The Picture Of Dorian Gray: Homework 1

“Your cynicism is simply a pose” (7).  Cynicism- An attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others 

“I remember her bringing me up to a truculent and red-faced old gentleman” (9)

Truculent- fierce; cruel; savagely brutal 

“The ugly and the stupid have the best of it in this world.  They can sit at their ease and gape at the play.  If they know nothing of victory, they are at least spared the knowledge of defeat.  They live as we all should live, undisturbed, indifferent, and without disquiet.  They neither bring ruin upon others, nor ever receive it from alien hands” (6).

I found this quote to be very interesting.  If you are too stupid to know good things then you will never know bad things.  That is a very interesting way of looking at life.  If this is how I do not know why Basil would think this way.  The ugly and stupid are obviously far behind the rest of the world.  They are really looked down upon by the rest of society.  The only way this quotation seems to make sense is that the stupid are just too stupid to realize they are under par and continue to live their life at ease.  Everyone else is so concerned with what they do, and how they are perceived by others that they continuously stress themselves over little things in life.  

“There is no such thing as good influence, Mr. Gray.  All influence is immoral […] to influence a person is to give him one’s own soul.  He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn his natural passions.  His virtues are not real to him” (20).

Basil is afraid that Lord Henry will have a negative influence on Dorian.  Basil has an obsession with Dorian Gray and does not want Lord Henry to corrupt his friend’s mind.  He says that there is no good influence, only bad since it changes the mindset of the influenced person.  It is not good for the person to be influenced and to believe something that is not their natural thoughts because it may change how they feel or react to different situations, as we see later in chapter two.  Dorian Gray is influenced by Lord Henry’s conversation and thinks negatively about the painting because it will stay youthful forever while he continues to grow older.