Day Eighty

6/20

The Book: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

ISBN: 1-59308-025-5

Suggested By: Brenda Mora

Where: Home

When: 10:20-10:45P

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 107-162 (55)

The Lead In: Without delving too much into the bs aspect of this argument, the book is really focusing on the worship of beauty. Wilde continuously points out the way in which society values the beautiful.

The 411 on the 55: Basil came by to tell Dorian about Sybil’s death, but Dorian isn’t that bothered by it, instead going to the opera and having a good time. Basil confessed that when he painted the painting, he was worshipping Dorian and felt guilty about it. Dorian began to tell him about the changes in the painting, but chickened out and didn’t.

From there we have a time lapse of some 20 years, in which Dorian “corrupts his soul” by leading a life of Hedonism. He wanders from art, to books, to jewelry, etc. focusing on the beauty contained in each. The painting gets grosser and grosser and he has hid it in a room with bars on the door. Rumors have begun to circulate concerning his debauchery and much of society despises him.

Basil happened to meet him in the road one night. Basil was leaving town but wanted to let him know about the crap people were throwing his way. Dorian laughed it off, but Basil was so insistent, so Dorian decided to show him the painting. Basil was shocked and Dorian spotted a knife on the table...And that was where 55pages was up. Oh crap!

Line of the Day: “It is only shallow people who require years to get rid of emotion. A man who is master of himself can end a sorrow as easily as he can invent a pleasure. I don’t want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.” pg 112

Fact on the Fiction: “Sometimes people are so entirely obsessed with the way that they look, that suddenly the way that they look isn’t quite good enough. Therefore, they decide to undergo massive plastic and reconstructive surgery in order to make themselves even more perfect. This type of person is not your average plastic surgery candidate. Rather, a person diagnosed with Dorian Gray Syndrome will often appear deformed due to so many tries under the knife. Ironically, those that have this surgery obsession often become the exact thing that they are trying to avoid, and they often turn out just like Dorian Gray’s painting – deformed.” NarcissistBlog