Intentions Gone Haywire and Crime Novels
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Underlying the "reverse-pattern" or "crime-suspense" novel is the idea of "intentions gone haywire," as Joan Didion calls it, or a reiteration of the Robert Burns view that the best laid plans of mice and men do not work out as intended. This can be seen in the novels of James M. Cain, and the mood that Cain maintains throughout these works is one that suggests that plans always go awry and that there is indeed a certain justice in that when referring to the criminal element. Cain's stories are naturalistic, with characters encountering the accidental and failing in the face of arbitrary but not divine justice. The universe does not appear to care about these characters or their victims, but there is still a sense of doom that pervades this world and that leads nearly everyone to a sorry end. The arbitrary nature of this world is evident in the title to one of Cain's most important books, The Postman Always Rings Twice, though the title is not explained in the book itself. The use of this title in the story suggests a certain arbitrariness to the universe, emphasizing the importance of accident and how that reverses human plans. The image is of the inescapable--the postman rings twice, so escaping the first time is only a temporary act. A reverse is certain as the postman rings again. This is what takes place in the novel. Frank and Cora get away with the murder of the Greek, but Frank does not get away with the murder of Cora, even though it is not truly a murder.
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f doom and decay is just as strong as in Cain. For Cain, though, there is no need to preserve his narrators, and it is they who experience the reversal of fortune and who are brought to their knees as a consequence.
Frank experiences more than one reversal, and each one bring his closer to the disaster that finally secures his fate. He and Cora at first only try to run away together--when she asks if they are taking the car, he says, "Not unless you want to spend the first night in jail, we're not. Stealing a man's wife, that's nothing, but stealing his car, that's larceny" (Cain 43). This attempt to get away does not last long at all before Cora wants to go back:
I told you I wasn't really a bum, Frank. I don't feel like no gypsy. I don't feel like nothing, only ashamed, that I'm out here asking for a ride (Cain 44).
Frank leaves, but he later returns when he accidentally runs into the Greek. Again and again, Cain develops the idea that there is a fate operating in life that brings people to their doom and that they cannot escape no matter what. If any of the plans engaged in by Frank had worked at the time, he and cora might not have killed the Greek. Had Frank stopped with the Greek, he might not be on death row
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1666
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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