Brighton Rock Novel

Brighton Rock Novel is a murder thriller set in 1930s Brighton

Brighton Rock is a novel by Graham Greene, published in 1938 and later adapted for film in 1947 and 2010. The novel is a murder thriller set in 1930s Brighton. The title refers to a confectionery traditionally sold at seaside resorts, which in the novel is used as a metaphor for the weapon used to kill Hale (Fred). There are links between this novel and Greene's earlier novel A Gun for Sale (1936), because Raven's murder of the gang boss Kite, mentioned in A Gun For Sale, allows Pinkie to take over his gang and thus sets the events of Brighton Rock in motion.

Plot summary

Charles "Fred" Hale comes to Brighton on assignment to distribute cards anonymously for a newspaper competition (a variant of "Lobby Lud"; in this case, the name of the person to be spotted is "Kolley Kibber"). The antihero of the novel, Pinkie Brown, is a teenage sociopath and up-and-coming gangster. Hale had betrayed the former leader of the gang Pinkie now controls, by writing an article in the Daily Messenger about a slot machine racket for which the gang was responsible. Ida Arnold, a plump, kind-hearted and decent woman, is drawn into the action by a chance meeting with the terrified Hale after he has been threatened by Pinkie's gang. After being chased through the streets and lanes of Brighton, Hale accidentally meets Ida again on the Palace Pier, but eventually Pinkie murders Hale. Pinkie's subsequent attempts to cover his tracks and remove evidence of Hale's Brighton visit lead to a chain of fresh crimes and to Pinkie's ill-fated marriage to a waitress called Rose, who unknowingly has the power to destroy his alibi. Ida decides to pursue Pinkie relentlessly, because she believes it is the right thing to do, as well as to protect Rose from the deeply disturbed boy she has married.

Although ostensibly an underworld thriller, the book also deals with Roman Catholic doctrine concerning the nature of sin and the basis of morality. Pinkie and Rose are Catholics, as was Greene, and their beliefs are contrasted with Ida's strong but non-religious moral sensibility. Greene alludes significantly to the French Catholic writer Charles Péguy in Brighton Rock, in relation to ideas about damnation and mercy,[1] and in The Lawless Roads he refers to "Péguy challenging God in the cause of the damned".

Main characters

Pinkie: The anti-hero of the story, merciless to his victims, simultaneously obsessed with and repelled by sex and human connection. He is the leader of 'the mob' despite being the youngest at 17.

Dallow: Pinkie's second-in-command, and the only member of the mob Pinkie feels he can confide in.

Cubitt: Another mob member who lives at Frank's, a boarding house, with Pinkie and Dallow. He leaves the gang when Pinkie reveals that he (Pinkie) killed Spicer.

Spicer: An ageing mob member resident at Frank's. From the beginning he expresses discomfort with the gang's increasing violence. Pinkie's mistrust of him leads to his murder by Pinkie, for fear Spicer might inform Ida Arnold or the police.

Rose: A poor, modest, and naïve girl who becomes Pinkie's girlfriend and wife. She, like Pinkie, is Roman Catholic, and she falls in love with him despite his advances to her being purely motivated to keep her from giving incriminating evidence against him. Pinkie is usually repelled by her but later has the occasional feeling of tenderness towards her.

Ida Arnold: Ida takes up the role of detective, hunting down Pinkie to bring justice to Hale, and later, when she finds out that Pinkie is marrying Rose, to save the girl. Ida represents the force of justice in the novel. She acquires information from Cubitt once he has been cast out of the gang, which significantly aids her investigation.