The Picture of Dorian Gray

It's by Oscar Wilde. I made a video about it.

SOOOOO I finished reading this book maybe a day or two ago and I've already posted a video onto Youtube detailing how I feel about it and sort of analyzing it. I don't really feel like writing down another review because I'm essentially going to be saying the same things.

1. Truth is relative. This applies to the individual and to society. I'm linking the concept of truth to that of morality. In a society, there are systems of conduct and governance that serve to enable everyone in the society to function without too many disruptions. This is to say that the practices of the gentry (of being proper and going to people's houses for tea parties and going hunting on someone's land in the country or going to the club or idk not doing drugs and driving ppl to suicide (thanks Dorian)) are to make life livable. While it is mostly posturing, it is an outward display of who you are. And who you are is the root of truth, isn't it? It encompasses your motivations, your influences, your reasonings, etc. The truth is what you know or rather, what you believe you know -- everybody has different backgrounds (Dorian's has very tight brushstrokes and a strong highlight with very light blue accents. what a bad joke lol I'm referencing the painting.) which results in different truths. There is no strict morality because people adhere to different values.

///I'm starting to hate using words like "I", "people", "society", etc. They're all relevant to the point that I'm making but generalizations and personal statements feel like they carry so little weight.///

2. Dorian Gray is a terrible person who is so steeped in his own privilege that he cannot grapple with his predicament in a very practical manner. He's very vain, insensitive and he doesn't have much real attachment to the world. His being the title character is so misleading when trying to understand the story from an objective POV because he is very much a special snowflake. But like, I loved it, it was very entertaining.

3. Oscar Wilde needs a lover. Who isn't 'superficial'. And who could share in and help him progress his whole 'Aestheticism' vibe. The Picture of Dorian Gray has a really nice preface that I feel every reader of this book should read at the beginning, middle and end of this book. I definitely feel like I'm not getting everything I possibly can from this book but I'm alright with what I did manage to extract.

***There are things to be said about the portrayal of science, art, theater, the company Dorian keeps, English class systems, idleness, etc. But, I'm pretty alright with this nice little review. If you have things to say, I'm ready and willing to hear them!

Until the next,
Iman :))))