Post Office

Throughout Post Office, Hank spends much of his time at the racetrack, winning and losing money by gambling on horses. Gambling was an important part of Bukowski’s life; it features heavily in his other novels, such as Women (1978), and informs the attitude of the title of his short story and poem collection, Betting on the Muse (1996). In Post Office, the racetrack symbolizes freedom and thematically links to The Futility of Formally Resisting Authority. The fact that Hank spends so much time at the track depicts his reliance on it as a means of escape from the tedious drudgery of his everyday life.

In addition, most of his romantic entanglements begin at the track, including his marriage to Joyce, his brief relationship with Vi, and the ill-fated encounter with Mary Lou. Hank goes to the racetrack after Betty’s funeral, suggesting that he views it as a safe space in which to grieve, even if his grief consists of getting drunk and having a one-night stand. Most importantly, the racetrack symbolizes an escape from a life of meaningless toil, constant frustrations, failed relationships, and poverty.

Hank develops a system of betting on the horses that, for a time, pays great dividends, allowing him a taste of the good life while he takes a break from the post office, and he drives up and down the coast, dines on steaks, drinks fine liquor, and stays at motels with ocean views.