Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Brighton Rock, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Catholicism
Pride and Ambition
Sex and Shame
Innocence vs. Experience
Summary
Analysis
Cubitt and Dallow are laughing at Pinkie for falling in the pool. Pinkie keeps repeating that he’ll never marry. When they get back to Frank’s, Rose is waiting for Pinkie in his room. She has a newspaper with her. On the front page is a photograph of Spicer looking terrified. She asks Pinkie what really happened to Spicer. Pinkie says he fell down the stairs. Rose is confused. The last she heard, Colleoni’s men killed him on the course. Pinkie grows frustrated with her. He admits that Spicer probably knew something about Hale and that he was targeted. Rose tells Pinkie she’s been having nightmares. She had one about Pinkie dying. She thinks he should leave Frank’s, and that they should get married and get out of Brighton.
Rose shares very little in common with Ida, but one similarity is their ability to see through the lies that men tell them. Rose knows that Pinkie has not been completely truthful with her. Rather than resenting this or abandoning him, though, she wants only to protect him. Rose’s nightmare is prescient, but it also makes sense, given the dangerous atmosphere that Pinkie has created for himself by killing to cover his tracks.
Themes
Pinkie tells Rose they can’t marry. He spoke to their lawyer, he says, and they’re too young. Rose says she doesn’t care about that. It wouldn’t be a real marriage. Pinkie tells her to go back to Snow’s, but Rose says she can’t. She’s been fired for being rude to Ida. She wonders aloud if Ida might be acting out of jealousy, a past lover of Pinkie’s. Pinkie senses a deadly possessiveness hiding behind Rose’s sweet exterior. He says he has no idea why Ida would be so interested in Hale’s death; he doesn’t know her at all.
This is another lie. Pinkie has had no such conversation with Prewitt. He tells Rose they cannot marry because he has experienced lust and knows he does not feel any desire for Rose and doubts that he ever could. Neither Rose nor Pinkie understands why Ida is so determined to solve Hale’s murder because they can’t comprehend Ida’s selfless devotion to the truth.
Themes
Rose asks Pinkie if she should take the newspaper to the police, and Pinkie is shocked by her shrewdness. He supposes he will have to marry her after all. He suggests that she get her father to write a letter on their behalf, giving them permission to marry, but she says her father can’t write. Pinkie assures her there are ways around things. He’ll talk to Prewitt. Rose recognizes the lawyer’s name from the inquest. They’re both distracted by music drifting from a radio below. Pinkie thinks about how long he’ll have to pretend to be in love with her. He assures her they can get married in a couple days if they just apply themselves to the cause.
Rose is, as always, tuned in, and Pinkie is, as usual, surprised by her talents and intelligence. He decides that marrying her is necessary; she’s too smart to trust. The music reminds Pinkie that Rose has emotions and needs and that, as her husband, he’ll be expected to tend to both. The wedding itself is a challenge, but Pinkie likes challenges.
Themes
