Violence In Graham Greene's The Destructors

“The Destructors” is the complete opposite of the simple, senseless short story that it appears to be at first glance. Although the plot seems to be center firmly around the organized attack on the house, the true themes can be found when examining how the conflict affected characters individually. Graham Greene presents a tale that shows a seemingly random act of violence in a way that illustrates the tension between the working and upper-class, portrays the loss of innocence in youth, and compares the true nature of creation and destruction. This story is set in the years closely following World War Two. The children in the gang have sprouted up among the dirt and rubble, surviving in the lowest class of society. Instead of feeling sorry

While most children today are sheltered in order to protect their childhoods, the members of this gang continuously find themselves incapable of finding the hope that they need to preserve their innocence. Blackie is the prime example of the loss of naivete throughout the story. At the beginning of the tale, Blackies leadership consisted of harmless petty pranks that were all victimless. When the destruction was first proposed he was hesitant, even asking, “Breaking in- that's good enough isn’t it? We don’t want any court stuff.” However, as time goes on and the intensity of the situation slowly begins to escalate, Blackie gets swept away by the severity of the excitement that came with the demolition. By the end of the story he is fully in support of the plan to slaughter the house. This demonstrates the loss of both innocence and hope that Blackie and the other young people in the gang find both in themselves and the world around

The boys in the gang are not destroying Mr. Thomas’ home out of hatred or spite. In fact when T is asked if he hates Mr. Thomas he answers with a frank, “Of course I don’t hate him,” because “There’d be no fun if I hated him.” The gang isn’t demolishing the mansion out of mock imitation either. There is no mention anywhere is the story that the boys have an older gang or mentors that they are trying to impress or copy. The team simple seems to be working together to accomplish their goal. The amount of careful time and frantic passion that they put into this project makes it clear that this is no game to these boys. This organized chaos is their creation, their piece of art. Isn’t the motivation behind most art pieces to make your mark, prove a point, and have your voice be heard? The only way that these boys have ever seen something really make a mark is through the destruction. The bombing and war around them has taught them that there is no better way to be heard and express their frustrations than through destruction- fueling the pride and effort that they put into recking havic on Mr. Thomas’