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A review by thaurisil
Brighton Rock: (penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) by Graham Greene
4.0
Pinkie, the new 17 year old leader of a gang in Brighton, kills a journalist, Hale, who had exposed the gang's former leader Kite and brought about his capture and death. However there are two snags – Ida Arnold, the carefree boisterous lady who was with Hale on the day of his death and is determined to uncover the truth, and Rose, the young waitress who witnessed the only evidence that would expose Pinkie. There are two interwoven strands of story. Pinkie dates and then marries Rose in a sham wedding to hush her, while hating her and gradually losing control of his gang. At the same time, Ida makes discoveries, then tries to rescue Rose from self-destruction. The lines converge, with Pinkie ultimately giving way to the pressure of his secret gradually being revealed and forcing more killings that themselves need to be concealed, and the terrifying idea of a life with Rose. He jumps off a cliff as Ida arrives.
James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder.
Pinkie and Rose are the epitome of this. They believe in God much more than Ida Arnold does. Ida believes in right and wrong, Pinkie and Rose believe in good and evil. They know they are evil. They know that there is mercy “between the stirrup and the ground”. Yet something stops them from repenting. They cannot picture heaven, only eternal damnation. and they walk the path towards hell trembling, yet not believing that there is any other path for them.
It is tragic, and it is the result of their unfortunate upbringing as children in a poor area of Brighton. In the 1930s, Brighton presented itself as an attractive seaside resort to tourists, yet in the back alleys of Brighton there was poverty, desolation and gloom. Out of this came Pinkie, the son of parents who had disturbing Saturday night sex and violence, and Rose, the daughter of parents full of hatred and greed. Pinkie, despite his killing of first Hale, then Cubitt, then planning to kill Rose, appears to be victim of his upbringing and neighbourhood. It calls to mind another bible verse, Deuteronomy 5:9: “You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me”.
What happens when Pinkie jumps off the cliff at the end? Does he finally repent, between the stirrup and the ground? Diminishing, as he does, and reduced to childlikeness, does he regain innocence? We never know, and yet Greene’s genius is such that we hope the best for Pinkie despite the magnitude of his sins.
James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder.
Pinkie and Rose are the epitome of this. They believe in God much more than Ida Arnold does. Ida believes in right and wrong, Pinkie and Rose believe in good and evil. They know they are evil. They know that there is mercy “between the stirrup and the ground”. Yet something stops them from repenting. They cannot picture heaven, only eternal damnation. and they walk the path towards hell trembling, yet not believing that there is any other path for them.
It is tragic, and it is the result of their unfortunate upbringing as children in a poor area of Brighton. In the 1930s, Brighton presented itself as an attractive seaside resort to tourists, yet in the back alleys of Brighton there was poverty, desolation and gloom. Out of this came Pinkie, the son of parents who had disturbing Saturday night sex and violence, and Rose, the daughter of parents full of hatred and greed. Pinkie, despite his killing of first Hale, then Cubitt, then planning to kill Rose, appears to be victim of his upbringing and neighbourhood. It calls to mind another bible verse, Deuteronomy 5:9: “You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me”.
What happens when Pinkie jumps off the cliff at the end? Does he finally repent, between the stirrup and the ground? Diminishing, as he does, and reduced to childlikeness, does he regain innocence? We never know, and yet Greene’s genius is such that we hope the best for Pinkie despite the magnitude of his sins.