This story takes place in England in the suburbs of London, where a family of 4 lives a rather luxurious life in a 5 story house. The story starts off with Mike thinking to himself “The tube journey had been one of the most desolate Mike had endured, and he’d been looking forward to opening the door into the war hall, hearing the voices of his wife and children, and seeing the cat come down the stairs to rub itself against him” This paragraph proves the point that Mike, who has an Utopia in his head where he can come home to his family and they are all happy that their father has come home, and they can enjoy some family time together, but in reality things are nothing like that. In reality, when he comes home, the atmosphere is characterized as unpleasant because of the non-existent relations between the members of the family. NYT AFSNIT
They hardly ever spend time with each other anymore. In addition to that their materialistic mind-set contributes considerably to the atmosphere. The setting feels a bit over the top, with all their flashy furniture, for example “Mike put his plate on the hyper-shiny elegant dining-room table”. That is again a paragraph that shows their affection for materialistic and expensive stuff intended to make them feel as if they are the perfect family. Mike’s problem is that he is a people’s pleaser, he values private schools and cultural hobbies for his kids as well as going to the cinema, theatres, and football matches. The kids often point out that their school mates parents own big companies and live in bigger and better houses. Thus their materialistic mindset and bad habit of not spending time together as a family is contributing to the unpleasant atmosphere at home. In addition to that the expectations for Mike presented by his family are too tough for him to handle.
Mike and Imogen and the kids seem to be a happy and