Overland Monthly

Jackson Pollock was a psycho-alcoholic. According to the movie Pollock, Jackson Pollock’s work was first exhibited at a show with future wife, Artist Lee Krasner. In the beginning of his career, Pollock’s style of painting was close to the style of Picasso’s art, Cubism. Pollock seemed to have a love/hate feeling for Picasso. He seemed to admire him and maybe had been studying him for so long, like he was trying to crack some sort of code of Picasso’s paintings, but became frustrated that…

Silenced “The jury have found the defendant Guilty. James Williams, you’re sentence is 10 years imprisonment” The hardwood of the gavel hitting the block cracked into the air. It was final. “The court is adjourned.” *** The typewriter awaited like a trusty old friend. It’s keys were reassuringly heavy and mechanical. They danced to their own rhythm, as each crisp white sheet of paper became a work of art. “I saw poets erode into the darkness of America’s insecurities.” A work of…

Esteemed ladies and gentlemen of the jury. (sweeping gesture to jury) I implore of you to use this time while I explain once and for all why my client is clearly innocent, to take a good look at Mr. Dorian Gray and ask yourself whether this is the face of a murderer, or the type of kind young gentleman that you would have tea with or go to the opera with. Although I truly believe that just the charming attitude and looks of Mr. Gray should and are enough to prove his innocence, as someone who…

Oscar Wilde wrote The Picture of Dorian Gray in 1890 during an era in British history when immoral actions and values were to be hidden. When the book was first published the issue of the main characters' -Dorian and Basil- sexualities, became a very pressing issue for the book not to be printed for the masses. The British culture, centered wholly on facade, wished to keep its reputation as being the most pure civilization and display its highest morals, even though there were the underlying…

Throughout the tragic and enlightening novel The Picture of Dorian Grey, by Oscar Wilde, the author uses a morally ambiguous character in order to highlight the universal truth that if someone lives a life of reckless self indulgence, then both the person and their friends will be corrupted and ruined. The portrait of Dorian grey features a morally ambiguous character, Dorian Grey, who is convinced to live a hedonistic lifestyle and pays for it with his life in the end. At first Dorian is…

A Closer Look at Dorian Gray and Griffin/Rodney Skinner: Character Analysis Essay The members of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen thought they had everything all figured out. They thought Dorian Gray was dedicated, trustworthy member and Rodney Skinner was the villain. Little did they know it was actually the opposite. In their respective books, the authors portray Dorian Gray and Griffin as protagonists. Characteristics of both of them include: wicked, unique, and mysterious. While Dorian…

Chapter Eleven begins as many years pass after Dorian starts his new lifestyle of excess, luxury, and beauty. He is influenced by an old yellow book, and Lord Henry. Many, many people gossip about Dorian but, as soon as they see his face, they don’t believe that it the rumors could be true, due to his good looks. Sometimes, Dorian goes to the room which holds his painting to look at it. The portrait version of himself has become ugly, old, and bloated to reflect his sins. He even looks at his…

A Pretty Face The Victorian era’s heavily influential patriarchal standpoint became the basis of the misogyny seen during this time. Men would often regard the women as nothing more than second class citizens and even as their own property- these views only attributed to the sentiments and feelings they had towards them. If ever women should seek a voice in that society men would take immediate action to force them into uncomfortable situations as they did not perceive women as actually…

There are not many short books that can leave a memorable and lasting impression on the reader, but The Picture of Dorian Gray is certainly among one of them. First published in 1890, the book tells the tale of A young man, Dorian Gray, who becomes infatuated with his beauty after a conversation with Lord Henry Wotton, who he met through his friend, Basil Hallward, the true culprit of the tragedy, for he was the one who painted the portrait of Dorian, which became the symbol of corruption within…

Dark desires and forbidden pleasures of gothic novels are at the center of The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Turn of the Screw. The novels explore the relationship between the corrupted and the corruptor. The gothic novels The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and The Turn of the Screw by Henry James share the idea of corruption, but in different ways; The Picture of Dorian Gray tells the story of moral corruption and extreme narcissism while The Turn of the Screw tells of corruption of…