“The destroyers” by Graham Greene and “The winner of the rocking horse” by DH Lawrence, are in many ways totally different but also very similar in others. Both famous stories were written by British men just after World War II. Britain had been ravaged by war, so the actual setting and time period for these authors was identical. We will examine the main characters, themes, and settings of these two extraordinarily well-written stories. We will first discuss the main theme of both of these tales so that you can know how to approach them in the future. Both stories are primarily centered around children. Lawrence develops his characters a little more than the characters Greene gives us insight into. Greene actually only develops Trevor, called "T" in the story, and Mr. Thomas, who is called Old Misery. "T" is the new kid in town who quickly becomes the leader of the gang. Mr. Thomas lives in a rickety old house which is the only one left on the street. The Wormsley gang decides to destroy Old Misery's house. In Lawrence's “The Rocking Horse Winner,” Paul is the central figure of the story and his family must deal with the effects of poverty. Paul's mother strongly believes in luck so naturally; Paul strives to find his fortune on his own. The mother equates luck with money, as we see the phrase “…there must be more money…there must be more money,” over and over again. Paul has become aware of the façade that his mother loves him when in reality she doesn't really care about him. We see Paul become obsessed with money so he can receive some resemblance of love from his mother. Both houses in these two stories are very important and contribute to the plot. Both are in the center of the card... rocking horse in the middle of the night. He wanted to find the winner of the race so badly that he literally rode until he died. "The Destructors" ends with Mr. Thomas' house being completely destroyed when a car hits it. It is very ironic that it was children, and not bombs from a world war, that caused the destruction of Mr. Thomas' house. Both stories are evidence of what happens when greed and materialism consume people. Greene made it clear that the Wormsley gang hates Mr. Thomas for his greed, which ultimately leads to the destruction of his home. Paul should not have died tragically in “Rocking Horse Victor.” If anything, Paul's mother deserved a horrible death, not her innocent son. These stories are a perfect example of the simple truth that greed can and will destroy the people and things we value most in our lives..