POSTMAN SPOILER!
It's my opinion that Cora doesn't get a fair shake from the
critics.
It doesn't take long to figure out that Frank is a worthless
bum, but it surprises me that few critics find much good in
Cora. It seems to me that, unlike Frank, Cora is essentially
a good person in a harsh world that has left her few choices,
none of them good. Cora has only one option for happiness,
and that is Nick's death. She considers a life with coarse,
crude Nick to be a fate worse than death, and when Frank
comes back after leaving, he finds her prepared to kill
herself. Frank thinks she's wild and savage like him and
teasingly calls her a hell cat, but she tells him he doesn't
understand.
"Did you say you weren't really a hell cat?"
"I said it, and I mean it. I'm not what you think I am,
Frank. I want to work and be something, that's all. But you
can't do it without love. Do you know that, Frank? Anyway, a
woman can't. Well, I've made one mistake. And I've got to be
a hell cat, just once, to fix it. But I'm not really a hell
cat, Frank."
Cora has courage. Shaw, in his THE MODERN AMERICAN NOVEL OF
VIOLENCE, states that Cora is a manipulative snake who
doesn't have the guts to kill with her own hand, but instead
manipulates Frank into doing the dirty work. Shaw has
apparently forgotten the first murder attempt, which Cora
carried out by herself, bludgeoning Nick and dumping him in
the tub by herself. And when Frank and Cora are sweated by
Sackett, Cora stands firm until scumbag Frank wilts and
finks.
Cora is forgiving. Cora forgives Frank his dalliance with the
cat woman, and then his breaking down and pinning the murder
on her.
Cora is industrious. After the murder she works hard to make
the cafe a success, and she's astute enough to add the beer
garden, which brings in even more business.
Cora, released from the burden of Nick, attempts to be
sincere and loving with Frank. She knows what kind of man
Frank is, but she is committed to him nonetheless. She offers
him a fair chance to get rid of her when they swim in the
ocean close to the end.
miker
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