Tuesday 21 October 2014

Brighton Rock is made up of parallels. To what extent is this comment true?

Explore this statement through exploration of one or more of the following themes:

- Vulnerability

- Religion

- Betrayal

- Innocence versus experience

- Relationships

13 comments:

  1. Throughout Brighton Rock there is a constant reference to glass objects, symbolic of the state and scene of Brighton Rock. The glass connotes towards the fragility of the characters, linking towards their hidden/apparent vulnerability during the novel. Rose is clearly vulnerable to Pinkie’s overpowering requirements of her, her fragility leads her to obey the commands set by him, he is a source of stability so that she does not “shatter”. A source of comfort for Rose throughout the novel is religion; there are several references to her beliefs showing it to be her source of support and reassurance, persuading herself to believe she is making the correct and moral decisions. The fragility of the characters such as Pinkie is symbolic of how unstable their power is and therefore a minor betrayal can lead to the destruction and un-controlling delusions of relationships built throughout the book. An example of this is when Spicer does not deliver Rose’s message to Pinkie, the betrayal is representative of Pinkie’s power deteriorating and therefore the offender must be destroyed in order to ensure that their delicate power is not shattered. Several of the relationships in the novel are built upon superficial means; there is something to gain out of each friendship in the mob, support and dependence upon one another. Therefore betrayal is more probable than ever. The constant referral to a casual item in the novel therefore connects each of the individual themes in the novel, making them parallel to one another.

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  2. In Part 3 Chapter 2, the character of Spicer is explored by Greene and the reader begins to understand that despite being one of the oldest and most experienced in the mob, he is psychologically distressed and anxious from his past actions therefore leaving him vulnerable and exposed not only to the mob but to the outer world too. The contrast between the description of Spicer's hardened and sinister appearance and his weak and delicate mental state suggests that his experience in the mob is ultimately what has lead to his fragile and vulnerable state of mind. This is shown in the quote "the smell of dead fish was in his nostrils, he was a sick man" which through the metaphor expresses that through Brighton's dark nature and the actions of others, he has been left scarred and vulnerable to this corrupt aspect of Brighton he has experienced too much of. The idea that Spicer is "sick" as a result of the naturally dark aspects of Brighton like a dead fish- which could represent the murder of Hale leaving an everlasting scent or effect on his mind- shows his vulnerability which has the potential to worsen. However, Pinkie directly contrasts Spicer in part 3 as Greene shows that through Pinkie's innocence he has a strong minded and optimistic approach to the mob as well as life. The quote "They'll see- one day...they'll learn" displays Pinkie's innocence as he still possesses the optimism and naivety associated with his youth. This therefore shows that Pinkie is a direct parallel to Spicer as through Spicer's experience and past shapes his attitude and outlook towards life and others, whereas Pinkie's lack of experience is why he lacks the authority and power (which Spicer has) which he desires.

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  3. Throughout Brighton Rock two parallels are created between innocence and experience. The two themes are shown through the characters Pinkie and Rose; Pinkie being the experienced and Rose the innocent girl. Rose’s Innocence is shown in the quote “Rose whispered, ‘vitriol? What’s vitriol?’”. The quote illustrates that Rose has never experienced the term “vitriol” because of her potential upbringing away from the criminal underworld that Pinkie grew up in. Her innocence she shows can be dangerous as she becomes inquisitive and asks Pinkie questions that he doesn’t like answering putting Rose in a possibly dangerous position with Pinkie. Pinkie however shows a parallel to Rose, the experienced and hardened character. “the word murder conveyed no more to him than the word ‘box’, ‘collar’, ‘giraffe’”. The quote gives insight into Pinkie’s background and upbringing while also revealing more detail about the mind-set of his warped thoughts that he possesses. The list of three random words emphasises the warped idea that murder has no effect to his mind-set and how he could do it again and again without remorse. It comes to emphasise that Pinkie is from a deprived upbringing where he potentially experienced very distressing things as a child which lead to his warped detachment of soul from conscience deeming him a very experienced person when it comes to activities in the criminal underworld, making him the ideal mob leader. - Matt G

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  5. In regards to vunerability Greene shows us irony due to the fact that Rose, a young, naive girl who is by nature, vunerable is Pinkies one vunerability and the plot of the story is centred around the idea that she, vunerable as she is, can bring Pinkie's world crashing down. This is evident from Spicer's terror to answer the door to Rose.Pinkie's cold hearted attempt to subdue her via manipulating Rose into a relationship with him shows also how Pinkie deals with his vunerabilties, instead of killing her he toys with her emotions, showing his lust for suffering. The fact Pinkie hurts Rose as he asks to be her boyfriend ""pinching the skin of her wrists" shows his disgust at emotion, which he believes to be a weakness, seen when he states "don't be soft". Spicer's weakness on the other hand is his morals, his sense of right and wrong, throguhout Part 2 and 3 Spicer states how he does not want any more murders to occur. Pinkie interpets this as a vunerabiltity to himself and orders Spicer's death. Later on in the book we discover this act of murder puts Pinkie at risk from Colleoni aswell. This shows how Pinkie's lack of caring and emotion acctually caused his owbn downfall to occur. By Elimainating, or attempting to elimanate his vunerabilities from his life he makes his true vunerabilities (his lack of empathy) worse. This is shown by the constant use of music to refer to Pinkie's repressed emotions, shortly before he commits a terrible act e.g. manipulating Rose, or before ordering Spicers death. While Pinkie trys to suupress his perceived vunerabilities, Rose however attempts to run from them as evident from"she got through that as quickly as she could, running away from things" this leads to her running into the arms of Pinkie, and into danger.

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  6. Within the novel 'Brighton Rock,' there are a variety of parallels running throughout the story. Firstly, two parallels are created through religion and betrayal, both being shown extensively in the book. For instance, religion is implied as being strict and selfless, whereas betrayal shows selfishness and disregarding others. These harsh contrasts are shown within the book through the character of Pinkie as he betrays Spicer and various other characters in a series of ways, "You a Roman?"the Boy asked...The Boy looked at the body , spread-eagled like Prometheus,at the bottom of Frank's stairs." Greene's intentions here to not only illustrate Pinkie's strong religious beliefs but emphasise them as a contrast to his underlying personality - which murders Spicer. It's almost as if Pinkie is afraid of himself, and his traits, and the only way to fix that is through his religion. The parallels continue through the book as even with Rose, Pinkie identifies both religion and betrayal, in fact the betrayal of his own religion. Pinkie and Rose get married in a registry office, this they refer to as a 'mortal sin,' (as it doesn't take place in a church.) The reader is affected by this as they realise that Pinkie has developed his own beliefs of religion and doesn't understand what 'good and evil' represent. "we don't need any ring...this isn't a church...Whatever that this was mortal sin, and he was filled with a kind of gloomy hilarity and pride.He saw himself now as a full grown man for whom the angels wept." Greene placing this sentence at the end of the book insinuates how far Pinkie has come in terms of his self image paralleling to the betrayal of his own faith as he gets married in a registrar instead of a church, Pinkie even highlighting this himself. The third person perspective of the quote makes it clear that the omniscient narrator and reader also get this powerful image of Pinkie to whom 'angels wept.' His non religious marriage connoting images of the devil who also betrayed God which Pinkie seemed to be doing. The devil not only shows his betrayal but also his transition from vulnerability in which he had at the beginning of the novel to the sense of power he has at the end of the book, pushing Spicer off the bannister connoting his descent. - Amy

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  7. Throughout Brighton Rock two parallels are made between religion and secular morality through the characters of Pinkie and Ida. This can be seen as Pinkie is the Christian who believes in Hell and damnation as he says “’of course it’s true’ the boy said. ‘What else could there be?’ he went scornfully on. ‘Why,’ he said, ‘it’s the only thing that fits. These atheists, they don’t know nothing. Of course there’s Hell. Flames and damnation’”. This is ironic as Pinkie embodies the evil in Brighton so for him to be so religious and to believe in Hell so much shows how he is unconcerned with what will come after his death despite knowing that eternal torture awaits him for his many sins, showing how he has resigned himself to his fate so feels no inclination to try and change his ways. In contrast to this Ida is against religion and instead follows secular morality where she “believes in right and wrong” however represents the good in Brighton, trying to find Hale’s killer. This creates a contrast as usually religious people are associated with the good in places and the rest are associated with evil as they believe that we will go to either heaven or hell when we die so try to live their lives well. So shows how they are parallel characters as while their beliefs differ what they represent does as well as Pinkie only believes in hell rather than heaven, a pessimistic outlook on death, whereas Ida believes that life is all about “sunlight on brass bedposts, Ruby port…” so tries to live life to the fullest, invariably meaning that she tries to help others and tries to enjoy herself as much as possible.

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  8. Greene presents a number of themes throughout his novel; many running in parallel, innocence vs experience is one of such parallels which we see consistently in Brighton Rock. The most obvious presentation of this comparison would be Pinkie and Rose, Pinkie, an experienced young man who has reached a high rank within his organisation, contrasting against Rose who seems naive and without any knowledge of the outside world, due to being sheltered as a child perhaps. "vitriol?" The fact that Rose does not know what vitriol is is not, in itself, evidence of her innocence, but the fact that knowing Pinkie and being slightly intimidated by him, she does not make a connection that it is very likely a weapon. This is a simple idea, a more in depth analysis of these two characters could be seen in their religious innocence/experience. Both characters are religiously experienced, but Rose and Pinkie approach religious questions from opposite standpoints (a sign of their differences in their innocence/experience). Although they were both Roman Catholics they were opposing between Heaven and Hell, mimicking their opposing physical lives, the underworld of Brighton and the superficial side of Brighton. Both their physical beliefs and religious beliefs are connected (by religion and home) but consistently opposite, Rose representing Heaven, purity, innocence, and Pinkie, contrastingly, Hell, damnation, experience which has led to him this 'dark path'. "Roman too" is the realisation that they are both of the same religion, reinforcing the connection between the two, and keeping the parallels of experience/innocence together. - Ed Hobson

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  9. Within Brighton Rock Greene has presents a contestant internal symbol of glass, this is shown with the glass bottle of vitriol to highlight the character of Pinkie and to further relate what he has been through. This shows the fragility of pinkies character and what he represents and believes i as he has the power to change things permanatley and to influence society and others around him. He mainly does this due to him being power crazed and psychopathic, but also so he feels some sense of control as the bottle of vitriol is the only thing that connects him with the outside world and the human world. Aswell as this glass has imagery of being very fragile and see-through, this is like Pinkie as he suddenly becomes very enraged in part 3 while in the pub. Aswell as this he is very see-through and evident to the reader throughout the book.


    Ollie Tanner

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  10. One of the key themes within Brighton Rock is vulnerability; this is shown prominently through the character of Rose, a young and naive girl desperate to impress the man she loves in any way possible. The quote: ‘vitriol? What’s vitriol?’ shows Roses innocence to the reader, revealing her limited knowledge of the world of crime that surrounds her. This makes her extremely vulnerable, especially so due to her ties with the gang leader Pinkie. This theme is also paralleled more discreetly in Pinkies character. Despite his outwards appearance of power and strength within the mob we soon learn that he is not in such a strong position as was first thought with the introduction of Colleoni, the supreme leader of Pinkies rival mob. This reveals the young and deprived child that Pinkie tries to hide behind his mask of power that he acquires from the gang culture that he is a part of. The quote ‘He wasn’t old enough for pity’ reminds the reader how young Pinkie actually is and how his messy upbringing has caused him to try and hide his vulnerability at all costs behind an emotionless front. This parallel is continued throughout the whole novel and continues to develop throughout. – Jack Wright

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  11. throughout Brighton Rock we are presented with the key theme of relationships and how diiferent individuals behave differently towards others. For example, one relationship we are presented with is that between pinkie and Rose. this is a complicated relationship as Pinkie is only using Rose to ensure his own safety from the police and investigators, however even though this is the case he still treats hr very poorly and is constanly aggressive towards her; this is shown in the quote "I could break your arm" this shows that Pinkie has no concept of being 'gentle' or 'loving' towrds Rose and only knows how to act in an agressive manner. We are presented with a contrasting relationship between Ida and her lovers that we are introduced to in many of the bars that she frequently visits. We see the difference as she is very casual and we can see that she can interact easily and comfortably with these men unlike Pinkie who finds any sort of sexual contact or action extremely uncomforting and distressing. Tom Brooks

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  12. One key theme within Brighton Rock is vulnerabilty, which is shown mostly though the character of Rose. Who is presented as a naive girl with a lack of understanding in the world. The quote "vitriol? whats vitriol?" furthermore shows this and presents her lack of understanding in the world, as well as representing her innocence. Showing to the reader her limited knowledge in the world. The theme of vulnerabilty can alsoo be represented through the motif af glass, which is seen as fragile.

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  13. A central theme within the novel, Bright Rock, is that of exposure, and vulnerability, which is a emblematic temperament conspicuous of the character of Rose, whereby innocence, and naivety prevail, upon a futile attempt to gain affection from that of Pinkie. Such naivety is expressed through the quotation, ‘Vitriol? What’s vitriol?’, connoting that of innocence, and the reader does acknowledge this perception, demonstrating Rose’s inability to associate, and conform to that of the criminal underworld within Brighton. The theme, of exposure, and vulnerability, is too emphasised, through the character of Pinkie. And, regardless of the external, and visual appearance, of jurisdiction, and sovereignty, it is soon palpable that this is not so, and the inauguration of Colleoni signifies such. The quotation, ‘He wasn’t old enough for pity’, does further demonstrate the disorderly, and undisciplined childhood has influenced Pinkie to suppress this vulnerability. - Ben Spicer

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