Summer Reading Vent

In my opinion, all of the summer reading books were relatively interesting, but if I

had to choose one, I would choose Dorian Gray. Maybe it’s because his story slightly

resembles a reversed Benjamin Button, or maybe it’s because a he was just a guy who

gave into temptation which most people can relate to. Also, I’m the kind of person

whose guilty pleasures consist of crime shows, lawyer shows, and more crime shows. So

even though he murdered Basil in the very ending part of the book, I kind of felt like

I knew all along that he was going to go crazy by using my television-given knowledge

of murders and crimes, and that kept me intrigued. Although most people saw Lord Henry

as good comic relief, my favorite character would have to be Basil. Basil is really my

kind of character because, even though Dorian treated him like an annoyance, you can

tell that from the moment Dorian changed until the moment Dorian stabbed him, Basil

wanted Dorian to get better. He saw that Dorian was going down a bad path and needed

help, whereas Lord Henry led him right to the welcome mat of the crazy shack. In my

opinion, everybody, no matter what kind of character, needs a friend like Basil.

Although he was a bit stubborn, he stuck to who he was, not who someone (Lord Henry)

made him believe he should be. For this reason, when Dorian killed Basil, someone who

would never turn his back on Dorian, it was clear to me that there was no hope for

Dorian to get better. All the lives that he ruined, or even ended, made me kind of

glad when he killed himself. As much as I would like to know what the book said, or

what the note said, I was really just satisfied that Dorian finally realized that even

though the painting kept him beautiful, it was a punishment. It kept him pretty, but

it made it so he could never escape his sins, but in fact, would be haunted by them.

In a normal world, a person makes a mistake and they get the advantage of learning

from it and moving on; however, Dorian chose to cheat the system, I

guess you could say, of growing old, so in return, he had to live with the memories of

every single sin until the day he died.