The Destructors

Satire uses humor, irony, and/or exaggeration to ridicule a person, group, or issue, typically one that is a topic of contemporary social, philosophical, political, or religious concern. In one reading, “The Destructors” satirizes English secularism as a gang of boys, the faithful as a doddering old man, and the church—or perhaps religious institutions in general—as a decrepit house. Greene follows this train of thought to suggest to his readers what a secular society without religious guidance will come to. Perhaps with no small amount of reductive malice, Greene takes philosophical materialism to an extreme and suggests secular morality consists in taking rational means (elections, procedures, timetables, etc.) to irrational ends—the pointless destruction of a beautiful and valuable house. The boys’ obedience and organization are almost cartoonish, and—ironically—destruction is celebrated as a form of creation. The story even ends with a bleak but unmistakable punchline. 

An allegorical story contains a hidden meaning, typically achieved through the use of pervasive and direct symbolism. Though “The Destructors”—like many of Greene’s stories and novels—considers religious themes, religion is rarely mentioned directly in the story. Readers learn only that the house was designed by the architect of St.