In our days, material goods have a bigger importance than ever before, especially in the western capitalistic society. Because of this fact we can easier forget what is really important in life. In this short story “The Decline of the West” written by Hanif Kureishi, which was published in 2010 in Collected Stories, we meet a family who is characterized by this society, and therefor cannot see the real values in life, such as love.
The short story takes place in the edge of London’s finer quarters; here we meet Mike who just has been fired from his work in the financial world. Mike rarely work less than twelve hours a day, therefor he has a complicated relationship with his family because he sees his them a lot less than he maybe should. Actually the au pair has a better relationship with Mike’s two sons than he does. Mike believes buying martial good for his children, can stop the unhealthy and complicated relationship in the family, but actually it is just getting worse. The feeling of being neglected by a parent still shows by the two boys; Tom and Billy. The way they are getting raised, just give them an unhealthy and unrealistic relationship to money and to how the society works. That is also why they do not respect their father, especially the oldest of the sons, Tom. He does not think his father has done anything for him, because Tom cannot understand the fact that you actually have to work to get what you want. ”My television´s broken, said Tom, Why don’t you get it fixed like you promised? What have you ever done for me?”
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