hi everybody!
well, i just recently finished james cain's _the postman
always rings twice_. it was good. i liked it. a lot went on
in a hundred pages.
although the differences are innumerable, i noted some
striking similarities between it and charles williams's
_river girl_. two people fall in love, a spouse is killed,
they invent a complex story in an attempt to cover up their
involvement, and almost get away with it. the guy
accidentally causes the woman's death, and goes to jail for
murder. the female characters are strikingly similar, too.
they both appear tough at first but end up relying on the
male to clean up the mess.
bottom line here is that i have a question. is cora a femme
fatale? i don't honestly know. i'm inclined to say no because
to me the classic one is brigid (sp?) from hammett's _maltese
falcon, and she's a lot tougher, a lot more selfconfident,
and a lot more manipulative than cora. cora seems like a
"sweet" girl who commits this murder out of desperation. but
then again, i can also justify the opinion that she is a
femme fatale, because she lures a man into committing a
serious crime for her.
one last comment: cain's dialogue shows a strong influ- ence
from hemingway.
miker
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