Graham Greene’s novel ‘Brighton Rock’ has a reoccurring theme of male identity and how the protagonist Pinkie acts as if he is very masculine through the fact that he is in a gang, a leader of men and is aggressive suggests that he very masculine; however, his name ‘Pinkie’ contrasts this approach and so does his appearance. In addition, Ida is portrayed as being masculine through her free will and her persistence in finding out who murdered Hale.
Firstly, the reader get an inclination that ‘The Boy’ Pinkie isn’t actually a ‘man’ this is through the use of the caesura which creates a pause between the word ‘man’ which makes the reader think that he isn’t a man at all which reduces his masculinity. This would interest the reader because Pinkie who is a leader of men; who is considered to be very aggressive is still a boy and not even a man. The reader can interpret this in two ways: either Pinkie is very masculine or even though he is a boy he should be treated like a man because of the way he behaves, or a reminder to the audience that he is still only a child and he shouldn’t be getting all the attention that a ‘man’ does which as a result emasculates him. Moreover, Pinkie with his ironically childish nickname is constantly frustrated when people do not take him seriously and the repetition of his nickname ‘the Boy’ makes the audience feel that not only does the narrator not value him enough to call him by his real name, but it also forces a sense of mistaken identity. In addition, men are perceived as being the dominant gender and therefore have power over women and this is evident in the dialogue between Pinkie and Rose. Rose says that she wants to leave; however Pinkie uses assertion by saying “You won’t go home. You’ll stay with me. I need exercise.” This highlights the masculine trait and the male identity of being in command and in actual fact selfish. Pinkie