10 Antiheroes in Literature That We Love to Hate
“Love, when you get fear in it, it’s not love any more. It’s hate.”
Frank Chambers; The Postman Alway Rings Twice, James M. Cain
Most people are more familiar with the classic film noir based off James M. Cain’s novel, and we understand that because Lana Turner! And James Garfield! It’s amazing. The novel though is great too, as well as being one of the best examples of the economic yet powerful writing that is more commonly associated with Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler (also great, obviously). Cain, though, is the one who created Frank Chambers, one of my favorite antiheroes. Chambers is the kind of guy who’s maybe never had an easy life, but is able-bodied and competent enough of mind, that in another story, he’d work hard and persevere and do the right thing and live a decent, honest life. Well, this is not that kind of story. Instead, Chambers meets his sociopathic match in a woman named Cora, and together they plot a murder. Karma, though (which, this is maybe the only time the postal service has metaphorically stood in for karma, but when you think about it, that makes so much sense, right? that the post office is one big fuck you to all the bad stuff humanity has done…anyway), comes for Frank, and he meets his own unhappy fate. Which, yeah, he deserves. But I never stopped wanting him to be a better guy. Maybe I have a weakness for sociopathic loners? Hard to say.
