G. Greene & D.H. Lawrence

The Destructors & The Rocking-Horse Winner

Destruction as a disparity between rich and poor

Destruction as a disparity between young and old

Destruction as a product of social environment

Destruction as a disparity between rich and poor

Destruction as a disparity between young and old

Destruction as a product of social environment

The Destructors & The Rocking-Horse Winner

The two short stories under examination here, Graham Greene's The Destructors and D. H. Lawrence's The Rocking-Horse Winner, are very similar in theme. They both present destruction as a result of the disparity between rich and poor, young and old and as a product of social environment.

In Greene's The Destructors we are presented with a group of boys known as the Wormsley Common gang. Mike, Blackie and Trevor (known as T) are the main characters and Blackie and T jockey for leadership of the gang as they go about their fairly harmless pranks. However, these boys eventually come to completely demolish the home of an elderly man named Mr. Thomas. Mr. Thomas treats the young boys kindly, but they view him as suspect. When he gives them chocolates, one of the boys says, "Bet someone dropped them and he picked �em up" (383). However, the boys eventually plan to destroy Mr. Thomas' house because it represents an unfair monument of wealth to them. In t

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Rocking Horse & Destructors .... Greene, G. "The Destructors." In Stratford, P. (ed.) The Portable Graham Greene. New York, Viking, 1994: 382-395. Lawrence, DH "The Rocking-Horse Winner." In .... (900 4 )

SOCIAL WORK THEORY IN PRACTICE Introduction T .... Greene, RR, & Ephross, PH (1991). Human behavior theory and social work practice. .... Hepworth, DH, & Larsen, J. (1990). .... Hinrichsen, GA, & Niederehe, G. (1994). .... (1752 7 )

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narrowly, as he believed, from destruction" (392). At the end of the story we see the driver who finally pulls down the final remains of Old Misery's house put the situation into perspective. He laughs as if the destruction of the house were justified in such a social environment, "One moment the house 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" (395). In Lawrence's story, it is evident that Paul is eventually destroyed because of the disparity between rich and poor. His mother can feel only the pain of being poor, but no love. Her preoccupation and bitterness over having little money becomes the wailing cry of the house, a cry that slowly begins to drive Paul out of his wits. In a brilliant use of irony and satire, Lawrence has the boy comment that nobody ever speaks the words "There must be more money" but the house is palpable with the sentiment, much like the unconscious but palpable process of breathing, "Yet nobody ever said it aloud. The whisper was everywhere, and therefore no one spoke of it. Just as no one ever says: �We are breathing!' In spite of the fact that breath is coming and going all the time" (37). This i

Category: Literature - G