Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Fishbowl 9-12.

What do you think is going to happen in Dorian's life in the next couple of chapters? Do you think anything will happen as a result of anything in ch. 9-12?

20 comments:

CecilyJ said...

I think that in the next few chapters Dorian will hit rock bottom. He will share his morbid portrait with basil who will be horrified. I'm not sure if Dorian will kill Basil or attempt to, but it was an idea brought up on Monday. I think that eventually Dorian will realize that being young is not that important in comparision to other things. He will regret who he has become and wish for his purity back.

Kyle B. said...

I don't think that Dorian is even close to hitting bottom. He continues to view his portrait with mixtures of hysterical disdain to moments of elatedness about the fact that he no longer has to bear the burden of his worldly acts. He has changed ever so much since his fleeting romance with Sybil and I think that we will only see him become increasingly hostile to those that once cared about him, especially Basil (maybe due to his resentment of Basil's painting or simply because he is a different man/boy). Dorian will continue to pour over this odd book of which he has nine and he will continue to disregard this hole that he digs nonstop for himself. Life will become increasingly bleaker and London will seem ever more gray and cold. Ms. Smith has already said that we will see him increasingly using drugs. I don't think that there can be an ending for Dorian other than death (the ending of the book of course). Right now, Dorian doesn't seem to truly understand the full magnitude of the error of his ways and I don't think that he fully understands the consequences.

samt said...

Dorian is definitely on a the road to hitting bottom, right now he's only beginning his journey to complete realization. I know that sooner of later reality will set in once he gets to a point in his life where nothing else seems to matter, were nothing has a definition. Knowing, like Kyle said, that he will soon begin to get into drugs is a huge highlight to the fact that he truly has only begun his journey in life. I think that in the end, when he has hit bottom, he will have two choices. Those choices will be, he can take all the situations the and all the pain that he caused and become a better person from it or he can continue living a lifestyle that will destroy him unto death.

JoeR said...

It is clear that Dorian's life is going to get worse and worse over the next couple of chapters. He is out of control and is completely blind to the effects his actions has on others and on himself. Eventually, when he reaches rock bottom, I believe he will be rescued by someone "pure" and will open his eyes to how he should really be living his life. Dorian has been continually influenced in a negative way by Lord Henry and it won't be until he reaches rock bottom until he realizes that he was wrong to accept Lord Henry into his life. It think that Dorian will begin a rapid descent to rock bottom in the coming chapters and he will lose all of his morals. His soul will also dwindle away to the point where there is little hope and to the point where it will take help from others to earn it back.

Samantha E said...

I think Dorian’s life will drastically change after the previous events. I think the changing of the painting will motivate him to act differently. This however will be challenging with Harry watching over his shoulder. I think Dorian will be torn between Harry and Basil. Other things will affect his actions as well, such as his other friends and their changing personalities. I think with in the next chapters Dorian will have a miraculous turn around.

afoyle said...

I agree that Dorian is on a downward spiral to the edge of his sanity and, regretably, I don't think he will be able to turn his life around. I think this may turn into "A Tell Tale Heart", with Dorian's every thought being of his portrait; he may even forsake Lord Henry because of it. I agree that he will be torn between Basil and Henry as he already is, but I also think that Dorian may take Henry's teachings into new light and what he sees then will be his own beauty alone, no beauty elsewhere. Finally, I think that Sybl's brother will return and, in traditional Shakespearean fashion, proceed to take vengeance upon Dorian.

rebeccar said...

I definitely agree with the prediction about Sybil's brother seeking revenge. Like we said in class, it is no coincidence that Wilde keeps foreshadowing this. Dorian will continue in his downward spiral, remaining young and beautiful on the surface while his reality grows ugly and old. I predict that before his “tragic ending” as in the journey of a classic literary hero, he will come to a realization about life and beauty. All these years of going downhill will catch up with him, and he will be forced to face the reality of the picture and of his life. Sybil's brother, Basil, and Lord Henry will all play huge roles in the rest of the story because they each represent a different aspect of his life. (Sybil's brother=young love and and happiness, Basil=innocence and purity, Lord Henry=truth, experience, and the ugly “reality” of the world). It is inevitable that Dorian will have to face all 3 people in the next couple chapters in order to overcome his downward decent before it consumes him entirely.

EmmaL said...

I think that in the next few chapters Dorian and also the people around him will find out how shallow, unreal and materialistic Dorian is. I am not sure whether or not Basil will get to look at the picture he drew, but if he does I think he will feel bad for creating this thing that in turn made Dorian so self centered. Dorian could become very depressed when he figures out that his image is not everything in life and that he will never actually have anything else because all his true feelings and morals are in his pictures. I think that maybe all of the random facts that were talked about in chapter eleven will become prevalent in some way.

DanielC said...

I don't think that Dorian is even close to hitting rock bottom. He is definitely becoming worse and worse as we read through the chapters. I think that the novel will end with Dorian at rock bottom. During the fishbowl, i believed that Basil and Dorian will become better friends but i disagree now. After what has happened i think that Dorian somehow will ruin their relationship and destroy it. Dorian will continue his record of not being able to keep a relationship with people. again his selfishness and love of his own beauty will ruin a relationship.

Dustin B said...

I believe that Dorian still has a long way to fall. We have watched the birth of Dorian, and we have just seen him loose his childhood innocence. Now we shall find out if he hits rock bottom if he will follow the guidelines of a tragic hero and recognize what he has done to himself and begin the fight back to where he needs to be. Though he could not decide to change his ways and than i believe we will witness the 'beautiful' death of Dorian Gray.

michaelm said...

I do believe Dorian is descending in popularity and life, but I don’t think he will hit rock bottom in the next couple of chapters. I agree that he is blind of the effects of his actions and that eventually that will hurt him more and more. I definitely see some drama between Dorian and Basil or Lord Henry arising in the following chapters whether Dorian will realize that Lord Henry is influencing him wrongly or that Basil and Dorian split apart more. I also see some homosexuality coming into play because of Oscar Wilde’s real life and we have talked about it in class

brooksk said...

Oscar Wilde seems to like to compare himself with Shakespeare...this books seems to parallel Hamlet...I think Dorian has passed a point of no return and will continue down this path of psychological torture. Every page, this superficial beauty that has engulfed Dorian's mind become more and more apparent to his conscious and he is starting to become aware of his actions and demoralizing personality. I think these chapters are just going to continue this path and will push Dorian even further past the point of no return. What I mean by this is Dorian will realize what he is doing to the people around him but will be so confined and enveloped within this superficial lifestyle that he will become lost and will have no way of climbing out.

alliem said...

I agree with most of the previous posts, in that Dorain will continue to spiral downwards morally. I also think that his portrait will become more and more of an obsession until he cracks. Maybe Basil will be there to pick up the pieces or maybe not. We will see what happens in terms of their relationship when and if Dorian shows Basil the painting, but things are looking grim.

MilendaN. said...

I agree with the previous post that thinks Dorian will just get worse over the next chapters. I think that this will help Dorian learn a lesson though. A lesson maybe that beauty isnt everything after all. And being perfect, beautiful and looking young doesn't always equal true happiness but loneliness.
I think this is the part where he will start regreting some stuff but I have a feeling that something really bad will happen first before Dorian wakes up and see the purpose of living life the right way.

Jackie.d said...

As stated above, I only believe the Dorian's state of mentality can go down from here. He has yet to deal with his own portrait that has been taunting him, and who knows if he'll ever have the strenth to deal with it, considering his state of mind. All he cares about and all he's willing to deal with in his hedonistic personalty, are beautiful things, and anything that will bring him pleasure, so who knows if he'll have the strength anytime soon with his wishy-washy behavior. I think he'll have to hit "rock bottom" and realize that the only way to go up from there is by dealing with his burdensome portrait.

tuckerk2 said...

I also predict that Sybil's brother will come back and kill Dorian, but first I think that Basil will help Dorian become less hedonistic and more like he was in the first place. This change will undo the curse/magic of the portrait and make Dorian become mortal again but will soon find punishment for his sins when Sybil's brother confronts him.

ryanb said...

I believe that in the next couple of chapters, Dorians distorted soul is going to start to manifest itself in Dorian's actions. This will him to do things he might have once considered inhumane and wrong. Nobody can keep that much evil locked up in one place without letting it loose eventually. It seems to me that Dorian's appearance will just become an empty shell for his true self, the self that will control his actions.

Emily H. said...

I think that the next few chaoters arent going to be too good for Dorian. It is starting to become apparent that he is becoming less and less innocent. He needs to hit rock bottom to realize what he is doing and change his actions. I do not know what will happen that will make him change bt it will be interesting to see who has an effect on it.

abok said...

I think that dorian is going to lose it and start to think that the people that are closes to him are also judging him like society is. he will betray there friendship and hurt them. I want to know is should his friends be scared of him?

ryan said...

I agree with everyone else in that Dorian has yet to hit rock bottom. And I also think that he is not far from it. I'm not exatly sure what the rest of his life my hold, but if Dorian were considered to be a hero, then he is would still be in the Chaos stage, where his life will just continually get worse.
And with that being said, and Sibyl's recent death, her brother may come back to add to the chaos and seek avengence on his sisters death.