Symbolism In Graham Greene's 'The Destructors'
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"The Destructors" tells the story of a gang of teens in England, after the war, who want to destruct an old man 's house. Throughout the story there were many conflicts between the two main characters Blackie and T. Through the influence of the main character ‘T’, the gang destroys an old man’s house, for no other reason than to destroy something beautiful. This can be viewed as disturbing, as it is not something most kids would spend their free time doing; which starts to give the idea that the story may be a depiction of something greater. Greene uses symbolism to show that the gangs meeting place as a bombed out parking lot is relevant because the place where they meet up is a site of destruction. Graham Greene’s short story, “The Destructors” utilizes symbols and conflict to display the theme of loss of innocence and power. “The Destructors” are a group of young teenage boys who “meet every day in a parking lot near a part of town that was bombed during World War II” (Smith 84). As the story begins Blackie is the gang leader and makes all of the decisions. Throughout the story his intentions were to keep the group intact. After the blitz, few buildings stand, one of those being Mr. Thomas’s (Old Misery). Mr. Thomas allows T to come inside his house for a tour. After seeing the house T reports to the boys that, “Old Misery’s going to be away all tomorrow and Bank Holiday” (Greene). His absence gives the boys many reasons to destroy his house without him