‘Tony Kytes The Arch Deceiver’ is about a man called Tony who is very indecisive and gets him self into a lot of problems over which women he wants to choose, although he always goes for the prettiest. In the end though Tony ends up with the same girl he had started with.
‘The Destructors’ begins by introducing the characters situations very early, which allows the story to progress quickly. The setting is also described early in the short story, so you know where it is going to lead. The destructors is very concentrated all the way through; as you cannot take any sentences out of it other wise it would not make any sense. Greene has only told you the things you need to know that are relevant within story, and he does not go into to any depth about what the group of boys are like at school because there is no need to. Green wrote ‘The Destructors’ in an omniscient view, which allows him in the short story, too explain exactly what is going on for example ”The gang had gathered round”.
Greene has written it so the reader has to read in, beyond and between the lines. He has done this by giving the only necessary details. All the sentences are varied from being long and short, although there are a few more shorter sentences throughout the short story. The paragraphs are not long winded either, as the pace of the story has to be quick. They do not constantly go into lots of detail, unlike in a novel where there is no limit to what the author can write.
“The Destructors” title is very appropriate to the story as it means “A destructor, a furnace for burning up refuse, especially one which uses the resulting heat to generate power.” If destroyer was used it would not have the same effect as destroy means ruined. You have a reason to do it. The title is important to a short story because it tells you what it is about rather then having to go into a lot of description. The title “The Destructors” is appropriate to the story because the boys are destructive. They have no feelings towards anybody else.
“Tony Kytes Arch Deceiver” starts off the same as “The Destructors” by introducing the scene and the character of the story in the first few paragraphs. In this story there is only one main character that is named Tony, so Hardy went into more detail in describing him. Hardy describes him by using second person narrative. Tony is described through a characters point of view in the story, which allows Hardy to describe Tony in a lot of detail. He was described as being “little, round, firm, and tight faced.” Hardy also then went into detail about the “seam here and there by the small pox.” This isn’t really relevant, but because he is the only main character Hardy is able to go into more detail, unlike Greene. The story is also very concentrated and like “The Destructors” it would not be complete if a sentence were taken out of it. The paragraphs are also reasonably short, but the sentences are fairly long. Hardy wrote the short story in an omniscient view, which allows him to explain exactly what is going on. There is also a lot of dialogue in the story, which is the same as in the Destructors.
The title ‘Tony Kytes And The Arch Deceiver’ represents that the story goes round like an arch and you will always end up at the bottom.
In both short stories there is a message. Thomas Hardy’s message is “you can’t have everything you want, and you have to make up your own decisions otherwise someone else will do it for you. “The message behind “The Destructors” is “Not to underestimate children.”
Both stories fit into the genre of a short story because of the way in which they both introduce the characters, the scene in the first few paragraphs, and that they have very descriptive sentences which make a very direct paragraph. Both stories also have a moral, which makes the reader read beneath and in between the lines to make the short stories very interesting.
