Sometimes I'll say No. Won't feel like it. And you come in at the front door and out at the back. No garden walls. I've got to be careful. There's loose stones here. Give me your hand. Do you know what my horoscope said yesterday? Danger of serious crash. There was no reply. Here, you, come out,' Mr Thomas said, and giving a great jerk at the door he nearly fell on his back when it swung easily open. A hand first supported him and then pushed him hard.
His head hit the opposite wall and he sat heavily down. His bag hit his feet. A hand whipped the key out of the lock and the door slammed. A voice spoke to him softly through the star-shaped hole in the door.
Mr Thomas put his head between his hands and pondered. He had noticed that there was only one lorry in the car-park, and he felt certain that the driver would not come for it before the morning. Nobody could hear him from the road in front and the lane at the back was seldom used. Anyone who passed there would be hurrying home and would not pause for what they would certainly take to be drunken cries. And if he did call 'Help', who, on a lonely Bank Holiday evening, would have the courage to investigate?
Mr Thomas sat on the loo and pondered with the wisdom of age. After a while it seemed to him that there were sounds in the silence - they were faint and came from the direction of his house. He stood up and peered through the ventilation-hole - between the cracks in one of the shutters he saw a light, not the light of a lamp, but the wavering light that a candle might give.
Then he thought he heard the sound of hammering and scraping and chipping. He thought of burglars - perhaps they had employed the boy as a scout, but why should burglars engage in what sounded more and more like a stealthy form of carpentry? Mr Thomas let out an experimental yell, but nobody answered. The noise could not even have reached his enemies. Mike had gone home to bed, but the rest stayed. The question of leadership no longer concerned the gang.
With nails, chisels, screwdrivers, anything that was sharp and penetrating, they moved around the inner walls worrying at the mortar between the bricks. They started too high, and it was Blackie who hit on the damp course and realized the work could be halved if they weakened the joints immediately above. It was a long, tiring, unamusing job, but at last it was finished.
The gutted house stood there balanced on a few inches of mortar between the clamp course and the bricks. There remained the most dangerous task of all, out in the open at the edge of the bomb-site.
Summers was sent to watch the road for passers-by, and Mr Thomas, sitting on the loo, heard clearly now the sound of sawing. It no longer came from the house, and that a little reassured him.
He felt less concerned. Perhaps the other noises too had no significance. A voice spoke to him through the hole. We don't want you to starve, Mr Thomas. Let me out and I won't say a thing. I've got rheumatics. I got to sleep comfortable. There was only the silence of night: no sound of sawing. Mr Thomas tried one more yell, but he was daunted and rebuked by the silence - a long way off an owl hooted and made away again on its muffled flight through the soundless world.
At seven next morning the driver came to fetch his lorry. He climbed into the seat and tried to start the engine.
He was vaguely aware of a voice shouting, but it didn't concern him. At last the engine responded and he backed the lorry until it, touched the great wooden shore that supported Mr Thomas's house. That way he could drive right out and down the street without reversing. The lorry moved forward, was momentarily checked as though something were pulling it from behind, and then went on to the sound of a long rumbling crash.
The driver was astonished to see bricks bouncing ahead of him, while stones hit the roof of his cab. He put on his brakes. When he climbed out the whole landscape had suddenly altered. There was no house beside the car-park, only a hill of rubble. He went round and examined the back of his lorry for damage, and found a rope tied there that was still twisted at the other end round part of a wooden strut. The driver again became aware of somebody shouting.
It came from the wooden erection which was the nearest thing to a house in that desolation of broken brick. The driver climbed the smashed wall and unlocked the door. Mr Thomas came out of the loo. He was wearing a grey blanket to which flakes of pastry adhered. He gave a sobbing cry. His eye lit on the remains of a bath and what had once been a dresser and he began to laugh. There wasn't anything left anywhere.
One moment the house had stood there with such dignity between the bomb-sites like a man in a top hat, and then, bang, crash, there wasn't anything left - not anything. He said, 'I'm sorry. I can't help it, Mr Thomas. There's nothing personal, but you got to admit it's funny. You know the rules. Nothing holds it up. They could build inside again more beautifully than before. This could again be a home. He said angrily, 'We've got to finish.
Let me think. He had no words as his dreams shook and slid. Then Blackie acted before the gang had time to laugh, pushing Summers backward. He said to the boy beside him, 'I'm not unreasonable. Been a boy myself. As long as things are done regular. I don't mind you playing round the place Saturday mornings. Sometimes I like company. Only it's got to be regular. One of you asks leave and I say Yes.
Sometimes I'll say No. Won't feel like it. And you come in at the front door and out at the back. No garden walls. The Destructors. Plot Summary. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4. All Symbols Top Hat Mr. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. He never wasted a word even to tell his name until that was required of him by the rules. He comes from a wealthier background than the other boys, but his parents have lost their place in society and moved to the neighborhood.
He is also a static character because he does not change throughout the story. Antagonist: The House: Although it is not a person, the house is the force that opposes T. The most significant thing that they have in common is that neither activity serves a purpose other than creating a name and image for the gang.
They pinch rides because they can, not to actually get anywhere. They destroy the house because they can, not because of anything that Old Misery has done. Suspense is created through the fear of the boys that they will not be able to destroy the entire house.
This larger concern is involved. Also, suspense greatly increases when Mr. Thomas arrives early to the house and they have to devise a plan to contain him. The story suggests that destruction is part of human nature. It is infinitely more easy to destroy something beautiful, than it is to create it.
The boys in the Wormsley Common gang are a microcosm of the senseless destruction and total war ideology of World War II. Why is Trevor called T in the destructors?
Who is the antagonist of the destructors? What is the major conflict in the destructors? Why does t want to destroy the house in the destructors? What is the message of the destructors?
What message is Graham Greene trying to communicate with his short story The destructors? What is the importance in the ending of the destructors? How old is Blackie in the destructors? Does the destructors portray a world without hope? What does Mr Thomas represent in the destructors?
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