April Monthly Blog

I feel that Socratic Seminar Question Eleven could be expanded upon. The question asks, “Did Dorian’s character change, or was it just merely truly revealed, by the end of the novel?” I believe that Dorian’s character changes from the beginning to the end of the novel. At the beginning, Dorian is a well-mannered and naïve young man. This is shown through the way he first acts around Lord Henry. He is cautiously polite and eager to please. Through his time spent listening to Lord Henry, it is shown that Dorian is very impressionable. He allows Lord Henry’s beliefs and ideologies to become his own. As Dorian starts to really believe and be impacted by what Lord Henry has taught him, his personality changes. He changes from being carefree to being fearful. Lord Henry’s impact on Dorian changes his behavior and turns him into a deliberately evil person. The only thing revealed is Dorian’s impressionability and weakness of character. This type of change is often seen in the transition from middle school to high school as well as the transition from high school to college. Coming from middle school, many students allow themselves to be influenced by upper class men and often see their whole personality change. Many change from dedicated students to slackers while others change from being pure and innocent to becoming involved in various frowned upon activities. In college, many personalities change as students adapt to their school’s culture. Since college is a place where a lot of personal growth occurs, many students experience great change. I believe that many people are very impressionable so they actually change their personality based on the opinions and behavior of those around them. I like to believe that I am not very impressionable but I have definitely seen myself change and adapt based on my experiences in high school. I think that as my grade has entered their senior year, most of our true personalities have been revealed because we are leaving soon and so it does not really matter to us anymore. But I believe that we have all changed a ton from middle school to now.