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
Ida and Phil are at the Cosmopolitan in a café called the Pompadour Boudoir. Ida is eating an éclair, savoring the sweetness and her newfound riches. She tells Phil that she will solve the mystery of Hale’s death if it’s the last thing she does. She knows right and wrong. Mr. Colleoni appears in the café for a moment, ordering fruit for his wife. Ida tells Phil they could have a grand time here. Phil blushes, realizing she means they could spend the night together. He goes to get their bags. Ida heads up to her room and undresses, waiting for Phil like a large, blossoming surprise. She nearly forgets Hale in her anticipation of the day’s delight.
Ida is in a celebratory mood following her big win at the horse park. Everything seems to be going her way, and she takes her good luck as a sign that her quest for Hale’s killer is justified and right. For the sensual Ida, the perfect way to continue the celebration is with a little sex. Unlike Catholics Pinkie and Rose, Ida thinks of lovemaking as harmless fun. She blooms into her full self in anticipation of such pleasure.
Themes
