The Destructors by Graham Greene I. Anticipation Guide Answer the following statements with complete, fully developed thoughts. Your responses should be no less than 3 to 4 sentences. 1. Why do people sometimes use their special talents and knowledge for destructive purposes? 2. What hardships did the people of London Endure during WWII? 3. What can be fun about destroying something completely? 4. Why will a crowd of people sometimes do things that none of them would do individually? 5. What is it sometimes hard for teenagers to understand what older people value? 6. Why do we sometimes laugh at mean jokes? 7. Do you think that growing up in the ruins of a war would make a person more respectful or less respectful of beautiful things? II. Journal The Rage to Destroy This story is set in 1954, nine years after the end of World War II. During the war, the city of London had been regularly “blitzed” by German planes dropping firebombs, which destroyed many buildings in the city. Years after the war, the people of London still walked along bomb-blasted streets. More troubling than this physical destruction, though, was what many people saw as the moral destruction of society, the collapse of goodness and hope, especially among gangs of young people. Think about you own knowledge of or experience with vandalism. What motivates some people to want to destroy beautiful things? Describe one incident in your life where you participated in, were a victim of, or were just an innocent bystander of a case of vandalism. What happened and how did you feel about it? What were the thoughts running through your head? Evaluate the scenario and analyze below in at least one page of writing. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ The Destructors by Graham Greene Analysis Guide Inferring Motives Each section of this story gives you a bit more insight into the enigmatic and mysterious main character, T. After each section, jot down how you see him, and note details of his words and actions that you find revealing. How do you see Words in the Actions in the him at this point Section Section Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Evaluating the Chart What needs or conflicts do you think motivate T to act as he does? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ Rotten to the Core Images of hollowness – of rotting from within – pervade the story. First, cite these images, and discuss how they apply to the house, to Wormsley Common, and even to the story’s characters. Second, discuss the ways “The Destructors” connects with images of W.B. Yeats’s “The Second Coming”. First:___________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Second:_________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Making Meanings and Shaping Interpretations 1. T.’s motives for destroying Old Misery’s house are important. What motives can you eliminate based on how the boys treat Old Misery and on what they do with the money? 2. What are T.’s motives? Support your answer with details from the story. 3. How are these elements of the story ironic: (a) T.’s special talents, (b) T.’s father’s former profession, (c) the history of the house, (d) Old Misery’s horoscope? 4. A gang is a social group with a shared set of values. What are this gang’s values, and where do you think they spring from? 5. What images are used to describe the setting of the Wormsley Common car-park and its surroundings? How does the setting contribute to the story’s emotional atmosphere? 6. Consider the following excerpt from the story: “. . . they worked with the seriousness of creators—and destruction after all is a form of creation. A kind of imagination had seen this house as it had now become.” Do you think it expresses the story’s theme? Explain. 7. When Blackie asks T. whether he hates Mr. Thomas, T. answers, “Of course I don’t. . . . There’d be no fun if I hated him.” How would you explain T.’s answer? Do you think children are capable of this kind of cruelty? Explain.
