First off, what struck me as interesting is how the Postman rather denies the popular structure of novels. More specifically, I'm talking the common story-telling rule of three. Goldilocks had her three bears. The wolf chased after the three pigs. The three blind mice, and so on. This is a common narrative technique that could be found all over the place in creative writing. Cain, on the other hand, stuck with two; two attempts to murder the Greek, two trials, two car accidents, etc. Whether or not Cain had the intention of breaking that rule of three and shifting things to two is unclear, however he did it. Also, this rule breaking could contribute to the theory behind the title of the novel. The Postman doesn't ring three times, he rings twice. Granted, this is a stretch, but it was just another thought that I had while discussing this novel.
Another point I wanted to bring up is the subtle religious aspect to The Postman Always Rings Twice. The story has small religious instances all throughout it. For example, at certain points in the novel, the characters state that they had the Devil in them. When Cora and Frank are making amends, Cora says, "Well, I'm rid of the devil Frank. I know I'll never call up Sackett, because I had my chance, and I had my reason, and I didn't do it. So the devil has left me. But has he left you?" In addition, there is a scene in the ocean, which I wrote about on another comment, in which Frank sort of goes through at baptism. He dives down into the water and comes up a new man, purged of all his sins. Now, again, whether or not these religious segments are intentional is unknown, but they are still interesting. Part of me believes Cain is using these religious comparisons and metaphors strictly for aesthetics. Meaning, the fact that the cat was "deader than hell" was most likely used because it sounded cool, not because Cain wanted a religious theme.
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