Watching Without Eyes
Inside you, the secret advisor watches your every move, scanning what you do and controlling your body. The anger and numbness starts to build up inside you, and it uses that to its advantage. Your eyes spot something particularly fragile or just simply in the way, and the advisor pulls your limbs forward. You feel like an enraged bull; everything around you falls away and the only thing you see is the object you want to break. You take it and all the anger and rage inside you is somehow released into the item in the form of obliteration. The advisor is satisfied, and it seems that so are you. For now. For me, I love the feeling of breaking things. In The Destructors, the boys bring down a whole house on purpose. There are all different reasons for people to break things, and in the Destructors, the boys break things to prove something to themselves and for pride.
There are many reasons for the gang in the story to break things. One reason is to prove something to themselves. In The Destructors, the gang wrecks the house to prove that they are tough and strong. One of the main reasons they want to do this is merely because of their age. They are teens, and in a gang. Any teenager wants to seem strong and tough. If they could wreck a house as big as Old Misery’s, they would seem invincible. On page 42, it says “Two hundred years old.” to have a house standing that long and bring it down in a matter of days is astonishing. And if it were done by teens; all the more impressive. It’s hard to knock a huge, stable house down, but the emotional results are pretty rewarding.
Everyone has reasons to break things, just like the gang in the story. Another reason is that it would make them proud. In the Destructors, the destruction of the house makes the gang feel proud of their accomplishment. Old Misery’s house is beautiful, and the boys are very impressed by it. It may seem awful, but in a teenage boys mind, breaking something as wonderful as that can lead to bragging rites. On page 41, T. said, “It’s a beautiful house.” The house was big and great, and having the power to take it down is amazing. I usually break things to get them out the way, force myself into choosing the other thing, or to release my anger, but not for pride or strength.
