The Destructors

Old Misery’s house is a leaning, beautiful, 200-year-old home in the London neighborhood of Northwood Terrace, an area Greene describes as “shattered” (4). The German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, commonly called the Blitz, lasted for 76 consecutive nights and destroyed over a million homes and apartments in London alone. Old Misery’s house is one of the only structures to remain standing in the neighborhood, and it sticks up like a “jagged tooth” (4). T says the house was designed by Christopher Wren, commonly considered Britain’s greatest architect, who also designed St. Paul’s Cathedral—another structure that improbably survived the Blitz. St. Paul was an apostle and is often regarded as the second most important person in the history of Christianity behind Jesus. All of this—the house’s good fortune, its endurance, its designer, and the religious significance of his work—imbues Old Misery’s house with a sacred aura. Considering that the house is dismantled by a young man who professes philosophical materialism, the house may be seen as a symbol of religious institutions or perhaps Christianity in general. Alternatively, the house might symbolize a cultural ideal guided by Christianity.