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The following was originally published August 25, 2010 at http://wendyhalsey.blogspot.com/2010/08/picture-of-dorian-gray_25.html I found this book to be all over the place with different themes. Because of the disorder of it I found it hard to implement the skills I learned in //How to Read Literature Like a Professor//. Also because the practice of these skills was new to me, I didn't think the way the book had told me to and what actually may have been symbolic to the story was not significant. After finishing this book I then skimmed over //How to Read Literature Like a Professor// again and noticed symbols in //The Picture of Dorian Gray// that I didn't upon my first encounter with the story.

For instance, I noticed that Basil Hallward and Lord Henry both had different affects on Dorian. In a way, Basil was the angel on one shoulder while Lord Henry was the devil on the other. Basil had a positive attitude towards Dorian and his affairs such as that with Sybil Vane, while Lord Henry was more realistic and didn't "sugar coat" his opinions of Dorian and his actions. He was the snake in the garden of eden tempting Dorian with a lifestyle like his. Dorian like Adam and Eve succumbed to the temptation of that lifestyle and while he thought he was enjoying this lifestyle it eventually gets the best of him.

Comparing the symbolism in this book to that of Beloved, there is far more in Beloved and I am only through a little more then half of the novel. This novel has much more symbolism and its abundance has made it more noticeable. As I am reading this I am repeatedly referring back to HTRLLAP and am able to relate it back to mostly every chapter coincedentally like the assignment....haha.

Enjoy the rest of your summer days. The majority of mine will be spent writing.