The Destructors Analysis

Humanity has had several instances falling upon hard times, whether it be war, plague, or natural disasters, and undoubtedly, WWII was one of these instances. It was an ugly 6-year war, where there were an estimated 40 million casualties at minimum. WWII left victims of the Holocaust, veterans, and countries physically and mentally shattered. For a while, Great Britain was one of them. Although they had been part of the Allied force, fighting against Italy, Germany, and Japan, the war left them in an unfavorable economic state. In “The Destructors,” by Graham Green, Greene shows the reader the effects of the war nine years after it ended. He uses a gang of children and an old man to convey that children raised within a poor and violent time

They constantly try to be ‘bad’ like adult gangs. When Mr. Thomas gives them chocolates out of generosity, they respond irrationally, and they say that he does this because “[Mr. Thomas] wants is to stop bouncing balls on his wall.” To make sure they’re ‘bad,’ “they [sacrifice] the entire morning to the game of bouncing” (131), in a pathetic attempt to spite Mr. Thomas. The next day, they plan on taking buses and having free rides on buses. This also conveys that the gang wishes they could do things like adults, wanting to be grown up. After all, they are growing up after a war, where it was regular to kill an enemy without remorse, so they grew up remorseless as well. Blackie, when he hears T’s plan to destroy the house, mulls over the possibilities in his head. He thinks, “The fame of the Wormsley Common car park gang would surely reach around London,” and, “Even the grown-up gangs…would hear with respect of how [Mr. Thomas’] house had been destroyed” (132). With his newfound resolve to destroy the house, he goes along with T’s plan, solidifying the theory that he and his gang members want recognition and fame among the adults. However, even though they are out to impress, they still behave like kids at heart, and are not inherently evil as the writing portrays

The very first example is that “they [sacrifice] the whole morning to the game of bouncing,” but Greene adds that, “only Mike [is] young enough to enjoy” (131). He satirically adds that part to the sentence because of the childish extent that they go to be just like the adult gangs. In addition, when T finds all of Mr. Thomas’ savings, he ironically says, “We aren’t thieves. Nobody’s going to steal anything from this house… We’ll burn them” (134). This tells the reader that, amid their destruction, T refrains from taking the money because he believes thievery is unjust. Later, when T traps Mr. Thomas in the loo, Mr. Thomas is given a blanket and food for the night. T tells him “We want you to be comfortable tonight,” and “We don’t want you to starve” (137). This tells the reader that the gang does not truly have bad intentions with destroying Mr. Thomas’ house, oddly enough, but sees this as more of an accomplishment. The reader is informed that the clearing of this house is a childish whim, and nothing more, because of a scene earlier. Blackie asks T, “You hate him a lot?” when they are about to burn the savings of Mr. Thomas. T answers, “Of course I don’t hate him. There’d be no fun if I hated him” (134), which sounds like this is a form of amusement rather than of something with evil intention. With this information, the gang’s bad deeds are