The gang members in “The Destructors” by Graham Greene are catastrophic children and teenagers who are unfortunately greatly influenced by their surroundings. Set in wartime London, their city is reduced to rubble by bombing. Peer pressure does not help when a destructive environment and a vulnerable age strongly influence members' instinctive human behavior, causing many of their horrible actions. The characters in Greene's tale are different in their own ways. Mike is a childish boy “at age nine [who] was surprised by everything” (50). Trevor, better known as T, seems to be one of the nicest and quietest guys in the "gang". “…there were possibilities about his brooding silence that everyone recognized” (50). Blackie was the gang member who feared that T. was too classy for the gang. “…he was eager to keep T. in the gang if he could. It was the word 'beautiful' that worried him, that it belonged to a world of class…” (53). However, as the story progresses, Blackie is revealed to have regarded T as something he is not. The gang's reunion "every morning in a makeshift car park, the site of the last bomb of the first blitz" has a big impact. impact on their actions. The destruction of the city around them leads T to propose the destruction of a nearby house that belonged to a man known as Old Misery. Blackie begins to seem the more civilized of the two boys when he objects to T's proposal by saying "We would go to jug" and "We wouldn't have time" (53). Greene even writes, "Blackie said uncomfortably, 'It is proposed that tomorrow and Monday we destroy Old Misery's house'" (53). When the gang votes to carry out the destruction, Blackie even considers giving up his leadership. “He thought about going home, about never coming back…” (54). However, he succumbed to the pressure of wanting to belong to this gang and maintain his leadership. After all, he had nowhere else to go. “Driven by pure, simple, selfless ambition of fame for the gang, Blackie returned to where T. stood in the shadow of Misery's wall” (54). The rubble not only pushes children to misbehave, but also desensitizes them, along with the city's inhabitants. This is shown very clearly when T. replies "Of course I don't hate him... there would be no fun if I hated him... all this hate and love... it's cute, it's stupid".