The Picture of Dorian Gray: Week of 2/24/14

*Spoiler Alert*

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My favorite passage from The Picture of Dorian Gray is:
     "There is no such thing as a good influence, Mr. Gray. All influence is immoral -- immoral from the scientific point of view'
     'Why?'
     'Because to influence a person is to give him one's own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His virtues are not real to him. His sins, if there are such things as sins, are borrowed. He becomes an echo of someone else's music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him. The aim of life is self development. To realise one's nature perfectly -- that is what each of us is here for."
For some reason I feel that this passage simply, speaks to me. It made me think, "What if I'm not my own person? What if I'm simply an echo of millions of others who spent there time yelling, waiting to be heard?" I now feel myself pondering every spare moment I have on this thought. I mean, the entire base of our social society is "be yourself," "be you," and "make your own decisions." When in reality we CAN'T be "ourselves" because no matter how much we try, there have been millions of billions people before us, it is more than likely that everything there is to think about has been thought of. I may sound like a pessimistic (I like to think of it as more of a realist) but you can not be you, because you is basically the thoughts of millions of others, in one person/you. This just might be the reason why history repeats itself, because millions of others have had the same thoughts, just simply changed to the specific details of their situation. Oddly enough, I now find myself in a state of eternal metacognition (I don't know if that is a good thing or not) or I'm just being paranoid, but I can't help but wonder how do I know, that I know, that I am being "me" or that I AT LEAST have my own thought process. The entire concept of what I am currently writing is just a bit.... confusing, to say the least.

In my opinion, to evaluate the writing of Oscar Wilde's, The Picture of Dorian Gray, is simply inconceivable (take that as a compliment to the book.) The Picture of Dorian Gray has simply consumed most of my thoughts, most of my ideas revolve around, "When can I read more?" "What were Wilde's intentions when writing the book?" and "When will this class finally end, so I can READ MORE?" Simple thoughts like that. The writing of the book is to say the least, like a cancer. It slowly consumes you, part by part, piece by piece. The writing slowly takes over your thinking, it slowly (unconsciously) influences you, when you realize it is there, it's more than likely too late. You, by the end of reading the first few chapters, have fallen victim to the disease that is the writing of The Picture of Dorian Gray. In conclusion, this book will be the death of you (in a completely positive way.) Jokes aside, the book is fantastic and I recommend it to anybody and everybody.

I have to say, The Picture of Dorian Gray,  does not pertain to a certain group of people. The book can be enjoyed by anybody of any age (above elementary school,) uses several ideas that hundreds of people can enjoy, and uses a bit of humor here and there. I feel that is what makes the book so grand, anybody should and could read it, to some hidden ideas will be more expose. To those who can see those ideas, there will be other ideas you might not understand, but others might understand it. This and more is why I encourage all to read The Picture of Dorian Gray.