Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray

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Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray - What is the author trying to say about life through this book? Explain why you think so. I am not to sure on exactly what the author is trying to say through this book. I think he is telling us to live a full and moral life. Well I don't think he expects us to lead a completely moral life, but because of the picture of Dorian's soul I think he was trying to say lead a good life. He wants us to know that we can sin, its completely normal, but the more you do it the uglier your soul gets. He's saying that youth is innocence and it fades with age and sin. And since Dorian remained youthful in appearance the portrait became haggard and ugly. He is also saying that other people cause a huge influence on people. He shows this with Lord Henry influencing Dorian from an innocent young man to a horrible person with a youthful appearance. Also media has an influence on people. He shows this through that book Lord Henry gave to Dorian, which consumed him. I think this because as I was reading the book I could see that Lord Henry had great influences on Dorian. And Basil realized this as well. Lord Henry corrupted Dorian with his odd philosophies and views on life. Dorian began to think that Lord Henry's thinking was the only way to live and get by in the world. You see this sort of thing happen all the time even today. There is peer pressure, I don't believe in it unless the person being pressured has horrible friends and no self-esteem, and there is great influence from the media. All of these things are shown in this book. I think that this book is very good, though a little drawn out at some points. But, it relates to some issues of today and I think that it is important for a good book to... ... middle of paper ... ...ff because he is an artist. I was also wondering if anyone put two and two together and figured out that the painting had to do with Dorian's corruption and not aging. Or if they figured out that Dorian stabbed the painting and not really himself and that killed him. I also wanted to know what happened with that biologist or who ever that was that came and destroyed Basils body for Dorian. I wanted to know exactly why he killed himself or why he had to do the favor for Dorian. I wondered what happened with the mother of the young actress and the sailor brother. If she ever figured out that Dorian was the cause of both of her children's deaths. It was a good book though, even if these questions were left unanswered. I personally think that there should have been an after-word or something like that at the end, but there wasn't and there's nothing I can do about it.

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