In our literature class we read a story called “The Destructors” by Graham Greene. This story dealt with a group of teenage boys who conformed a gang. They always used to do small mischieves, until one day that one of the members, T, suggest doing something bigger; destroy the house of an old man who they called “Old misery”. While reading it I thought it was insane, I still think it is but know I can understand why they did it.

This kids were living in a post war situation, which clearly affected them a lot. War had devastated everything; buildings, houses, families, people, etc. And this kids were raised and lived in this environment. They saw how everything that surrounded them was destroyed years after years due to war. The protagonist of this story, Trevor, is the one who came up with this idea, and also the one who suffered the most. He had everything and lost it due to war. His father was an architect and had a great job. They lived in a house and had a normal life. But after war everything disappeared; his house, his father’s job, and his family too. 

It was a huge impact to see that beautiful old house standing there. Trevor’s life after war had broken down into pieces, but that house was still there. A house survived the atrocities of war and his family couldn’t. That brought a lot of resentment and hatred towards it. This made T propose such a crazy idea and also made the other members of the gang follow him; they were all traumatized, they were all affected by war. 

After reading this story I started to think and realize, how much gangs have changed. The gang that is shown in the story is a group of kids who do mischievous things trying to look for an entertainment, something to take them out of the reality in which they live. Even though what they did wasn’t correct, they have a justification. They are victims as they suffer the consequences of a war they weren’t part of neither decided to start. Nowadays, gangs are extremely dangerous. They are confirmed by adolescents or even older people. The commit crimes and are involved with drugs and murders. Most of them are also victims of the situation were they were born; the inequality and lack of opportunities. But it’s still not justified. I find it very interesting to compare what happened in the story to our reality now; it helped me to understand and like the story a lot.

This term in our literature class we read a story called “The lady in the looking glass” by Virginia Woolf. This book dealt with a woman who did not show herself as it really was. People saw, from the outside, that she was a happy, rich woman who had no problems at all. But the truth was, that from the inside she was a dark person. To show this the author describes the outside and the inside of the house were the protagonist lives. This reflects her inner and outer self perfectly. This story also deals with the fact that the protagonist does not want to look herself at the mirror. The mirror is a very important element in this story as it shows to the protagonist her real self; who she really is. Although she doesn’t like it, although she doesn’t want to accept it, the mirror shows who she really is and is something she has to accept. 

I loved this story very much for several reasons. First of all I am a big fan of Virginia Woolf. I read some her books and I really like them. So when our literature teacher told us we were going to read a story of hers, I was really excited; all her stories/books come with a clear message, she transmits a lot of confidence, power. I had very high hopes for this story and they were definitely fulfilled. 

I loved this story as it made me realize how important is to accept ourselves. It made me realize how true is what Virginia Woolf shows in this story. We all the time try to hide who we really are, maybe because we don’t like it or we are not comfortable with it. We are always pretending we are someone else. Always pretending it’s all good, that we don’t have problems and we are happy all the time. Everyone suffers, everyone has things they don’t like form each other and we always try to hide this to the rest. This story made me realize how important is to stop hiding; to stop avoiding seeing who I really am, because although I don’t want to accept it, I can’t escape from it all my life. Reality is going to hit me and I will have to face the mirror. This story taught me that we can’t escape all our lives, we all have things we hate about ourselves. But knowing them can be a good thing, as we can make an effort to change them, to work on them. 

I personally, didn’t realize I escaped from the mirror until I read this story. I am always trying to pretend and hide the things I feel as to fit within groups. Knowing the things that I don’t like about myself is really difficult as I feel the worst person. However, I learnt that it’s better. It’s better as I can make a change, a positive change in my life. Besides, loving the food and the bad things about me is really important; I consider it as essential. 

This story made me learn and think many things. Made me see my life and myself from a different perspective. Made me see the things that I hate about myself and how to change them. It also made me see the good things I have and I sometimes do not appreciate.