‘Greene believed that there is a moment in our lives which moulds us. A transition point which makes us or breaks us.’ Show how Greene explores ‘the growing pains’ of childhood by referring to any three of his stories.

As children we are influenced easily by what we see around us. According to Greene there was a moment in our lives which “makes us or breaks us.” In the book the twenty-one short stories we can see some characters have a positive moment in there lives while others have a negative one and end up loosing there innocence, the place they felt safe in.

‘The Hint of an Explanation’ is one of Greene’s most effective stories where we see that a single event in a child’s life, can dramatically affect his future. We see the story of a young Catholic boy whose faith is strengthened by a town atheist. When the boy did not want to give Blaker (the atheist) the consecrated host “something happened which seemed to me now more terrible than his desire to corrupt or my thoughtless act: he began to weep.” (46) This moment in the boy’s life change...