Meaning of title in „Brighton rock”

“Brighton rock” was written by Graham Greene in 1938. Many people wonders about the
meaning of the title of the book. It can be interpreted in many different ways. I would like to
introduce you to few of my ides.
First idea is referring to the title directly. The title of the book is made of two words that
can be connected to the book in very simple way. First word in title, which is “Brighton” can
relate to the city in which city whole action takes place. Second word, which is “rock” can be
refer to the rocky beaches in Brighton on which is pier build. As we know a lot of actions and
critical moments take place o this pier in Brighton, such as murder of Fredy, taking the photo
of Spicer and death of Pinkie.
Second thing is referring to the kind of candy called rock, it was very popular in 1930’s in
England. It is sold in seaside resorts. Their special sign is imprinted name of the city which it
is sold in, in this case it is Brighton. Important thing about them is that, it doesn’t matter in
which place you broke them it’s special lettering was the same. It can be referred to the
personality of Pinkie, because he didn’t change during the book. It shows how he didn’t
change a bit even under the influence of Rose’s love, which is rarely seen in literature.
The last reason that author could name the book like that is the very accurate description
of humanity that the Brighton rock candy gives to us. It shows like people are always the
same and doesn’t change. If you are bad, you will remain bad and if you are good , you will
remain good. We even can see the direct reference to the title in the book, when Ida
responses to the Rose that says that people change, "Oh, no they don't....I've never changed.
It's like those sticks of rock: bite it all the way down. That's human nature".
As you can see there are few theories about meaning of title in “Brighton rock”. One of
them are more direct and literal and others are more philosophical like comparing the rock
candies to the human nature and personalities. Unfortunately the second kind of theory can
mean that people are deprived of their free choice and possibility to be better. It means that
our fate is already predetermined.