32 pages • 1 hour read
The Postman Always Rings Twice
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Chapters 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary
Cora and Frank start carrying out their plan to kill Nick. The plan involves Frank standing outside the diner as a lookout while Cora hits Nick “with a blackjack [Frank] had made for her out of a sugar bag with ball bearings wadded down in the end” (15). They believe that the murder will look like Nick “slipped in the tub, knocked himself out, and then drowned” (16). On the day of the murder, Frank sits outside the diner in his car to make sure that the coast is clear. Suddenly, he sees a cat and gets spooked, nearly honking the horn to warn Cora to abort the plan. Instead, Frank gets out of the car to chase the cat. While he is doing that, a state cop arrives.
Cora hits Nick, but the diner’s lights go out before she can drown him. While Frank repositions Nick’s body, Cora tries to call a doctor but is transferred to the police. After discussing what they will do if Nick survives, Frank and Cora agree that “[they] just got to sell him a story, that’s all” (18). An ambulance arrives, and Cora rides in it with Nick. Frank follows behind in the car. When they arrive at the hospital, the same state cop is there.
When Nick’s surgery is over, Cora and Frank visit him along with nurses and cops. Afterwards, Frank and Cora leave the hospital, and “We no sooner started out than the cop was back there” (20). While Frank and Cora discuss what they’re going to do, Frank learns that Cora still has the murder weapon with her. He gets rid of the weapon by cutting open the sock and “snap[ping] these bearings into the bushes one at a time” (21).
Back at the diner, Frank and the cop go to check the diner’s fuse box. There, they find the corpse of the cat from earlier, which died from electric shock. After discerning that the cat’s electrocution is what caused the diner’s blackout, the cop is satisfied that there was no foul play surrounding Nick’s injury.
Chapter 5 Summary
Once the cop leaves, “We crept into bed, and she cracked up” (22). Frank and Cora agree that they won’t try to kill Nick again. Frank insists that cops always figure things out, pointing out, “look how quick that cop knew something was wrong” (23). Cora thanks Frank for taking care of her and for making sure that they got out of the situation without too much additional trouble. She says, “I’ll listen to you from now on” (23).
The next morning, Frank and Cora find out that Nick’s skull is fractured and that he’ll have to stay at the hospital for a week. This news makes them happy because it means that they can stay together during that time. During that week, Frank and Cora run the business to cover their tracks. After visiting Nick at the hospital, Frank and Cora go to the beach and agree to run away together before Nick returns from the hospital the following day.
Frank and Cora start walking away from the diner, trying to get a ride, “but a man and a woman together don’t have much luck” (25). Cora decides that she can’t go through with running away because “I don’t feel like no gypsy. I don’t feel like nothing, only ashamed” (26). Cora turns back to the diner and Nick, leaving Frank behind.
Chapter 6 Summary
Frank heads to San Bernardino. Instead of hopping on “a freight east” (27) like he intended to, he starts hustling pool for money. He hustles $250 from two men and then “had to beat it out of town quick” (27). Thinking that he has enough money to start over with Cora, Frank heads back to Glendale and hangs around the market, hoping to run into her. He starts playing pool again to earn more money, and he ends up losing all the money he made in San Bernardino.
As Frank leaves the pool hall, Nick sees him and catches up to him. Nick demands to know why Frank left when “I hurt my head [and] I need you most?” (29). He tells Frank that he and Cora will go to Santa Barbara the following day, and he wants Frank to come with them. Nick brings Frank back to the diner where he shows Frank a scrapbook of his life, including X-rays of his skull and his hospital bills. Frank figures that Nick thinks that he is very important now that “A big thing had happened in his life” (32).
Frank speaks to Cora alone, and she acts as though he is “just a guy that used to work there” (32). Later, Frank overhears Cora and Nick arguing. During their argument, Cora insists that Frank should leave. Cora is angry with Frank for coming back to the diner because she “was getting so I could forget you” (33). Cora tells Frank that Nick desperately wants a child and that she only wants a child with Frank, even though he’s “no good” (34). Frank tells Cora to stall Nick’s plans to have a child so that they can figure out a plan.
Chapters 4-6 Analysis
These chapters establish one of major themes of the novel: the inescapability of fate. Frank and Cora come up with a “perfect” murder plan. As Chapter 4 begins, Frank says, “We played it just like we would tell it” (15). They go to great lengths to think of everything that could possibly compromise their plan. Unfortunately, fate (in the form of a cat) throws the entire plan into jeopardy. Frank eventually figures out that a cat accidentally stepped on the diner’s fuse box and got electrocuted, which shorted out the diner’s power while Cora tried to kill Nick.
Though the strange cause of the blackout convinces a state cop that Nick’s injury was an accident, the cop continues to fixate on the cat’s death, noting that, “Them poor dumb things, they can’t get it through their head about electricity, can they?” (22). His concern for the cat is a metaphor. The cat should have known better than to step on a fuse box, just like Frank and Cora should have known better than to attempt murder.
These chapters also reveal Frank’s misplaced faith in his own intelligence and abilities. After the cop leaves the diner, Frank says, “I know [cops]. I’ve tangled with them, plenty” (23). He genuinely believes that he can get away with nearly anything simply because he has been in so much trouble in the past. Cain uses Frank’s pool playing to demonstrate that his arrogance is misguided. At first, Frank gets away with hustling money from other pool players. However, his arrogance eventually catches up with him when he loses all his money during a game of pool. Cain uses this incident to foreshadow Frank’s future, one in which he is successful at first but ultimately loses his life.
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By James M. Cain
