Essay Questions

"The Destructors" is different from other stories in the way in which the protagonist and antagonist are presented. How?

Usually, the protagonist of a story or novel is the person we sympathize with - the traditional "goody" - and the antagonist is the person we don't like very much - the obvious "baddy". In "The Destructors" the familiar is turned upside down. Trevor, the protagonist, destroys the home and life savings of an innocent man for no particular purpose. The antagonist, Mr Thomas, does nothing to deserve the misfortune that befalls him, and we feel desperately sorry for him. In this story, the protagonist is the "baddy" whom we struggle to like in any way at all, and the "antagonist" is an innocent bystander whose life is in ruins through no fault of his own.

Trevor is almost impossible to like as a character, which makes him an unusual protagonist. Even when a protagonist is deeply flawed, they have a redeeming quality or feature that at least makes them sympathetic. Trevor does not have this. This is a very different presentation of the protagonist.

Mr Thomas is the unwitting fall guy for a group of boys he is nice to, and believes like him. This makes us feel very sorry for him. His life savings are burned. This is not the typical antagonist. The story turns the protagonist/antagonist relationship around, making our feelings about the characters difficult to arrange.

Trevor sets fire to Mr Thomas' life savings. Why does he do this? Would we feel differently about him had he stolen the money?

If Trevor had stolen the money in Mr Thomas' mattress, it would have been the wrong thing to do, but it would have been understandable from his perspective. He is a boy who has grown up with an affluent family, only to see his parents fall on hard times. They are now hard up for money, and because he has once been affluent he is aware of the changes the this extra money would bring to his family. Whilst stealing it would have been wrong (and illegal) it would also have made logical sense, especially given the life circumstances that Trevor was experiencing.

Setting fire to the money, on the other hand, seems so much worse than stealing it. Trevor sets fire to the money as an esoteric protest. He hates the upper classes. He hates the class system. He deeply resents the way in which society reveres money (he is very similar to the character of Gordon Comstock in George Orwell's "Keep The Aspidistra Flying") His answer to this is to burn the money as a symbol of the fact he has no respect for it. In doing so he is also punishing Mr Thomas for what he dislikes and resents about an entire sociological group. It is much harder to have sympathy for someone who ruins someone's life on a philosophical principle rather than for financial need, or even out of revenge for a personal wrong or grievance. Mr Thomas has always been benevolent towards the boys, and patient with the noise they make in the lot next door to his home, which is what makes the action of burning his savings even more reprehensible.

Greene's short story "Alas, Poor Maling" was intended to raise the morale of a war-ravaged London. In what way does he accomplish this?

"Alas, Poor Maling" is a comedic tale that takes a demoralizing situation like the Blitz in World War Two, and puts an amusing and eccentric spin on it. Maling is a man with a strange but entertaining medical condition; his stomach rumbles so loudly that his co-workers believe there is a bombing raid going on. He is very embarrassed by this condition and rather than admit that the strange rumblings are coming from him, he allows his entire company to trudge down to the underground air raid shelter to wait out the "raid" that they think is taking place above them.

This kind of story kept up morale because it helped Londoners impacted by the Blitz see a humor in their situation. The Blitz was a succession of German bombing raids over the dock areas of London, from their air force, the Luftwaffe. Enormous swathes of homes were bombed out overnight, and bomb shelters under the ground were constructed so that people would be safe from the air raids even though their homes were destroyed. There were always too many people in each air raid shelter and the entire experience was terrifying. By putting an amusing spin on the experience, Greene was able to raise morale a little, and also give parents the ability to tell their children the story of Malin with the rumbly tummy, as a way of explaining the loud sounds of bombs falling overhead.