This article aims to locate a great number of agonized voices in the drama of human relationships, in different ages from different cultures. Many Western writers and thinkers believe that there have been three phases in the way in which the West has looked at the world. The first was ‘traditional,' with religion at its centre and social conservatism regarded as a core value. The second phase was ‘modern.' It began to flourish with the 18th century Enlightenment, had science at its centre and lionized technological progress and social change. The second half of the twentieth century has been the growth of ‘post-modernity' as the third phase, which has nothing at its centre and individual choice at its paramount value. Making this commonality of thought more apparent, a point of focus, with reference to James Clifford's metaphor of roots and routes (1997), will help to develop the article's critique in four key parts, each of which is in quest of the order in life (and art).  Thus, samples of literary genres (play, short story, novel), have emerged from the eighteenth century up to the twentieth century, as they seek to present routes of decline from stage to page. Keywords: Culture, critique, decline, identity, order, politics