"There is always a moment in childhood when the door opens to let the future in." Discuss with reference to two stories from "Twenty One Short Stories" (Graham Greene).

Graham Greene always believed that at a point in a child's life, an experience takes place that changes the child in a major way. This is clearly seen in 'The Hint of an Explanation', a dialogue between a child and a man (who we realize is a priest at the end), who recounts a childhood experience, which to him, contains a 'hint' that God exists. As a child, he used to serve at the mass, …

…changes Charlie's attitude completely. The boy also realises that while his father was very similar to him, his mother was 'boisterous and kindly'. It seems to be that the boy might have loved his father more from that day onwards, after spending so much time despising him. Clearly one can see the fortifications which prove Greene's belief about the moments, the hints, in a child's life, which open a door 'to let the future in'.