Tom and Billy
Tom
Tom is Mike’s eldest son. He is another secondary character in the short story “The Decline of the West” by Hanif Kureishi.
Outer characterisation
Tom is a 15-year-old boy (l. 51). He is a pupil at a private school and is involved in numerous extracurricular activities (ll. 78-80).
He is portrayed wearing a blue school shirt (l. 115). Tom is “taller, stronger and fitter than Mike” (l. 120), and it is easy for him to overpower his father (ll. 120-121).
Inner characterisation
Tom is a disobedient child. Although he calls Mike “controlling” (l. 57), Tom undermines his father’s authority (ll. 58-59) and has a rude attitude towards him, often insulting him (l. 111). He is also ungrateful, telling Mike that he has never done anything for him (l. 64).
Tom prefers to play violent video games in which he murders people, and he refuses to stop, immediately resuming the game once the power is back up (ll. 108-10...