Your social status in society and surroundings, trust of others and leadership among your peers are all issues that everyone has dealt with at one time or another. In almost all social classes, your status, leadership style and surroundings will always influence others on whether or not to trust you and your decisions. In Graham Greene’s “The Destructors” these issues are faced by the boys in the gang.
At the very beginning of the story, Trevor or “T”, a teenage boy and “latest recruit” becomes the new leader of the Wormsley Common Gang in a short amount time. The strong leadership characteristics inside him are mentioned early on. For example, Trevor’s “brooding silence” and that he “never wasted a word even to tell his name until it was required until that was required of him by the rules” (1).…show more content… Trust is the essence of any relationship. This is true in romances, families, and also in gangs. For a gang to function as one, they need to have trust in one another and those they chose to follow. They had no problems trusting Blackie as their first leader and then “T” and then back to Blackie at the end of the story. They did not trust the upper class or Mr. Thomas. When he tried offering them some candy, the gang thought “it’s a bribe. He wants us to stop bouncing balls on his walls” and Blackie responded, “we’ll show him we don’t take bribes” (1). “Indeed, Blackie wishes to spurn Old Misery and everything associated with him, but he assumes his responsibility as leader when the gang is confronted by the old man. Significantly, this confrontation is full of ambiguities, mistrust, and failures of communication or understanding. (McCartney, Jesse 31) Blackie and “T” gain each other’s trust and this strengthens their bond and with the gang, which helped in the plot working in the destruction of “Old Misery’s” house. Their lack of trust for him and upper class showed how “negative” things can come from