In The Importance of Being Earnest, Jack and Algernon clearly have a preoccupation with food. In this lesson, you explored the deeper meaning of this preoccupation. Using what you learned in this lesson and what you have read in the text, explain how food serves as a symbol for obedience to impulse and the pursuit of pleasure. How does this symbol help Oscar Wilde to comment on and satirize society? Do not restrict your discussion to your reading for this lesson; include Acts I and II in your analysis and commentary. in a short discussion

Question

In The Importance of Being Earnest, Jack and Algernon clearly have a preoccupation with food. In this lesson, you explored the deeper meaning of this preoccupation. Using what you learned in this lesson and what you have read in the text, explain how food serves as a symbol for obedience to impulse and the pursuit of pleasure. How does this symbol help Oscar Wilde to comment on and satirize society? Do not restrict your discussion to your reading for this lesson; include Acts I and II in your analysis and commentary. in a short discussion

Answer 1

In The Importance of Being Earnest, food serves as a symbol for obedience to impulse and the pursuit of pleasure. Throughout the play, both Jack and Algernon use food as a way to indulge in their desires and satisfy their appetites. For example, Algernon's love of cucumber sandwiches and Jack's elaborate lie about his brother Ernest being gravely ill in order to escape to the city to eat dinner. This emphasizes their willingness to act on their whims and cravings without much thought or restraint.

This symbol of food as a representation of the pursuit of pleasure allows Oscar Wilde to comment on and satirize the superficial and materialistic nature of society during the Victorian era. By showcasing how easily characters like Jack and Algernon give in to their impulses and desires, Wilde is highlighting the moral emptiness and lack of substance in society at the time. The obsession with food and the pleasures it brings becomes a reflection of how society values indulgence and gratification over authenticity and true virtue.

Moreover, Wilde uses the characters' obsession with food to mock the shallow concerns and trivial conversations that dominate high society. The constant focus on dining and dieting in the play serves as a humorous critique of the superficiality and artificiality of the upper class, who prioritize their own pleasure and comfort above all else.

Overall, by using food as a symbol for obedience to impulse and the pursuit of pleasure, Wilde effectively criticizes and satirizes the societal norms and values of his time, revealing the emptiness and hypocrisy that lie beneath the surface of polite society.