Genre
Thriller
Setting and Context
Brighton, England. 1930s.
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person. The first chapter begins with the perspective of Charles Hale, but after his murder, it alternates mainly between that of Pinkie and Ida, sometimes also with Rose.
Tone and Mood
Dark, anxious, bizarre.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Pinkie, Ida, and Rose (protagonists); the law and its various representatives (antagonists).
Major Conflict
Pinkie seeks to cover up his murder of Charles Hale by eliminating anyone who knows or is trying to find out the truth.
Climax
Pinkie and Rose have sex, and then he tries to make her commit suicide.
Foreshadowing
Pinkie threatens Rose with his bottle of vitriol, which comes to harm him in the end.
Understatement
Ida says that she has "friends" in reference to those with whom she has slept.
Allusions
Pinkie quotes an anonymous poem that begins "My friend judge not me."
Imagery
See separate ClassicNote section on imagery.
Paradox
Pinkie, the most depraved character, and Rose, the purest, are linked by their shared Roman Catholic faith.
Parallelism
Both Rose and Pinkie were brought up through traumatic childhoods mired in poverty.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A.
Personification
N/A.
