The Destructors, by Graham Greene

In yesterday's class I gave everyone copies of a short story called The Destuctors, by Graham Greene. It's one of my favourite short stories by one of my favourite authors, and was my introduction to Graham Greene when I had to read it for an English class, 22 or 23 years ago. It's from a book called simply 'Twenty-one Stories'


I asked you to think about the questions

• WHO
• WHERE

and

• WHEN

as a basic starting point for comprehending the story. After getting those things clear, I think the question here is WHY. Why do the boys behave the way they do? There are no 'right' answers here, but what impression does the story give you?

Also, did you work out the meaning of 'loo' and 'pinch' before checking them?

There are also some intesting 'sets' of vocabulary that appear in the story: Firstly, there are a number of words to do with houses, architecture and tools. These words might be of interest to you. Secondly, there are several nouns, including proper nouns (names of specific things) that relate to the setting, in terms of the time and the place that in my opinion give the story a sense of authenticity. What are 'the down platform', the Blue Boar, the Wormsley Common Empire, incendiaries, bomb-sites, the blitz, and Southend?

I hope you enjoy the story. If not, don't worry about it! Horses for courses! But I would be interested to know why.