TPoDG ch. 9

"'I know you are surprised at me talking to you like this. You have not realized how I have developed. I was a schoolboy when you knew me. I am a man now. I have new passions, new thoughts, new ideas. I am different, but you must not like me less... Don't leave me, Basil, and don't quarrel with me. I am what I am. There is nothing more to be said'" (114).

Poor Basil. He's such a sweet guy, and here Dorian goes, being an ass who took Harry too seriously. Dorian tries to make it seem like he's so mature, but he is still a schoolboy! One moment he is against Harry and his influence: "He would not see Lord Henry any more- would not, at any rate, listen to those subtle, poisonous theories that in Basil Hallward's garden had first stirred within him the passion for impossible things" (96). Within twenty pages, his mind changes drastically: "'I owe a great deal to Harry, Basil... more than I owe to you. You only taught me to be vain'" (112). That is not true. Dorian would never have been vain without Henry poking the thoughts into him: "Youth! Youth! There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth!" (25). Dorian is still a schoolboy in his mind.

"Was the world going to be shown his secret? Were people to gape at the mystery of his life? That was impossible. Something- he did not know what- had to be done at once" (116).

This is just like what we have been talking about in theology (I think it was theology and not English). If everyone in the world knew the worst thing you had done, how would you feel? Here, Dorian is literally face-to-face with this problem. He knows that the expression of the portrait is very different than the one that was originally painted; that it looks cruel and unwelcoming, very different than what he used to be. He does not want the world to know his true nature, and even gets mad at Basil: "A cry of horror broke from Dorian Gray's lips, and he rushed between the painter and the screen. 'Basil,' he said, looking very pale, 'you must not look at it. I don't wish you to'" (115). Why would you want to hide who you are from the world, when they'll probably just piece it together anyway? I guess Dorian doesn't want the world to see because he has not become as detached from the world as Harry is yet. He still has a piece of him left in the real world that he wants to mask, like all people want to mask their faults, personality wise or aesthetic wise, and since he has no problems with his looks, he may try twice as hard to cover up his personality until Henry's influence takes him over completely.