"...she took care of herself. Her lipstick told you that, the confidence of her big body. She was well covered, but she wasn't careless; she kept her lines for those who cared about lines."
This initial description of Ida establishes her as a symbol of life and vitality. This sets up the contrast between Ida and Pinkie that will later become apparent in the novel: Ida represents life, humanity, and womanhood, whereas Pinkie represents evils such as poverty and violence. Greene suggests that Ida takes care of her looks, creating the first implication that she seeks to attract men (this soon becomes apparent), which later contrasts with Pinkie's and Rose's moral values in regard to sex. Ida is a symbol of sensuality, joy, and life; she represents everything that Pinkie hates.
"As if he were gazing at life itself in a public bar."
Through this quote, Greene clearly establishes the idea that Ida represents life. As Ida is heavily associated with drinking, music, and sex within the novel, it may be interpreted that Greene is suggesting these are the aspects of life that ultimately lead to happiness.
"From behind he looked younger than he was in his dark thin ready-made suit a little too big for him at the hips..."
This presentation of Pinkie reflects his desire to be somebody he's not. The fact that the suit is too big for him symbolizes his youthful immaturity and the fact that his aspirations to become a powerful criminal are unattainable.
"The orchestra began to play: he felt the music as a movement in his belly: the violins wailed in his guts."
This quote illustrates Pinkie's hatred of life and highlights the contrast between his character and Ida's, as Ida is often seen singing joyfully in the novel. Pinkie's unnatural hatred for music allows Greene to present his lack of typically human qualities and his distinct hatred for anything that creates joy.
"'I'll be seeing you,' the boy said, 'You an' me have things in common.'"
This quote creates an ominous sense of foreboding as Pinkie implicitly threatens Rose. This quote also has an underlying irony to it: while Pinkie is attempting to manipulate Rose, he later discovers that he and Rose share the same religious views and were brought up in the same poor area of Nelson Place.
"...a faint secret sensual pleasure he felt, touching the bottle of vitriol with his fingers... was his nearest approach to passion."
The fact that Pinkie feels a sensual pleasure whilst touching a bottle of acid, but an unnatural aversion to sexual activities, clearly demonstrates his disturbed and depraved nature. Through this image, Greene suggests that Pinkie is closest to happiness when he is inflicting pain upon others and taking part in extreme violence. The suggestion that he feels passionate about the acid starkly contrasts with his lack of passion towards Rose, further illustrating his inhumane, disturbed nature.
"The words stirred in his brain like poetry: one hand caressed the vitriol bottle in his pocket, the other touched Rose's wrist." "Life held the vitriol bottle and warned him: I'll spoil your face."
This quotation demonstrates that Pinkie is at times drawn to the idea of a conventional life, and he does have the opportunity to change his life and escape the path of criminality he is on. However, the second quotation illustrates that Pinkie feels trapped by his own lifestyle: he is incapable of change and cannot escape the criminal life in which he is involved. The contrast in these two quotations calls into question the debate of whether people can truly change or if they will always be dragged back by the past. This is one of the central debates in the novel.
"You believe in things. Like Hell. But you can see she don't believe a thing."
In this quotation, Rose condemns Ida for her lack of religious beliefs, while reassuring Pinkie that he is different in a good way because he believes in "things like Hell." Through this quotation, Greene perhaps is encouraging debate on whether religious morality is the same as general morality. While Rose disapproves of Ida and idolizes Pinkie, Pinkie is a distinctly manipulative, immoral murderer, whereas Ida is simply a happy woman seeking justice; this clearly calls into question whether Pinkie and Rose's religious beliefs grant them any superiority, as they seemingly believe it does. It appears that Greene does not share their views and is in fact mocking them through this scene in which their naivety is accentuated.
"And the Boy hated him. He was nameless, faceless, but the Boy hated him, the doll, the pram, the broken rocking horse. The small pricked out plants irritated him like ignorance. He felt hungry and faint and shaken. He had known pain and fear."
Through this quotation, Greene highlights Pinkie's inhumane hatred for any form of life and happiness. Surrounded by the belongings of a normal family, he feels an irrational anger and hatred. This is perhaps due to resentment of his own deprived upbringing, in which he lived in extreme poverty and was subjected to watching his parents have sex. This may also reflect the life Pinkie could have had - and still could have - if he simply took an opportunity for change, rather than continuing down his path of criminality.
"The Nelson Place eyes stared back at her without understanding. Driven to her hole the small animal peered out at the bright and breezy world..."
The reference to Rose's eyes as "Nelson Place eyes" implicates that Rose's impoverished background is part of her identity and not something that can be escaped; to this extent, both Rose and Pinkie can be considered victims of their own poverty. The description of Rose as a small animal highlights her vulnerability and naivety, as well as increasing the reader's sympathy for her as an easily manipulated victim of Pinkie's abuse.
"He had graduated in pain: first the school dividers had been left behind, next the razor. He had a sense now that the murders of Hale and Spicer were trivial acts, a boy's game, and he had put away childish things. Murder had only led up to this - this corruption."
Pinkie suggests that despite the fact he has killed two men, his biggest crime is his corruption of Rose. Through this suggestion, Greene may be attempting to initiate a debate about which is worse: moral crimes or legal ones. Pinkie's manipulation of Rose is not a legal crime; however, it is morally wrong to the extent that even Pinkie can recognize it. Pinkie's deliberate corruption of Rose is also a religious crime and he appears to feel a small amount of guilt for this; perhaps implicating that this is in fact his worst crime. The fact that Pinkie is able to feel some guilt for this might indicate that he does have some potential for change.
