Music Symbol Analysis

Pinkie fancies himself heartless and hard, and he does often act very much like a man without a conscience. Music is the only thing that can pierce Pinkie’s carefully constructed armor, reminding him that he has a soul which will ultimately either be saved or damned. A devout but doctrinally confused Catholic, Pinkie can’t help but be moved by music, which, in addition to awakening his religious conscience at inconvenient times, evokes in him odd and inexplicable feelings of empathy: “Only the music made him uneasy, the catgut vibrating in the heart; it was like nerves losing their freshness, it was like age coming on, other people’s experience battering on the brain.” As a tourist destination, Brighton’s atmosphere is infused with music, and so Pinkie’s focus on violence is forever being interrupted by misgivings and attacks of self-doubt, all of which he is able to tamp down until Ida Arnold, an amateur lounge singer, succeeds in tracking him down. In this way, each time a piece of music butts into the storyline or interrupts Pinkie’s heartless scheming, it is a reminder of that which is vibrant, sacred, and vital in every person: the soul.