The Flowers

    First, I would like to apologize for posting this late. Second, we need to talk about the flowers

    The book starts off with flowers, at first it just looks like Wilde was normally describing flowers, but if you look closely, there is something bad about each flower. "The rich odour of roses … heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink flowering thorn."

    The definition of "odour" or "odor" (according to google) is "a distinctive smell, especially an unpleasant one." Even though roses look beautiful, they have something unpleasant or disgusting about them. This also applies for the "heavy scent", the first thing I thought of when I read those words was that one person we all know that walks and smells so heavily of perfume that it makes a whole room smell like the scent days after they've left. Again, not positive. The thorn plant is self explanatory. Wilde almost sends the message that nothing can be perfect or too good, there has to be some balance within the world. To compensate for good looks, someone could have a bad personality or vice versa.

    Wilde also disguises the imperfections of the flowers by keeping a positive tone throughout this piece the same way so many of the characters in the book keep positive tones towards others, unconsciously ignoring their imperfections. Basil to Dorian, Dorian to Sibyl, and many others are judged only by their looks. This hints that we may see some of the characters show more of a darker or negative side to them that wasn't seen before.