Destructors Essay

387 Words2 Pages
The Destructors Question 4 Rewrite Jason Weiss “When you know what you want, and you want it badly enough, you'll find a way to get it.” - Jim Rohn. In the short story, “The Destructors,” by Graham Greene, the gang displays their motives of destruction through certain displays of action. Firstly, in their actions of burning the bank notes. Trevor and Blackie find a large number of bank notes in Old Misery's mattress. Trevor declares to Blackie, “We aren't thieves,” when Blackie mentions that they should share the bank notes amongst the gang. By doing this, Trevor is illustrating that their motives are of pure destruction, not what is typically expected from a different gang. Stealing money would be a normal intent for other groups of delinquents; however, that is not the case for Trevor and his friends. Secondly, their consideration for Old Misery highlights their motives of destruction. In the midst of Old Misery returning to his home, Trevor realizes that to complete his mastermind mission, he has to buy some more time. He conquers this task by sending members of the gang to trick Old Misery into trapping him into the loo. One of the boys states, “We want you to be comfortable tonight.” This emphasizes their driving force of destruction in the way that they do not want to abuse Mr. Thomas and they have nothing against him; their only goal is to destroy the house. Food and other necessities are given to Old Misery to comfort him during this time. Lastly, this motive is demonstrated in the seriousness with which the gang works at their task, and their loss of concern over their leadership. Trevor enumerates to the gang, “There won't be anything left when we've finished.” By declaring this, Trevor clarifies the seriousness of which they work at this task to destroy Old Misery's home. This illuminates their aim of destruction by the fact that they want to
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