History Literature / BrightonRock

** Rose goes to confession in the next-to-last scene, [[spoiler:although the priest refuses to absolve her until later because she openly repentant for some of the things she has done]].

* SpousalPrivilege: A major plot point.

* SuicidePact: [[spoiler:Toward the end, with Ida Arnold still on his case, Pinkie makes one with Rose, so they can be free of the pursuit of the law. It's not clear if he really intends to go through with his side of it.]]
* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: After they have sex for the first time, and after [[spoiler: Pinkie's death]], [[spoiler: Rose]] believes that she might have this.

* GenteelInterbellumSetting: The novel is set in the 1930s.
* InnocentInaccurate: Pinkie realises the next time he meets her that Rose has already forgotten about the [[spoiler:bottle of vitriol]] - which explains why she doesn't understand what's going on when she later sees [[spoiler: Pinkie writhing around, his face "steaming", with broken glass all around him.]]

* ChildrenAreInnocent: Averted, subverted, lampshaded, discussed. Pinkie, 17, and referred to most often as 'the boy' is a complete wrong 'un. Meanwhile Rose is certainly an ingenue, even childlike in her unworldlyness, but her role is far from that of blameless victim.

* {{Confessional}}
* DevilButNoGod: Pinkie strongly believes in {{Hell}}, but not in Heaven because [[EvilCannotComprehendGood he has literally no frame of reference for what it would be like.]]

* AntiVillain: The morality of the characters is complex, but Greene certainly regarded Ida -- the cheerful, open hearted amateur sleuth who takes Pinkie on -- as the most immoral character in the book.
* CelibateHero: Pinkie Brown is a celibate villain, being thoroughly squicked by sexuality and femininity as a result of his childhood. He mentions having considered becoming a priest instead of a crook, and this is entirely plausible given his characterization.
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:the bottle of vitriol.]]

* AntiVillain: The morality of the characters is complex, but Greene certainly regarded Ida - the cheerful, open hearted amateur sleuth who takes Pinkie on - as the most evil character in the book.

* AmoralAttorney: Prewitt, as the one who supports Pinkie's plans and [[spoiler:illegally marries him to Rose]].

* Pinkie Brown in ''Literature/BrightonRock'' is revolted by sex, but his feelings of petty anger are described as "sensual." He has indulged this sensuality as a [[TheBully school bully]] and as an unusually hands-on [[LondonGangster gang leader]]. In one scene, he idly pinches a girl's hand, she tells him he can keep at it if he likes that sort of thing, and he immediately lets go -- her consent is a turn-off. He reminisces about

* VillainousAromanticAsexual: Pinkie is disgusted by the thought of sexual relations, [[{{Squick}} having watched his parents do it every Saturday in his youth]], and feels ill every time he feels any suggestion of desire.

* RaisedCatholic: Both Pinkie and Rose, though Rose adheres to her religion's rules more strictly. [[BlackAndGreyMorality Even then, though, she is still willing to commit adultery and support Pinkie's actions.]]

* {{Asexual}}: Pinkie is disgusted by the thought of sexual relations, [[{{Squick}} having watched his parents do it every Saturday in his youth]], and feels ill every time he feels any suggestion of desire.

One of Creator/GrahamGreene's better-known novels, ''Brighton Rock'' (1938) is set in 1930s Brighton, and describes the fall of Pinkie Brown, a 17-year-old boy who takes charge of a mob. After murdering a newspaper reporter, Fred Hale, Pinkie thinks he has successfully got away with it — until a woman who had been with Hale on the day, Ida Arnold, decides to pursue him for the crime he has committed. He is increasingly driven toward desperate means, further murders and eventually attempting to kill his newlywed wife and himself. He is successful only at the latter.

* StraightEdgeEvil: Pinkie is disgusted by sex, and doesn't like the loss of control involved with drugs and alcohol. He justifies abstaining from them as both moral superiority and remembrance of his similarly UsefulNotes/StraightEdge mentor.

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!!The films provide examples of:
* DawsonCasting: Sam Riley was 31 playing the 17 year old Pinkie in the 2010 adaption. The 1947 version has a less extreme example in Richard Attenborough, who was 23 while playing Pinkie.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/brightonrock_5736.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[TheFilmOfTheBook The (First) Film of the Book]]]]

* StraightEdgeEvil: Pinkie is disgusted by sex, and doesn't like the loss of control involved with drugs and alcohol. He justifies abstaining from them as both moral superiority and remembrance of his similarly StraightEdge mentor.

One of Graham Greene's better-known novels, ''Brighton Rock'' (1938) is set in 1930s Brighton, and describes the fall of Pinkie Brown, a 17-year-old boy who takes charge of a mob. After murdering a newspaper reporter, Fred Hale, Pinkie thinks he has successfully got away with it — until a woman who had been with Hale on the day, Ida Arnold, decides to pursue him for the crime he has committed. He is increasingly driven toward desperate means, further murders and eventually attempting to kill his newlywed wife and himself. He is successful only at the latter.

One of Graham Greene's better-known novels, ''Brighton Rock'' (1938) is set in 1930s Brighton, and describes the fall of Pinkie Brown, a 17-year-old boy who takes charge of a mob. After murdering a newspaper reporter, Fred Hale, Pinkie thinks he has successfully got away with it — until a woman who had been with Hale on the day, Ida Arnold, decides to pursue him for the crime he has committed. He is increasingly driven toward desperate means, further murders and eventually [[spoiler:attempting to kill his newlywed wife and himself]]. He is successful only at the latter.

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:Pinkie has his face ''burnt off'' by the bottle of vitriol he kept in his pocket and runs screaming over a cliff.]] As well as this being the brutal fate he obliquely threatended Rose with earlier in the novel, it's karmic in a [[Literature/ThePictureOfDorianGray Dorian Gray]]-style-sense - he finally looks physically like the monster he is inside.

* GoodShepherd: After the general kicking that the novel gives to Catholic morality, the penultimate scene shows [[spoiler:Rose]] being given real hope by an understanding confessor.
** Not so much, given that that hope is based upon the idea [[spoiler: that Pinkie really loved Rose, and the book leaves her about to find out beyond the shadow of a doubt that he did not...]] The last lines are after all, [[spoiler: 'She walked rapidly in the thin June sunlight towards the worst horror of all.' (not exactly a plot spoiler, but I'd hate to spoil one of the great closing lines in literature for anyone!)]]. The film (also written by Greene of course) has a slightly more 'hopeful' or at least ambiguous ending, one that the more recent adaptation also adopts.

* [[spoiler:KarmicDeath: Pinkie has his face ''burnt off'' by the bottle of vitriol he kept in his pocket and runs screaming over a cliff.]] As well as this being the brutal fate he obliquely threatended Rose with earlier in the novel, it's karmic in a [[Literature/ThePictureOfDorianGray Dorian Gray]]-style-sense - he finally looks physically like the monster he is inside.

** However, despite being disgusted by even the thought of sex, he does feel lust, for instance when he sees Rose's stocking, [[SexIsEvilAndIAmHorny which causes him to feel disgusted at himself.]]

** However, despite being disgusted by even the thought of sex, he does feel lust, for instance when he sees Rose's stocking, which causes him to feel disgusted at himself.

One of Graham Greene's better-known novels, ''Brighton Rock'' (1938) is set in 1930s Brighton, and describes the fall of Pinkie, a 17-year-old boy who takes charge of a mob. After murdering a newspaper reporter, Fred Hale, Pinkie thinks he has successfully got away with it — until a woman who had been with Hale on the day, Ida Arnold, decides to pursue him for the crime he has committed. He is increasingly driven toward desperate means, further murders and eventually [[spoiler:attempting to kill his newlywed wife and himself]]. He is successful only at the latter.