Dorian Gray Vs. Ibn Fattouma Case

Dorian Gray vs. Ibn Fattouma

Life can easily fool you into thinking you have figured it out, but life is a journey and the majority of our journeys' do not go as planned. Both texts, The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde and The Journey of Ibn Fattouma by Naguib Mahfouz, have a theme of "life's journey". In The Picture of Dorian Gray, you learn about a younger adult male, Dorian, who takes an unexpected life journey. In The Journey of Ibn Fattouma, you come to know Ibn, another young man who takes a journey. Within these two books there is the theme of sometimes life and its journeys do not always go as planned.

In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian is a charming young man, who seems to leave his viewers in awe. Everyone takes a great liking to Dorian especially his artist friend Basil who paints Dorian. Dorian, at his peak, with so much ahead of him, takes a sudden turn for the worst. With Lord Henry's influence that

"' The pulse of joy that beats in us at twenty, becomes sluggish. Our limbs fall, our senses rot. We degenerate into hideous puppets, haunted by the memory of the passions of which we were too much afraid, and the exquisite temptations that we had not the courage to yield to. Youth! Youth! There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth!'" (23).

Dorian listened attentively; soaking up the words said by Lord Henry, until inside he thrives and lives for them. This idea of youth became Dorian's life and once he figures out he is not aging he thinks he is invincible. With this sudden attitude Dorian pushes everyone away. He thinks it is ok to manipulate and use people for whatever he wants. Dorian gets lost in his beauty and is never really the same again until "He seized it [the knife], and stabbed the canvas with it [the painting], ripping the thing right from top to bottom" (297). Dorian basically realizes at this point, all he has done and all he has created is monstrous, but it is too late to take any of it back. In hopes of destroying what he creates, Dorian ends up destroying himself along with the picture. Dorian starts out fresh and youthful, however, when his desires and ambitions get in the way, they eventually destroy him and his reputation, leaving his journey to end sadly.

In The Journey of Ibn Fattouma, Ibn takes a journey for the sole purpose of gaining more knowledge. Ibn leaves everything behind in his home place, to acquire knowledge many do not have. Unlike Dorian, Ibn is ambitious and greedy for knowledge, for finding himself. Ibn uses his ambitions for good. Ibn starts out with a plan, an organized idea of exactly how the trip will go. Ibn soon discovers that he does not plan for the man things that occur on his journey. Ibn is set astray from his original intentions, however, some of the setbacks make him a more knowledgeable and experienced man. Ibn thinks "immersed