In the years leading up to and during World War II, the world saw many populist leaders, such as Adolf Hitler in Germany, come to power only to lead their countries to disaster. Since the Scientific Revolution in the 17th century, power had been shifting from religious institutions to secular ones responsive to popular opinion. People attended church less often, and intellectuals in the Western world were increasingly more likely to be atheists or agnostics. As a Catholic, Greene regarded these shifts in power with trepidation. Scientific advances and technological mastery call for moral guidance and yet they undermine sources of value and meaning. Ordinary people were gaining more say in government but had fewer moral reference points to guide the use of that power.

Despite being new to the Wormsley Common Gang, T seizes control with ease. He simply does some research, proposes a clear plan, and speaks to the gang’s vanity. Even Blackie, the thwarted former leader, conforms to T’s agenda when he realizes it will make the gang famous, even to the grown-up gangs. This new leadership escalates the gang’s activities from petty pranks to newsworthy crime. Even though the increased risk causes the gang to hesitate briefly, they quickly rationalize, as Summers does, that they’ve never heard of anyone “going to prison for breaking things” (7).