The Picture of Dorian Gray Chapter 14

"But youth smiles without any reason. It is one of its chiefest charms" (Wilde 166).

The youth's glimmering smiles belie a suppressed emotions. One does not smile out of instinct, but out of an emotion. If friends or family members see a loved one smiling it could never hurt as to inquire why, because it may be for a dangerous reason. In Dorian's case, an aimless smile was a hysterical smile which foreshadowed the destruction of Basil's corpse upstairs. Psychologically sound individuals often have little difficulty expressing their emotions. Stress ventilation is extremely important in some way. If one cannot displace their thoughts they are destined to think inwardly about them and eventually act upon them. Dorian does not have anyone with which he can freely and safely relate his feelings. Basil does not want to believe Doriah's poor qualities while Lord Henry simply hear everything through policital ears in which he wishes to gain control of the inter workings of Dorian's mind. Expression is the water of an intellect with constant thirst. Allow the lack of expression to continue and the tendrils of the mind will whither and die.



"Poor Basil! What a horrible way for a man to die!" (Wilde 169).

Haphazard ideology is the cancer of society. If everyone in modern day society lived life as Dorian does, the world would be a perfectly dis-topic. Dorian apologizes and retreats from his own thoughts and will not confess to his crimes. In the Middle East, war is difficult because the United States has difficulty identifying and locating its enemies. When there was a military to face the United States quickly defeated its enemies in the coalition of the willing. Now war is more difficult because we are not fighting organized ranks of men, but a concept of anarchy and hatred hiding under the skirts of the average citizen. In the same way, Dorian would be easier to stop if he was open about crimes and not cower before the punishment. If the waters of duplicity ran as fiercely through the rivers of society as much as they do Dorian, then the world is doomed (with no one to blame).