Brighton Rock Essay

The story talks about tension between the main characters Pinkie and Ida Arnold after Pinkie’s cruel actions offended Ida to the point of revenge. Other characters in the novel include: Dallow, Cubitt, Spicer and Rose. In the novel there are two descriptions of Brighton. The first is the nice seaside down where families come mostly during holidays and it is sunny and nothing bad rarely happens there (Sinclair 138). This side of Brighton is mostly linked to the character of Ida, as she loves and embraces Brighton. Later he changes his mind and decides to marry her after Ida begins questioning Rose about Fred’s disappearance and murder. Pinkie’s spot of power is threatened by a new leader Colleoni. Pinkie goes into talks with Colleoni to kill one of his own men Spicer after doubting his loyalty.

However Colleoni double crosses him and attempts to kill him instead (Gilvary 33). Pinkie manages to escape and instead ends up killing Spicer instead. Not only do his own views on religion change but Rose’s views change too after marrying him. There is a link in the novel between Pinkie and the young Greene. Pinkie's desire to seem tough and a grown-up, disguising his childishness and his secret fear from Rose. Greene, as we can see in the novel, was bullied at school, and being hopeless at games he was despised by his classmates as a softy (Greene 19). When he went up to Oxford he felt the need to assert his manhood. For instance the way that Pinkie together with his gang was affected much during their schooling life making them to have anti-social behaviors latter in their life.

Their behaviors were highly influenced by the background that they came from which was considerably poor and also the intense bullying that they went through in the school (Nešetřilová 22). At earlier age Pinkie had to deal with these kinds of challenges that eventually had a predicted outcome which was a life that was full of crime since poverty and crime mostly go hand in hand. In Brighton rock, crime is fore grounded with the novel making references to underworld mobs, racketeering, intimidation and even murders. The main mob was led by Pinkie Brown who a young and conflicted antihero was taking over from Colleoni the predecessor leader of the gang and the one who truly had the power of the gang.

His name was Kite, he was a criminal gang leader and he dies prior to the opening of the novel. This may explain the why Pinkie decided to pursue the criminal lifestyle. The author Greene uses the motif “stirrup and the ground” thought the book to indicate the numerous opportunities that Pinkie had to reform and turn away from the gang life but instead he ignored them all and continued latter he dies from it (Priest 33). This illustration proves that the young generation prone to social influence and they can make a lifetime decisions based on their mentors. Ida Arnold is a middle aged lady who is an ambitious detective figure in the novel and she represent the force of justice as she pursue Hale’s killer and constantly warning Rose against Pinkie’s manipulation.

This character reveals the struggle that young ladies go through and the societal view of women to get enticed into marriages and latter raise kids as house wives as opposed to the way Ida has been brought out in the book. Conclusion To sum up, the novel Brighton Rock by Graham Greene though regarded as one for sin and redemption that covers murder and gang activities, it actually helps us understand into details the crime cases in our society today, there causes and effects and how we can put measures together to overcome as well as avoid these. Works Cited Adamson, Judith, and Mark Shechner.  Graham Greene: the dangerous edge: where art and politics meet. Springer, 2016. "Reflection of the 1930 s British Society in Graham Greenes Brighton Rock.