CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR AND THE INDIVIDUAL: A STUDY OF GRAHAM GREENE’S FIVE NOVELS

Abstract

The present research work is a study of the principal characters in five of Graham Greene’s novels, namely, The Man Within (1929), England Made Me (1935), Brighton Rock (1938), The Power and the Glory (1940), and The Heart of the Matter (1948), who are simple and normal individuals, but who, for certain reasons or motivating factors, become criminals, take recourse to crime, or sometimes become victims of crime or revolt against autocratic attitude under circumstantial or environmental pressure. The study explores and interprets the role of the individual in the prevailing environment and highlights the importance of socio-environmental conditioning of human behaviour. For a detailed and elaborated delineation of the psychopathology of these characters, the study draws upon the relevant theories of criminology which are inextricably intertwined into the intricate rubric of the present work, which can conspicuously be disseminated through the viable division of the entire work into eight chapters. Chapter one begins with a discussion of major influences on Greene’s art and mind and does also give a comprehensive account of the major studies on Greene’s writings with which he presents the zeitgeist. Chapter two deals with the theoretical framework in which relevant theories of criminology such as ‘rational choice theory’, ‘biosocial theory of personality and crime’, ‘trait theory’, ‘social structure theory’ and ‘social conflict theory’ have been discussed which design a terra firma for the present research work. To continue, the next chapter examines and explains Greene’s first published novel, The Man Within, where the analytical part of the study begins. It depicts and tries to understand Andrews’ act of betrayal and his divided personality from both psychological and criminological points of view. Chapter four considers how an individual like Anthony Farrant in Greene’s England Made Me is caught up in the web of crime unleashed by the capitalist bourgeois group of Erik Krogh. Further, the next chapter focuses on Greene’s novel, Brighton Rock, and analyses the character of Pinkie Brown and tries to understand his criminal intent behind his deviant behaviour. Chapter six uncovers Greene’s protagonist the priests’ action in the novel The Power and the Glory from Marxist concept of ‘social conflict theory’. The next chapter examines how the socio-psychological pressure as well as personal choice of Greene’s protagonist Henry Scobie in the novel, The Heart of the Matter, ultimately costs his life at the end of the novel. Finally, the concluding chapter begins with a short summary of the present study. Thereafter a brief discussion of the findings of the present research work is presented as simply and neatly as possible.