Pacific States Accident agreed to pay up and shut up, and the whole thing didn’t take over a half hour.” (pages 127–128)

Even though the lawyers know both Frank and Cora are guilty, Frank gives evidence to support Cora’s conviction, and Cora is freed because the insurance companies want to pay the least amount of money possible on the policies that Nick had purchased. Greed wins over justice.

I didn’t identify much with the main characters in The Postman Always Rings Twice. I didn’t have much sympathy for Frank and Cora, even though they seemed to care for one another in their own way. Together, however, they created so much death and destruction. But The Postman Always Rings Twice is still a satisfying read: The story is true to the characters and never wavers from its noir themes. The novel is a treat because it offers so much more than its reputation suggested that it would.

By the way, nothing in the novel explains the title. Wikipedia offers some explanations (click here to read them online. I think the story itself should have explained the title, although I don’t think it’s a big enough flaw to diminish the impact of the story. I just wish the novel had been given another title!