Examples Of Blind Eyes In The Great Gatsby

Fitzgerald shows his overall perception of society, he refers to the minds of the average person trying to make it. Fitzgerald uses the “Eyes of Dr. TJ Eckleberg,” he uses the eyes to represent the lose of spiritual values throughout society. Many people in this time period (1920’s) believed money was to their key to everything in life. “But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days, under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground.” Nick (Narrator) uses this to describe the absent values of that he has seen in his time in New York. God seems to have abandoned America, leaving only Dr. T.J. Eckleburg behind to stare down with his empty eyes on people who have abandoned their spiritual values in the quest to achieve material wealth. We see this as well when our main characters pass underneath it. The eyes more so symbolizes the corruption of the people throughout America, and as our characters pass underneath it, you see the blank stare it provides. It sheds light on the affairs of Tom, Daisy etc, and it seems to frown upon the characters. One comparison could be that it is the eyes of god. Moving forward the reader should take away that regardless of what you believe may be the only way, there will always be other ways. Money is not always the way, happiness can be found many

Elie Wiesel used eyes as a motif in his narrative, Night, as windows to characters’ inner souls. He used eyes to assist the theme of surviving at all costs throughout the story by giving the audience an insight of people’s true emotions and status. Without eyes, we would have been blind to see past characters’ outer layers of fake emotion. There is more than the eye can see. One has to look deep into another’s eyes to see the true light or darkness within them.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, is the story of the idiosyncratic millionaire Jay Gatsby. It is narrated by Nick Carraway, a Midwesterner from Long Island who later moves to Manhattan. Gatsby’s life is organized around one desire, Daisy, the woman he loved. This desire leads him on an expedition from poverty to wealth, reuniting with his old love, and his eventual death. In his novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald is able to portray the American Dream where people seek out self-gratification and pleasure. He captures the romance of the roaring twenties with the cars, money, illegal alcohol and the wildest parties one could imagine. Much like the character, Jay Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940), wasn’t born into the upper class. While Gatsby is from the lower class, Fitzgerald from the middle class, both end up becoming exceptionally rich, fall into the wildest and reckless life, and use their fortunes to win the love and approval of the women they once loved.

The name “Owl Eyes” is appropriately fitting; an owl’s nocturnal vision allows it to see things in what others would normally perceive as pitch black. Like an owl, this knowing stranger correctly assesses Gatsby’s feigned personality. Owl Eyes makes his final appearance as one of the few guests at Gatsby’s funeral. He sympathizes, “‘Why, my God! they used to go there by the hundreds.’ He took of his glasses and wiped them again, outside and in. ‘The poor son-of-a-bitch’” (175). Owl Eyes’ glasses are a symbol of his discriminating perception. In the manner of how their literal function is to correct vision, the glasses also metaphorically protect his judgment from the corruption of the distorted morals and ethics characterized by the East; before making his final conclusion about Gatsby, Owl Eyes cleans his glasses, as if wiping the fogginess of subjectivity and immorality off of his observations.

The eyes of T.J. Eckleberg and and Owl Eyes are used throughout the story and are both recurring. Owl Eyes is a very minor character in the grand scheme of things, but his eyes are one of the most important pairs. Before the novel has taken full flight, Jordan and Nick come across a strange man in Gatsby’s library who is amazed that Gatsby owns all of the books. “‘What do you think?’ he demanded impetuously. ‘About what?’ He waved his hand toward the book-shelves. ‘About that. As a matter of fact you needn’t bother to ascertain. I ascertained. They’re real.’ ‘The books?’ He nodded” (Fitzgerald 45). Owl Eyes questions the accountability of Gatsby, because there are a very large number of rumors of things that Gatsby has accomplished and done. It may come across as odd that somebody would question the accountability of a wealthy man during this era, but there was a mystery behind Gatsby because so few people were actually able to meet him at the parties. Not only was

“The only people you have to look out for in life are the people that don’t care about anything or anyone” (Alde). In The Great Gatsby by, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tom and Daisy are just those people that are not to be trusted. They have no regard for other’s feelings and live life without facing the consequences. Tom and Daisy show that they are careless people through their insensitive, thoughtless and selfish acts.

Although Gatsby came from humble origins, in order to win Daisy over he works hard to accumulate a fortune. Despite this, Gatsby does not actually love Daisy, but the idea behind her. He loves the illusion of marrying into her wealth to be seen as a greater man. Gatsby mentions in the novel:“Her voice is full of money,” he said suddenly. “That was it. I’d never understood before. It was full of money—that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of it. . . . High in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden girl.”(Fitzgerald 120) which shows his true desire for Daisy is her wealth, like a trophy. Another symbol seen often in the novel is the color green and gold. These colors symbolize wealth and greed. Gatsby is seen standing on his dock staring into a green light, which is coming from Daisy's house. This green light symbolizes his desire for wealth and an attraction like that of moths to light. Gatsby also creates a false image of himself towards the public. Gatsby claims to be well educated and paints the idea that he is an Oxford University man. He shows Nick pictures of his “past” and his library symbolizes his education. However his illusion is exposed as on a closer inspection of the books which are uncut, meaning Gatsby has not actually read them. Gatsby’s creation of this face can be accounted to the psychology seen

It both a representation of Daisy and Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. “The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic—their irises are one yard high. (chapter 2 part 1). Although the lips of the incomplete face are more feminine, the big eyes are a reference to Eckleburg. Through the book the narrator of the story, Nick Carraway mentions the billboard several times. “Then as Doctor T. J. Eckleburg’s faded eyes came into sight down the road, I remembered Gatsby’s caution about gasoline”(chapter 7 part 2 ). The big eyes in the middle of the cover both represent Daisy(feminine face), and a reference to the billboard. However the eyes on the cover are golden and yellow instead of blue, since this is also Daisy’s face if would make sense that they are this color, not because of her actual appearance but because of her background. In chapter 1 part 1 Nick says “The Carraways are something of a clan, and we have a tradition that we’re descended from the Dukes of Buccleuch…”. This meaning that Nick’s family,Daisy , came from old money, past down from generation to generation. The golden eyes represent the wealth that surrounds Daisy, Tom, Jordan and even Gatsby throughout the book. “But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days, under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground”(chapter 2 part 1). The eyes of T.J. Eckleburg represented the eyes of God as well as judgement. They looked upon the ally of ashes as well as the rich around it. The overall book refers to the American Dream , and in this case both sides of it ar represented, the High class and the Lower

As the decision was being made, God assists as a guidance. The second appearance of the eye motif serves as a warning to Nick, of all the moral consequences he will face for being dishonest. When Tom insists on driving Gatsby’s cream-colored car, Gatsby has no choice but to reluctantly agree and remind him of the necessary gas refill. Tom, being supercilious and disdainful, does not take his reminder seriously. The ride to the city is nearly silent, but “[t]hen as Doctor T.J. Eckleburg’s faded eyes came into sight down the road, [Nick] remembered Gatsby’s caution about gasoline” (Fitzgerald

Their Eyes Were Watching God and The Great Gatsby are both novels which came out of a similar era and deal with similar themes but these novels also have their differences. Both Eyes and Gatsby deal with the issue of social class, and within that issue there is an issue of gender which shows how mostly the female characters are being oppressed. This oppression does not allow them to fulfill their dreams like the male characters which is a crucial point since these novels are also about self fulfillment. Eyes and Gatsby are both novels which show insight to the issue of gender, mostly its effects on female characters, and how that affects their journey to self fulfillment, but Eyes takes a more straightforward approach to the issue than Gatsby which allows the female characters in Eyes to achieve self fulfillment quickly and fully.

Another symbol used in The Great Gatsby is the Valley of Ashes. The Valley of Ashes is located between West Egg and New York City, and all it is, is land with the dumping of industrial ashes all over it. It represents the moral and social decay that results from wealth, as the rich enjoy nothing but their own pleasure. It also symbolizes the poor who live among the dirty ashes and lose their strength as a result. “This is a valley of ashes-a fantastic farm where ashes grown like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens, where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powder air.”(27) Looking over the valley of ashes are the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. “The Eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic…they look out of no face, but instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles.”(27) The Eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg could represent God staring down on the American society. They’re just a pair of fading eyes painted on an old billboard over the valley of ashes. Fitzgerald uses the eyes to suggest symbols only mean something because of the characters put meaning in them. George Wilson makes the connection of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg’s eyes symbolizing God. They could also represent the meaninglessness of the

Jay Gatsby’s illusion is the grandest of all. Gatsby as one character who cannot see

This article explains witness point of view in The Great Gatsby, and how Fitzgerald struggled with it. The Great Gatsby is told from Nick Carraway’s point of view, which makes it difficult to believe moments when there is no possible way Nick knows what another is thinking. For example, Nick conveys Gatsby’s thoughts when he returns to Louisville at war’s end. These implausible moments increase towards the end of the book. Once the narrator’s sources of information invite the reader’s disbelief, this particular point of view fails. Nick receives most of his background information from Jordan Baker and Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald uses Nick as a double for the inarticulate Gatsby in coup de theatre fashion. In the 1920’s private phone lines were a

In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is the story of the eccentric millionaire Jay Gatsby as told by Nick Carraway that depicts the lifestyle of the rich contrasted with the poor. The depiction of life throughout the 1920s grasps the atmosphere of the era unmasking the characters underlying emotions and beliefs regarding their roles and needs throughout the novel. The perception of characters changes due to the differing lenses that appear in situations, that shape the outlook from the character's point of view. This is captured through the use of windows as a recurring symbol in The Great Gatsby to expose the characters inner and outer looks at life that develop the sentiments of the novel revolving around loss in the characters

Foremost, however, this light greatly influences the characterization of Gatsby. In Chapter 1, when Gatsby reaches for the light, the reader becomes confused and does not know what to make of this strange man oddly extending his arms while no one is around. After understanding Gatsby’s past, though, and knowing what it is he is reaching for, the reader can deduce much about Gatsby’s character from this action. By reaching out for his dream, Gatsby shows his determination to win Daisy back; this solitary motion demonstrates his level of commitment to her. After realizing this, the reader can also begin to associate more of Gatsby’s actions, such as his gain of wealth, with the American dream because it is understood that the quest for Daisy is closely tied in with this theme (21). After this event with Gatsby, Fitzgerald chooses to focus on another peculiar object, Doctor T.J. Eckleburg’s eyes. It is this unusual amount of attention given to such a solitary entity that alerts the reader that a deeper meaning may exist than what the author expresses.