Literary Elements In The Destructors, By Graham Greene

the genre of fiction there are two categories Literary fiction and Commercial fiction.Literary fiction contains complex characters, philosophical messages and endings are unsettling or unresolved.The other category Commercial fiction is the complete opposite of Literary fiction because the characters are almost always protagonists or villains, the endings have closure and the theme is straight forward.In the short story “The Destructors” by Graham Greene the theme is that seeing others do better than

darkness of destructive selfishness’” is a common theme throughout twentieth century British literature (Thomas). A great deal of literary works contain tenants, such as selfishness, which are supported throughout the stories. These tenants, or themes, can be supported various different ways depending on the literary techniques used by the author. Numerous times the literary techniques common in twentieth century British literature were used to develop the commonly used theme of inherent selfishness

The Destructors is a 1994 short story set in post-world war II London. The passage focuses on the Wormsley gang, a group of teenage boys who spend their days commiting harmless crimes. As everything has been destroyed through the bombings in world war II , only one house stands with minimal damage. This house is owned by Mr. Thomas, also known as "old misery" by the wormsley gang. During the course of the passage the wormasley gang decides to break into Mr. Thomas's house and destroy it from the

of people. Selfishness and pride are natural human emotions and and are shown in literature time and time again. In Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad The Company and Kurtz are the embodiment of selfishness and pride in this story. “The Destructors” by Graham Greene shows this theme when T. takes over the small, young “gang” that formed, which is simply the local young boys playing, and he destroys the house that they play near for his own pleasure. Another important piece of twentieth century literature