The Decline of The West

Short story by: Hanif Kureishi

The Decline of the West is a short story written by the English, half Pakistani writer Hanif Kureishi in 2010. The main theme in the short story is the capitalism and how material we have become in the West in the year of 2010 and how we strive to gain material comfort ahead of true happiness and greater meaning in life.

The short story’s main character is a forty-five year old man named Mike who is on his way home to his family. It takes place in the upper class of the outskirts of London. Mike thinks that his family will appreciate that he is home early from work, which is not something that occurs since he is not working less than twelve-hour shifts.
Mike seems as a hard-working man who does not spend much time with his family and we get a very negative picture of his family. There is a very cold attachment between him and he family since he is never home. But they can be demanding and the content that fills up their lives is material goods.

At the short beginning the atmosphere and language is described very positive. Mike has endured the most desolate tube trip home and is looking forward to come home to his family and their home which is described as a nice and warm home he is looking forward to come home to; “Opening the door to a warm hall hearing the voices of his wife and children”. Though he has to tell his wife, Imogen that he got fired from his job.
The language is well written in informal language. He writes as a limited third-person narrator, bound to the main character, Mike. We get to hear all of his thoughts. In parts of the text he thinks back at memories such as a conversation he have had with his father, he told him how tough it was during The Second World War and that Mike have not experienced any catastrophe in his life nor suffered.

It is important to have a meaning in life and values and important things that really matters. Without ambition and dreams or goals in life it can become meaningless, specially the capitalism in the West.
It has begun with the industrialism. Where people changed from living together and when the family was the most important thing. Make it though living by working just to put food on the table. There was no opportunity to move in the social hierarchy.
With the industrialism every one started making more money and buy more stuff. It became a common thing for women to work and that took time away from the traditional family life. People began being a little conformed.

The family life the main character lives in has caused that he is in an existential crisis.
The fact that he just lost his job means that he has lost a big part of his identity, since that is what he spent most of his time doing. It could give him more opportunities, more time and a greater freedom but the catch is that he have to be the hard working husband and father for his family. He has a responsibility to his family. They demand even though they are also in big debt.

The materialism has taken over and values and happiness is totally out of the picture. Material good might enhance their lives to a certain degree but in the end it is really not important.
The way we get to meet the family through Mike’s descriptions is that there is a lot of greed, vanity and shallowness.
Mike had the intention to start reading about and collecting wine to but he has not done it yet. His wife encourages him to get a hobby. Mike thinks he is good at giving up things and starting new things it is like they have to have some sort of things to keep them occupied or as an compensation for not to have some greater goal or other achievements than wealth. Mike is thinking about his home and their lives and thinks to himself; “ I have paid for this with my time, intelligence and education the state provided me with.” This says a lot about how the common life is to most people. They invest years on an education they might not find interesting and hours each day at a job that they get tired of but try to keep for the sake of the family. Few people make choices for themselves because of the consequences and responsibility.

The family seems kind of fake, all they care about is material things and appearance. They do not communicate well, Mike wants to tell his wife that he lost his job, which is going to affect the whole family. Mike does not speak up and tell what he really feels about his family because the do not seem to care. Especially when the wife asks if he just wants attention because he wants to talk to her about some thing so important she is just giving the expression that she is too exhausted which seems indifferent.

Mikes thoughts describes that family life can be chaotic but theirs is well organized. An important thing is also that the children have to attend private schools and also activities such as different sports, singing, piano and guitar lessons and language tuition. This is important perhaps to keep the children occupied. They might also be confused as growing up with all opportunities.

In the last decade or only in the last few years there have become an increased focus on the existentialism of today’s individuals and what impact the capitalism has on our society and our next generations. The title; “The Decline of The West” says it all, that we, in the West is in regression through what we think is a positive development. From the writers view it is the exact opposite a decline not development. The world is getting more and more technological established. Many people suffer in their striving for a superficial happiness and more people suffer with stress, depression, existential crisis, or other mental illnesses today. There are so many side effects in the way we live today. I do not think a lot of us really think too much about it. We are too busy.
But could it be a question that either capitalism or materialism has become the idealism in in West.