Joyce answers “Could somebody explain the title?”

Richard Harris asked this question about The Postman Always Rings Twice:

Could somebody explain the title?

Joyce I, too, was puzzled by the title and was hoping there was something here to explain it - something I missed when reading the book. But, nope...nothing…moreI, too, was puzzled by the title and was hoping there was something here to explain it - something I missed when reading the book. But, nope...nothing.

So I Google'd it and found a blog online from the Library of Congress.

Apparently a reader had written Cain much the same - why this title?? The author responded that it came from the custom/tradition of the English and Irish letter carriers who "ring twice" when delivering mail - and Cain responded 'doubled as a metaphor for the delayed justice meted out to Frank and Cora, the killers, with “postman” standing in for “justice.” '(less)

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The Postman Always Rings Twice

by James M. Cain

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