Brighton Rock _ Summary of ideas 6/2/08
Brighton Rock is a concisely structure novel which uses a pattern of repeated ideas to
reinforce its main themes and characteristics. When reading the novel, and planning
for essays, you need to be aware of these ideas for your own preparation, and for the
collection of evidence for quotations. This is a summary of these key ideas, it is up to
you to find specifics within the body of the novel to reinforce your ideas, and illustrate
them clearly.
Characters
Pinkie is a vicious and at times evil young man, but this is coupled with an immoral
stance on the world, where he is ambivalent to others and the consequences of his
actions.
Greene creates a sense of character for Pinkie using several different methods.
Initially he juxtaposes images of youth and age to create a sense of the
contradictions within his character, and couples this with the name “the Boy’. Greene
very rarely (if at all) refers through the narrative voice to Pinkie as Pinkie, he always uses
‘the Boy’. This is not only to emphasise the youth of the character, but also to distance us
as readers form the character and create a dislike of Pinkie. It is difficult to feel sympathy
or remorse for this character as the author clearly intends us to dislike him.
However, Pinkie is a tragic figure. He does not understand himself or the world, and
fights constantly against what others would take as life. Fred Hale refers to Pinkie
directly as ‘Death’, and this is in opposition to ideas of ‘Life’ represented by Ida.
Hence, most of the images and ideas associated with Pinkie are negative. He
doesn’t drink alcohol, he has an almost sexual enjoyment of the bottle of vitriol (Phallic
symbol?) which he carries in his pocket, he is afraid of sex – a kickback to his early
childhood – and only enjoys other people’s discomfort - think about the idea of Bullying,
and Rose’s disarming of him by telling him he can continue (what’s the point if they
don’t squeal?)
He sees only the negatives of the afterlife he mentions believing in Satan rather than God,
bastardizing the Catholic liturgy in the process, but at the same time thinks of his world
in Catholic terms. This represents his inability to escape his past, but also his ties to his
fate, and the tragedy of his final end. He is never going to escape Hell, and will never
have the opportunity to repent ‘between the stirrup and the ground’. Look at the sequence
of events surrounding the attempted killing of Spicer at the races. (Also perhaps the one
time we might feel sympathy for the character)
All things about Pinkie talk about his sourness (grapefruit squash) and inability to
run with life. Look for these kinds of images.
Ida is the absolute opposite to Pinkie, although they both share a steely determination to
have their own way. Again, ‘Life was here beside him’ contrasts with images of Death of
Pinkie. All things associated with Ida represent her full enjoyment of life, from her fuller
figure and its association with breast and babies, and the worldly pleasures of sex, to her
choices of drink – Guinness, Ruby Port, all have a richness and a thickness like blood,
which show the life in her veins. She is quick to laugh, understands the nature of life, and
is able to show her feelings to others, unlike Pinkie, who only seems capable of
expressing anger, spite and self pity.
The same techniques are used to portray Ida as Pinkie, use of drinks, repeated images and
symbols, repeated key phrases that come back like a mantra. Where with Pinkie this
mantra is youth, religion and fear, with Ida it is life, enjoyment and pleasure.
Again, look for the key phrases, and their repetition.
Thematically, Green is looking simply at the opposition between good and evil in one
sense, the corruptness of people, be they young or old, and the way life experience
moulds us into a version of ourselves we can’t escape. It is the concept of Character is
fate, i.e., your past experiences which have moulded your character, eventually lead you
to your fate in life. He explores how religion Esp. Catholicism as a corrupt force is an
appalling idea, and one which can result in shocking evil. It explores how desperate
people are to be loved (Rose) and how often people we believe to be weak can often be
much more powerful than we expect and vice versa (Rose and Pinkie)
Language techniques.
In brief then, look for repeated ideas, symbols – such as drinks, sex, music, weapons,
money and how they reinforce our ideas about characters and themes.
Look for repeated ideas – religious language, religious metaphor, the seven deadly sins
(sloth, pride, avarice, envy, greed, lust, anger) religious description, Latin and liturgical
language. Language which is describing life. Images of youth and age
Look for juxtaposed ideas, contrasting ideas, creation of pathos, creation of antipathy,
irony – esp. in names (e.g. Peacehaven where they go to kill themselves, Pinkie as a
vicious killer, Rose as a not so attractive girl but with hidden strength like thorns? Black
Boy as the horse that wins, Memento Mori as the last horse Spicer bets on, ‘Spice’ r as a
character who doesn’t eat, et al) Irony in situations, e.g. Pinkie’s death from his own plan,
his end with the vitriol and so on.
Generally, this is a novel which has a clear structure of repeating key ideas in different
forms to reinforce itself.
Make sure you have plenty of quotations to back these ideas up. In particular, look to the
beginning of the novel (Greene does a lot with Fred early on – Gin, inky fingers, creation
of pathos, life with Ida, death with Pinkie etc) Look to the meeting with Rose and Pinkie,
to Ida’s internal dialogues, to Pinkie’s confrontations with ‘experience’ - the car park
and his failed attempt at sex, his wedding and the consequences, his meeting with
Colleoni at the hotel is especially good for ideas, as the visit to Paradise Place to buy
Rose from her parents, the last scene with the priest, the trip to the races with Spicer the
first meeting between Rose and Pinkie, and so on.