This Inside Detail Makes Americans Cruel: Oscar Wilde’s Insightful Observation

In 1822, 27-year-old Oscar Wilde visited America and caused a sensation there. Despite the fact that as a writer he was not yet particularly famous at that time, the fame of a bon vivant, a wit, an extravagant fashionista and an aesthete ensured him a particular public attention. And when the Americans realized that the overseas aristocrat was not going a word in his pocket, and was not constraining himself in his judgments, openly declaring what seemed to him strange or inappropriate in the United States, they were fell in love with him with all their hearts.

American reporters sought Wilde’s opinion on a variety of issues. Once he was asked:

– Mr. Wilde, do you have any suggestions – why are people so cruel?

The writer answered without hesitation:

– Of course, I know exactly why Americans are so cruel. Because your wallpaper is very ugly.

At first glance, this might seem like just a bad remark and another attempt by Oscar Wilde to snobbishly point out his delicate taste and the superiority of the British way of life over any other. However, fellow actor and writer Stephen Fry has detailed why this lighthearted phrase should be taken seriously.

“It’s an incredible remark,” Fry said. Wilde and those around him understood this instinctively, and we all do: if you look out the window, you’ll see that every detail of nature is unconditionally and unbelievably beautiful. Wherever we are: in the tropics, in the Arctic, in the desert, in the Alps… Everything that is ugly is made by man.

And it’s frightening to know that you belong to a species whose only contribution to the mother planet is its disfigurement. According to Wilde, this almost inevitably leads to a feeling of worthlessness. And cruelty stems from a sense of worthlessness in society and a lack of self-confidence. Wilde’s words should be understood as follows: if you cannot make your city beautiful, then you cannot make your life beautiful, and that will make you cruel.

It is impossible not to mention that the extreme degree of aestheticism led Wilde to a very complex attitude towards wallpaper. “Either me or that mean flower wallpaper…”⁠⁠, these last words are attributed to the writer. He died in poverty at L’Hotel in Paris. The writer occupied this room for a long time, and infectious meningitis brought him to the grave, and not to a vulgar flower wallpaper. But even in the last hours of his life he remained a dandy – despite the environment.