The Picture Of Dorian Gray 6

"we live in an age where unnecessary things are our only necessities" (97)

Here it is explaining that everyone is more interested in material goods, looks, etc. and people think they are the keys to life. That without them they are no good, but really these things are the most unimportant things in life. You do not need material things and good looks to get anywhere in life, it just matters what kind of person you are on the inside. It is also funny how this book was set so long ago, but the people of today still think the same exact thing.

"When we blame it in ourselves we feel that no one else has the right to blame us" (100)

I think this is very true because often times I have blamed an incident on myself, and then when someone agrees or is telling me the truth that it was myself, I get very angry and think to myself, 'they have no right to blame anything on me'. I have also seen other people who have blamed themselves for something and then when someone agrees they get awfully defensive. Even though we know that something is our fault, we just can't come to deal with the fact that it really is our own fault. We blame ourselves as a way of defense, to defend ourselves in a situation that way no one else can attack us, but when they do attack us we feel that they have no right too, it is not their zone to, simply because we don't want to believe that something is actually our own fault.

affinity - a natural liking for or attraction to a person, thing, idea, etc.
"Was there some subtle affinity between the chemical atoms, that shaped themselves into form and color on the canvas, ad the soul that was within them?" (99)

sanguine - cheerfully optimistic, hopeful, or confident
"He was trying to gather up the scarlet threads of his life, and to weave them into a pattern; to find his way through the sanguine labyrinth of the passion through which he was wandering" (100)