Ever Seeing Eyes of the Light ATTENTION GETTER In Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald depicts the life of an everyday broker named Nick, and an elegant man named Gatsby. As an American writer, Fitzgerald did a great job symbolizing different things in The Great Gatsby. Throughout the story, eyes and lights are the symbol most important because the eyes symbolize that somebody is always watching and judging your every movement, also Fitzgerald uses lights to symbolize how unobtainable happiness is. 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
F. Scott Fitzgerald uses imagery and symbolism to represent bigger ideas in his stories. For his novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald was able to do something most authors aren’t. He was able to approve of the cover of his book. The cover selected was a painting of a nightly city, being watched over by celestial eyes. The eyes stand out in juxtaposition of the rest of the dark blue sky due to their sickly yellow color as a teal tear travels down from the left. However, a closer look at the eyes in the cover show that they irises are blue, and inside the eyes are two women. The surreal art piece has as much symbolism in it as the pages it protects, especially the eyes in which the painting is named for. The women within the eyes on the cover
Imagery is used in writing when a writer trying to emphasis a specific key element, or portray a clear picture for the reader to understand. Throughout the book, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses imagery to paint a vivid picture for the reader. Imagery is used to describe specific key elements of a story which is shown in The Great Gatsby. Imagery was portrayed for the reader especially when it comes to the setting and characters. In the movie however, imagery was shown both similar and differently. The movie focuses a lot on the setting and charters but also shows imagery of other small factors. Imagery was both present in both the book and the movie, both the movie and book had similar routes of incorporating the imageries.
Eyes are the gateway to the soul, or so the old saying goes. People’s eyes can convey their feelings - their anger, excitement, or worry. Eyes can also convey subconscious emotions, revealing hidden depths that might not otherwise be apparent. In The Great Gatsby we are introduced to many characters whose eyes effectively reveal their personalities. The author explores the symbolism of eyes as Nick, the narrator, observes the lives and interactions of his friends on Long Island. One of his acquaintances, Daisy, is a flighty girl, married to a retired football player. Her husband, Tom Buchanan, embodies the classic tough-white-male
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.
A narrator, by definition, is how an author chooses to portray information to readers in their work. An author’s choice, in how to tell a story is ideal to the effect it has on readers. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s timeless classic The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway tells the entire story as a first-person, peripheral narrator. Fitzgerald purposefully chooses Nick as a partially removed character, with very few emotions and personal opinions. By doing so, readers experience the same ambiguity of other character’s thoughts, are carried smoothly throughout the plot, and Nick’s nonjudgmental character lets readers form opinions of their own.
Another symbol that Fitzgerald uses in The Great Gatsby is the bill board with T.J. Eckleburg’s eyes. “But above the gray land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg are blue gigantic-their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose. Evidently some wild wag of an oculist set them there to fatten his practice in the borough of Queens, and then sank down himself into eternal blindness, or forgot them and moved away. But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground.”(Fitzgerald 23-24). Fitzgerald uses T.J. Eckleburg's as a symbol to represent God’s
In the early 1900s, women were just beginning to live as they wanted. Being able to have a paying job and women being able to vote for certain things was a huge change. What did not change as much, however, was society as a whole. Many men and some women did not like the idea of women being able to do these things. Two books that show the struggles of women in that time are The Great Gatsby and Their Eyes Were Watching God. In The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it follows Nick Carraway as he goes through life in New York during the 1920s. During his time there, Nick reconnects with his cousin Daisy and sets her up with Jay Gatsby, who she was in a past relationship with. Eventually she breaks things off with Gatsby and leaves New York with her husband and daughter, leaving Gatsby to take the blame for a crime he did not commit. On the other hand, in Their Eyes are Watching God, a novel by Zora Neale Hurston, it follows Janie Crawford, a woman living in Florida in the early 1900s, as she goes through life trying to find her true love. Her quest for love began when she was a young girl, her Nanny forcing her into a loveless marriage at the age of sixteen. Throughout both books, the vast majority of female characters have been judged by others for going against societal norms by doing what they want, not what their husband or significant other told them to do. In both of these books’ time periods, women were expected to do whatever men said or told them to do,
A few symbolisms in novels are as memorable as the green light in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Shining at the end of Daisy’s dock, it is close enough to be seen, but too far away to be reached. Still, Gatsby, an eternal optimist, stares at it at night, as if it showed him that all his far-away dreams were about to come true. The green light in The Great Gatsby is symbolic of hope, a source of inspiration, and a representation of the American Dream to Gatsby and to the novel’s readers.
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
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
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.
and lure of money pollute it. Gatsby is a noble man whose vision is fouled by
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of the greatest books of the twentieth century. This book has been read all over the world and will be a staple book that students will read in school for many generations to come. Symbolism was one of the most prominent ways that author F. Scott Fitzgerald could portray Jay Gatsby’s thoughts and feelings. This use of symbolism really helps the storytelling and helps explain the different storylines that happen during this novel. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the symbolism of the eye to represent the emergence of surveillance in American Society.
Love is blindness is the perfect combination between words and feelings when singing about the death of a relationship because of endless expectations. Gatsby is crazy in love with Daisy that he denies to acknowledge all her flaws and refuses to give up on their love. Gatsby never feels that Daisy does not love him to the same excessive extent like he does. His love to her is enormously profound that he strongly rejects the fact that Daisy is, in fact, married. He overpasses admitting to reality, the truth, and its ugliness. Daisy does not wait for Gatsby, rather she decides to start another life for herself. Although she's the warm golden girl, she is still intoxicating. In other words, Daisy is an attention seeker and uses her charming