Brighton Rock

by

Graham Greene

Charles “Fred” Hale Character Analysis

A reporter for The Messenger newspaper, Charles Hale travels to Brighton as a Kolley Kibber man, responsible for placing cards in shops around the town as part of a promotion meant to attract new readers. Hale, a native of Brighton, is proud of the fact that he worked his way up the ladder from the circulation department to staff writer and has been able to, for the most part, escape the dingy town where he grew up. Greene hints but never explicitly states that Hale is targeted by Pinkie’s gang because he wrote an article exposing Kite’s gang activity which led to Kite’s murder.

Charles “Fred” Hale Quotes in Brighton Rock

The Brighton Rock quotes below are all either spoken by Charles “Fred” Hale or refer to Charles “Fred” Hale. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Catholicism Theme Icon
).
Part I, Chapter 2 Quotes

He only felt his loneliness after his third gin; until then he despised the crowd, but afterwards he felt his kinship. He had come out of the same streets, but he was condemned by his higher pay to pretend to want other things, and all the time the piers, the peep shows pulled at his heart. He wanted to get back—but all he could do was to carry his sneer along the front, the badge of loneliness.

Related Characters: Charles “Fred” Hale (speaker)
Page Number: 4
Explanation and Analysis:
Part I, Chapter 3 Quotes

She smelt of soap and wine: comfort and peace and a slow sleepy physical enjoyment, a touch of the nursery and the mother, stole from the big

tipsy mouth, the magnificent breasts and legs, and reached Hale's withered and frightened and bitter little brain.

Related Characters: Charles “Fred” Hale (speaker), Ida “Lily” Arnold
Page Number: 14
Explanation and Analysis:

She came out of the crematorium, and there from the twin towers above her head fumed the very last of Fred, a thin stream of grey smoke from the ovens. People passing up the flowery suburban road looked up and noted the smoke; it had been a busy day at the furnaces. Fred dropped in indistinguishable grey ash on the pink blossoms: he became part of the smoke nuisance over London, and Ida wept.

Related Characters: Ida “Lily” Arnold (speaker), Charles “Fred” Hale
Related Symbols: Flowers and Dolls
Page Number: 35
Explanation and Analysis:
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Charles “Fred” Hale Quotes in Brighton Rock

The Brighton Rock quotes below are all either spoken by Charles “Fred” Hale or refer to Charles “Fred” Hale. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Catholicism Theme Icon
).
Part I, Chapter 2 Quotes

He only felt his loneliness after his third gin; until then he despised the crowd, but afterwards he felt his kinship. He had come out of the same streets, but he was condemned by his higher pay to pretend to want other things, and all the time the piers, the peep shows pulled at his heart. He wanted to get back—but all he could do was to carry his sneer along the front, the badge of loneliness.

Related Characters: Charles “Fred” Hale (speaker)
Page Number: 4
Explanation and Analysis:
Part I, Chapter 3 Quotes

She smelt of soap and wine: comfort and peace and a slow sleepy physical enjoyment, a touch of the nursery and the mother, stole from the big

tipsy mouth, the magnificent breasts and legs, and reached Hale's withered and frightened and bitter little brain.

Related Characters: Charles “Fred” Hale (speaker), Ida “Lily” Arnold
Page Number: 14
Explanation and Analysis:

She came out of the crematorium, and there from the twin towers above her head fumed the very last of Fred, a thin stream of grey smoke from the ovens. People passing up the flowery suburban road looked up and noted the smoke; it had been a busy day at the furnaces. Fred dropped in indistinguishable grey ash on the pink blossoms: he became part of the smoke nuisance over London, and Ida wept.

Related Characters: Ida “Lily” Arnold (speaker), Charles “Fred” Hale
Related Symbols: Flowers and Dolls
Page Number: 35
Explanation and Analysis: