The Destructors quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Which literary categories best describe "The Destructors"?

   • Gothic Horror, Haunted Houses & Dread
   • Detective Fiction, Clues & a Solved Crime
   • Correct answer: Postwar Fiction, Realism & Literary Fiction
   • Fantasy, Magic & Enchanted Other Worlds
   • Adventure, Boys' Heroics & a Happy Ending

   Postwar Fiction, Realism & Literary Fiction is the best fit. The story is set in a London still marked by the wartime bombing, it shows ordinary people and places in plain detail, and it leaves readers with hard questions about motive, class and what the boys have done.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Why does the gang call the new recruit T. instead of using his first name, Trevor?

   • His first name is a secret that he refuses to tell any of the others
   • Correct answer: Using the name Trevor would leave them no excuse not to laugh at it
   • The gang's rules give every member one letter instead of a name
   • Blackie gives him the initial as a mark of rank within the gang

   T. gives his first name only because the gang's rules require it, and he says it calmly, as a plain fact. The narrator explains that "they substituted the initial because otherwise they had no excuse not to laugh at it." Many readers take the name as a sign that T. comes from a more refined family than the others. It matters later: when T.'s plan falters, Summers uses the name Trevor to mock him.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What does the narrator tell us about T.'s father?

   • He is a builder who once worked on Old Misery's house
   • He died in the bombing when T. was still a small child
   • He is a policeman whose beat runs along the main road
   • Correct answer: He was once an architect, and now he works as a clerk

   The narrator says that T.'s father, "a former architect and present clerk," had come down in the world, and that his mother considered herself better than the neighbors. The story never connects these facts to the plan. Many readers see a link: a boy whose family has lost its standing, and whose father once designed buildings, sets out to destroy a fine old house. That is a reading, not something the text states.

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4. 4

   Question 4. According to T., who does his father say built Old Misery's house?

   • Correct answer: Wren, the man who built St Paul's
   • Old Misery, back when he was a builder
   • T.'s father, before he became a clerk
   • A famous builder whose name T. forgets

   T. startles the gang by saying, "Wren built that house, father says." When someone asks who Wren is, he answers that Wren is the man who built St Paul's. The text never confirms the claim: it is T.'s report of what his father says. Blackie brushes it aside, since to him the house is only Old Misery's.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Old Misery gives Blackie, Mike and Summers three packets of Smarties. How does the gang respond?

   • They thank him and promise to stop playing beside his wall
   • They share the sweets out evenly among the whole gang
   • Correct answer: They spend the whole morning bouncing balls on his wall
   • They leave the sweets untouched on his front doorstep

   The gang tries to explain the gift away. One boy guesses he found the sweets, another that he stole them and got scared, and Summers calls them a bribe to stop the boys bouncing balls on his wall. Blackie answers, "We'll show him we don't take bribes," and they spend the whole morning bouncing balls. Some readers see the gift as a lonely old man reaching out; the gang can see it only as a trick.

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6. 6

   Question 6. T. tells the gang that Old Misery's is "a beautiful house." Why does that word worry Blackie?

   • Correct answer: To him it belongs to a posh class world the boys only see mocked
   • It hints that T. means to move into the house when the old man dies
   • It suggests T. has already taken the house's most valuable things
   • It shows T. has made friends with Old Misery behind the gang's back

   The narrator says, "It was the word beautiful that worried him." To Blackie the word belongs to a class world the boys know only from a comic act at the Wormsley Common Empire, where a man in a top hat and a monocle, with a posh accent, is made fun of. Blackie is even tempted to mock T. by calling him Trevor, old chap. The word shows that T. sees the house in a way the rest of the gang does not.

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7. 7

   Question 7. Match the term to its meaning in the story: "Nobody's going to pinch things."

   • To squeeze something hard between two fingers
   • To break something to pieces on purpose
   • To save money by spending as little as possible
   • Correct answer: To steal something, usually something small

   To pinch is British slang for to steal. Blackie asks T. whether he took anything from Old Misery's, and T. says no. A break-in would be a daring exploit, but stealing would be thieving, and Blackie wants no trouble in court. T. holds to the same rule later, when he refuses to share the old man's money.

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8. 8

   Question 8. How does T. take the leadership of the gang from Blackie?

   • T. beats Blackie in a fight at the back of the car-park
   • The gang counts hands, and T.'s plan wins by one vote
   • Correct answer: Blackie puts T.'s plan to a vote, and T. declares it carried
   • Blackie resigns and names T. as the gang's next leader

   Blackie, uneasy, puts the plan to the gang: tomorrow and Monday they will destroy Old Misery's house. Joe cries Here, here, Blackie asks who is in favor, and T. simply announces, "It's carried." The text gives no count of hands. The narrator adds that this was the end of Blackie's leadership.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Match the term to its meaning in the story: "Driven by the pure, simple and altruistic ambition of fame for the gang, Blackie came back"

   • Selfish, aimed at winning praise for oneself
   • Correct answer: Unselfish, aimed at the good of others
   • Generous, quick to give money and gifts
   • Cautious, careful to stay out of danger

   Altruistic means unselfish: wanting good for others rather than for oneself. After losing the vote, Blackie thinks of going home and never coming back, but the gang's fame matters more to him than his pride. He pictures headlines in the papers and the respect of the grown-up gangs. Do not confuse it with generous, which usually means giving money or gifts.

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10. 10

    Question 10. Who says that "destruction after all is a form of creation"?

    • T., as he gives the gang its orders for the day
    • Blackie, when he first sees the plan at work
    • Mr Thomas, as he sits locked in for the night
    • Correct answer: The narrator, describing the boys at their work

    The line belongs to the narrator, not to any of the boys. On the Sunday, as light streams in through the closed shutters, the narrator says the boys worked with the seriousness of creators, and adds that a kind of imagination had seen the house as it had now become. Readers take this in more than one way. Some see real craft in the boys' planning and teamwork; others think the narrator is showing how the work feels to the boys, not approving of it.

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11. 11

    Question 11. T. finds Old Misery's savings in the house. What do he and Blackie do with the pound notes?

    • Correct answer: They burn them one by one, taking turns
    • They share them out among the whole gang
    • They hide them to spend on the gang later
    • They put them back inside the mattress

    On Sunday evening T. pulls bundles of pound notes from his pockets, seventy in all, which Mike missed when he ripped out the mattress. Blackie asks whether they will share them, and T. answers, "We aren't thieves." Nobody, he says, is going to steal anything from this house. Instead he and Blackie take turns burning the notes one by one. Many readers see the burning as a sign that T. cares nothing for money, but the story never explains it.

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12. 12

    Question 12. Over the burning notes, Blackie asks whether T. hates Old Misery a lot. What does T. answer?

    • Yes, because the old man is too mean to spend his money
    • Correct answer: No, because there would be no fun if he hated him
    • Yes, because the old man once chased the gang away
    • No, because he feels sorry for a lonely old man

    T. says that of course he does not hate the old man, since there would be no fun in it if he did. Then he waves away hate and love as soft, as hooey, and adds, "There's only things, Blackie." Whatever drives T., the text has him deny that it is hatred of Old Misery. Many readers find this cool answer more unsettling than hate would be.

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13. 13

    Question 13. Mike runs back to warn the gang that Old Misery is coming home early. Why is the old man coming back?

    • A neighbor sent word to him that boys were in his house
    • He had left the key to his front door behind at home
    • He could find no room to stay the night at Southend
    • Correct answer: He said it was too cold and wet down at Southend

    Mike whistles at the back door with the warning. He says the old man was down at Southend and was on the train coming back, and he passes on the reason: "Said it was too cold and wet." The old man is about five minutes away, and the house is still standing.

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14. 14

    Question 14. As T. begins to plead with the gang, how does Summers try to break his hold on them?

    • Correct answer: He mocks T. and calls him by his real name, Trevor
    • He threatens to tell Old Misery who planned it all
    • He calls for a new vote to end the whole plan now
    • He runs off to fetch the police from the main road

    When T. begs for a minute to fix things, he has lost the mystery that gave him his power. Summers mimics his please and then strikes with the fatal name: "Run along home, Trevor." T. stands like a boxer knocked groggy against the ropes. Before the gang can laugh, Blackie pushes Summers backward and offers to watch the front, and the narrator says Blackie was the leader again.

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15. 15

    Question 15. Match the term to its meaning in the story: "But his authority had gone with his ambiguity."

    • A double meaning hidden in the words a person chooses
    • A calm confidence that never shows a moment of doubt
    • Correct answer: An air of mystery, so that no one can predict his actions
    • A strict fairness in how he treats every member alike

    Here ambiguity means the air of mystery around T.: nobody could tell what he would do next, and that unpredictability gave him his hold on the gang. Once he pleads like any other boy, the mystery is gone and his power goes with it. The word's more common sense, a double meaning in words, does not fit this sentence.

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16. 16

    Question 16. How does the boy who runs out from the car-park get Mr Thomas into his own garden?

    • He says burglars have broken into the old man's kitchen
    • Correct answer: He says one of the gang is stuck in the old man's loo
    • He says the old man's garden wall has just fallen down
    • He says a fire has started at the back of the old house

    The boy tells him, "One of us got taken short, and we thought you wouldn't mind, and now he can't get out." To be taken short is to need a toilet suddenly. Meanwhile a boy yells and yells from the loo; T. had told Mike to hide beside it and shout when he heard a whistle. The boy talks the old man over his own garden wall, and at the loo door a hand pushes him in and the key is turned. The boy says the old man once showed him the house, which implies he is T., though the text never names him.

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17. 17

    Question 17. What does the voice pass to Mr Thomas through the hole in the loo door?

    • A candle, then a flask of hot tea and some bread
    • His bag, then a note telling him to keep quiet
    • Correct answer: A blanket, then buttered penny buns and sausage-rolls
    • A pillow, then a bottle of water and some chocolates

    Later that night a voice passes a blanket through the star-shaped hole, then buttered penny buns and sausage-rolls, adding, "We don't want you to starve, Mr Thomas." The text never says whose voice it is. Earlier the voice promised that they would not hurt him if he stayed quiet.

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18. 18

    Question 18. How does the house finally come down?

    • The gang knocks out the last wall with Blackie's sledge-hammer
    • A heavy storm in the night washes away the weakened mortar
    • Builders from down the street pull it down early by mistake
    • Correct answer: A rope from a strut to the lorry pulls it as the driver leaves

    At seven the next morning the driver backs his lorry against the great wooden prop that holds up the house, so that he can drive straight out. As he pulls away, the lorry is checked for a moment and then goes on to a long rumbling crash: "There was no house beside the car-park, only a hill of rubble." On the back of his lorry he finds a rope still twisted round part of a wooden strut. The story implies the gang tied it there so the lorry would pull down the house they had left balanced on a few inches of mortar.

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19. 19

    Question 19. The driver ends the story by saying, "There's nothing personal, but you got to admit it's funny." Who said nothing personal to Mr Thomas before?

    • Correct answer: The voice that passed a blanket through the loo door
    • T., on the day the old man showed him round the house
    • Blackie, when the old man handed over the sweets
    • His horoscope, which he had read the day before

    The night before, the voice that passed the blanket through the hole told Mr Thomas the very same thing: there was nothing personal, and the boys wanted him to be comfortable. The driver's words repeat that phrase. The echo is in the text; whether it links the boys and the laughing driver on purpose is a reading. The horoscope warned only of a serious crash.

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20. 20

    Question 20. Which of these events actually happened in the story?

    • T. breaks a window to get into Old Misery's house the first time.

      Didn't happen

      When Blackie asks whether he broke in, T. says no: "I rang the bell." He asked to see the house, and the old man showed it to him.

    • Mike cuts the wires, so the lights in the house stop working.

      Happened

      On Sunday Mike sits on the floor clipping the wires. That evening, when Blackie and T. touch a switch, nothing works: "Mike had done his job thoroughly."

    • T. and Blackie share the old man's money with the rest of the gang.

      Didn't happen

      T. refuses to share the notes, because the boys are not thieves: "Nobody's going to steal anything from this house." He and Blackie burn them instead.

    • Joe drops a penny into the rubble of the hollowed-out house.

      Happened

      On Monday evening, as the boys look down the great hollow of the house, Joe says Cor and "dropped a penny down into the dry rubble-filled well."

    • Blackie leaves the gang for good after losing the vote.

      Didn't happen

      He thinks of going home and never returning, but he comes back, driven by his wish for fame for the gang. He brings the big saw and the sledge-hammer on Sunday: "You've really done it," he tells T. with awe.

    • The police arrive at the house before it comes down.

      Didn't happen

      No police appear in the story. When Mike whistles at the back on Monday, Summers asks, "The bogies?" (slang for the police), but Mike's news is that Old Misery is coming home.

    • Summers is sent to watch the road for passers-by on the last night.

      Happened

      Before the most dangerous task of all, out at the edge of the bomb-site, "Summers was sent to watch the road for passers-by."

    • The lorry driver refuses to unlock the door of the loo.

      Didn't happen

      After the crash he hears shouting from the loo: "The driver climbed the smashed wall and unlocked the door." Mr Thomas comes out wrapped in the gray blanket.

    • The pound notes that T. finds add up to seventy.

      Happened

      T. kneels on the floor and counts the notes out: "there were seventy in all." Then he and Blackie burn them one by one.

    • Blackie brings a sledge-hammer from a house where builders are at work.

      Happened

      T. cannot buy a sledge-hammer, so Blackie says builders are working on another house: "I know where they'll leave their stuff for Bank Holiday." On Sunday he finds it there and brings it.

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