During “The Adventure Of The Engineer’s Thumb” when Mr Victor Hatherley describes the mystery, no details are left out. All the horrific details are included, which creates vivid images and makes the story seem more believable. Nothing is left to the imagination.
Hatherley tells his story rationally which again makes it seem more believable, and the conversation throughout his story is short, sharp, and factual.
Suspense is caused by detailed descriptions, dramatic pauses and the actual length of his statement.
“The Destructors” lacks this attention to detail, and relies upon the readers’ imagination to provide details, and images of the setting, surrounding the house. The writer has very much concentrated on explaining what the gang are doing, and what happens, rather than using detailed descriptions and dramatic pauses to build up suspense and intensity. During the first sentence of “The Destructors”, it tells us that T. will become “the leader of the Wormsley Common Gang”. The reader is kept in anticipation for a few pages until he actually does become the leader. The real tension in this story is caused by dramatic irony. The fact that the reader knows exactly what is going on inside the house, and Old Misery doesn’t suspect a thing. This is really emphasised, when Old Misery returns from his trip early, and “The Destructors” are still taking his house apart.
“The Adventure Of The Engineer’s Thumb” is given some depth and is helped to be intriguing, by the different contrasts of characters:
Doctor Watson is a respected professional, whereas Sherlock Holmes is a quirky, abnormal detective. Even by the description of Colonel Lysander Stark, your first impression is of a cruel, harsh, military man. His appearance, German accent, and nature are all stereotype factors of a villain. This is shown to be true later on in the story when we find out that he is in fact a professional money forger.
In “The Destructors”, the portrayal of the children as villains committing such devastating vandalism is quite a surreal concept, as “nothing like it had ever been done before”.
The character of Old Misery is a combination of traits. He is depicted as, on one hand, a miserable old man, who is “too mean to spend money on the property”, and on the other hand, a kind, generous man. “I got some chocolates, don’t like ‘em myself, here you are”.
In “The Adventure Of The Engineer’s Thumb”, Arthur Conan Doyle gets across the serious nature of forgery by the fact that one engineer has gone missing, “Lost on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged 26, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten o’clock at night, and has not been heard of since”, and Mr Hatherley nearly lost his life as the forgers tried to hide their activities from the police, and society in general.
In “The Destructors”, the underlying theme is of the crime being a childish prank and the vote to destroy the house, is casually passed without any thought of consequence. “The gang’s got to vote”.
The prank/joke element is reinforced by the lorry driver who laughs at the house falling down, “You got to admit it’s funny”.
In “The Adventure Of The Engineer’s Thumb”, It must have also been very frightening at the time of the attempted murder for Mr Hatherley, as he was being attacked with a heavy weapon similar to a “butcher’s cleaver”; but although he lost his thumb, there was no other obvious long term damage.
Yet, at the end of “The Destructors”, Mr Thomas is left with nothing. His house is a pile of rubble, and all his belongings are in thousands of pieces.
Much is made of the fact that the crime is not personal when both Summers and the lorry driver try to justify their actions and attitudes, by saying “There’s nothing personal”. The gang also depersonalise Mr Thomas by giving him the ‘nickname’ Old Misery. This makes him seem ‘less human’; therefore they feel less guilty about pulling his house down.
Colonel Lysander Stark and Mr Ferguson, the two criminals in “The Adventure Of The Engineer’s Thumb” both have a motive to forge money: They are both making a financial gain.
However, in “The Destructors”, the kids have no explicit motive for the crime they commit. They are not doing it because they hate Old Misery “Of course I don’t hate him, There’d be no fun if I hated him”.
The success of the crime in “The Adventure Of The Engineer’s Thumb” relies upon secrecy, however “The Destructors” are looking for the complete opposite. They are counting on their ‘prank’ being known throughout London. They want “headlines in the papers” about “how Old Misery’s house had been destroyed”. They want “grown up gangs” to “respect” them, and they want “fame”.
Both “The Adventure Of The Engineer’s Thumb” and “The Destructors” have completely different endings, and neither of them is your ‘average crime story ending’, where the criminal is punished, the authorities are satisfied and the mysteries are solved.
“The Adventure Of The Engineer’s Thumb” is the closest to this ending, as Sherlock Holmes solves the mystery, Mr Victor Hatherley has gained “Experience,” and the criminals are never heard of again, which in some ways must satisfy the authorities.
“The Destructors” though, has a very different ending as far as crime stories go: The criminals, or the kids get away, there are no authorities on the case, and Old Misery is left completely homeless.
As you can see, these two crime stories are totally and utterly diverse:
In “The Adventure Of The Engineer’s Thumb” the criminals are professional adults, who are making a living out of what they do; suspense and drama is present throughout, as new clues and questions keep appearing; and there is some justice at the end, as the forgers are forced to flee as their house catches ablaze.
In “The Destructors” the criminals are amateur kids, who are looking for “fame”, and “respect”. To prove themselves and to help accomplish this, they decide to pull down the last standing house on a bombsite; the readers’ imagination is needed a lot during the story, as Graham Greene has focused on dialogue between the gang members and explaining what is going on, rather than using detailed descriptions to create suspense and intensity; and there is no justice – just a lorry driver, who finds the “childish prank” very humorous.