Choosing my summer book was a daunting task. It always is for me, I never know what book to choose. I always do research on the titles that I recognize and then I usually choose the one that I find most interesting or that has the best reviews. This year I chose The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde because I was really interesting in reading this books, because I thought the subject it covered was really interesting, and also very relatable to nowadays. I chose it, because I think it is really interesting how a story written in the late 1800s can still be relatable to topics nowadays. It was really interesting that a topic of beauty, people always trying to stay beautiful, and doing whatever they can to stay young is as current news now as it was back then. Nowadays, though it is even a bigger issue since a lot of people go through cosmetic surgeries to stay young and beautiful.
The preface in this book is very important, it explains the importance of beauty in the social context of that time, and what they described as beautiful. The narrator wants us to know how beauty is seen in different kinds of arts, like for example when the narrator says “The artist can express anything. Thoughts and language are to the artist instruments of an art. Vice and virtue are the artists materials for art”.
“It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors”. This is a really important sentence, because it can show how art is seen by different people, how art is not the same for everyone and how the same piece of art can represent various things, depending on who is it that is reading, or seeing the piece of art.
As the character show up in the book, there is a little explanation about the character and how they are going to be important in the story. For example, when the narrator introduces Lord Henry and Basil Hallward, he explains the setting they are in and what they do, and then hints how they are going to be relevant in the story.
The extreme life of Lord Henry is criticized in a mild way. What I mean by this is that we slowly see what is lifestyle is all about and not immediately. I think this is a good way of telling a story because it keeps yo interested and it makes you want to read more.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMicki, I think your essay is definitely off to a good start! I can clearly tell that your these is about the importance of beauty and how beauty is discussed in the story you read. You certainly have specify information to support your claims in the form of quotes. My two suggestions are that you should make sure that you cite your quotations with page numbers, etc. Also, you might want to watch out for a few of your comma placements, which have created a run-on sentence or two (I'd be happy to be more specific if you want; just let me know). I think it would also be great if you could expand your thoughts a bit more. Otherwise, great essay!- A
ReplyDeleteMicki--
ReplyDeleteWe did the same book! I really like your discussion of the relevance of an old book in a modern world. Expanding on that alone would make a great paper. I also appreciated that we both observed the limited descriptions of characters. However, I noticed that with this observation and others, you didn't tell us whether or not that was a positive trait in the story-telling. I also think the quote about art and a discussion of notions of various forms of beauty is very interesting. Just keep developing your ideas and you're there! (and like Alex said, go back and check for run ons). Good job!
Nicole