The song that Ida sings in this extract is one that I think she is singing about herself, maybe even something she has predicted herself. The boy is also analogous to the Grim Reaper, a good example of his personality “Spirit of hatred” predicting death. This could be because of the possible insignificance to everyone else in this chapter or Greene wants to point out the image of Pinkie being so young, as a boy, early on in the novel so that weĬan compare it with the image of an older man that we see ‘the boy’ trying to compete with. The character of Pinkie is known as ‘the boy’ in this chapter. Ida also seems to suffer from a kind of irony when she might have unknowingly been able to save Hale’s life by not leaving him she went to “wash up and fix her face.” Later in the book we see the irony again when she was about to find out vital information from Cubitt involving Hale’s murder, and she again went to “wash up and fix her face.” Ida is shown to be an almost motherly figure to Hale in this chapter, using her large figure as a protective one and using her experience to shelter Hale from what she thinks is sickness. Throughout the novel, he uses descriptive language and especially in this chapter where it is so important that the reader is able to gain a clear image. Greene is able to portray his characters by giving the reader very clear mental images. ” ‘What’ll you have’ he said approaching the big woman with starved gratitude.” Hale realises when he sees Ida that she is able to save his life: Ida is presented to us as someone whose “hearty sensual confidence goes with a common humanist assumption that she knows what is best for others”.

Graham greene brighton