Graham Greene “The Destructors”

　　This is a story of a gang of boys who destroy a 200-year-old house of Thomas’. 　　The leader of the gang is Blackie but one day “T” (Trevor) suggests a plan to destroy a house, which sounds much more exciting and mischievous than free ride idea of Blackie’s. “T” takes the initiative. 　　During the absence of Thomas, the boys began to demolish all the parts of the house: drawers, floors, windows, electric lines, dishes, beds, and staircases with saws, chisels, hammers, and screwdrivers. It takes them a lot of hard work and two days. Finally Thomas is coming back home. They put him in a loo to make some more time to demolish the house now standing only supported by the walls. In the end, a lorry tied to the walls by a rope pulls the house and crashes it down to the ground. 　　As the lorry driver says to Thomas, “There’s nothing personal, but you got to admit it’s funny,” this is a funny story. I couldn’t help laughing at the last scene. I felt sorry for Thomas, but the funny factor was much bigger than sympathy. 　　To destroy something completely gives you satisfaction. Greene knows the reader’s psychology when Thomas is coming. His development of the story resembles that of a movie director Yoji Yamada. Greene skillfully inserted the scene of Thomas’ return, arousing the reader to want “T” to successfully carry out his destruction plan. Every reader is on the side of “T” with little sympathy for Thomas. Why? Because Greene draws the reader’s mind so well to “T” that near the end of the story the reader identifies himself with Trevor himself. 　　Greene may have put some meaning in the story, probably the destruction of tradition to build a new system, but a superficial reading alone is amusing. 　　Graham Greene’s English is not so complicated. He uses rather easy words and grammatical structures so that I read the story with less difficulty compared to reading other stories. 　　I would like to read “Twenty-One Stories” by Graham Greene. Henry Graham Greene OM, CH (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world. Greene was notable for his ability to combine serious literary acclaim with widespread popularity. (Wikipedia)