56 pages • 1 hour read
Graham GreeneThe Destructors
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1954A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Essay Topics
What does the gang value? What motivates them to destroy Old Misery’s house? Support your answer with textual evidence.
Protagonist, antagonist, antihero: Define all three character types and identify which characters in the story fit these roles.
What gives this story tension? Would you describe the tension as suspenseful, dramatic, comic, or something else?
If you chose to interpret “The Destructors” as a commentary on the Catholic Church’s history of sexual abuse, what evidence from the text could you use? What are the limits of interpretation?
What are the similarities and differences between what the boys do to Old Misery’s house and what the Germans did to London during the Blitz?
In what ways do these boys represent the postwar period of British history?
Why does Summers have such a strong reaction to T’s use of the word “please” (13)? Support your answer with evidence from the text.
What does T mean by saying that hating Old Misery would spoil his fun?
Describe the point of view in “The Destructors.” Is the narrator emotionally responsive to the gang’s activities? What effect does this point of view have on the meaning of the story?
Do you consider the story comic? In particular, is the ending funny? Why or why not?
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