Motif of Eyes in the Great Gatsby

Analysis: Fitzgerald uses ashes, fire and dust to represent the unachievable desire for the great American Dream. Fitzgerald uses the character George Wilson as a voice of many who live in the valley of ashes to get away from the filthy place, he said “i’ve been here too long. I want to get away”. This show through Wilson's hardest efforts to achieve his dreams he is still stuck in this dump. It speaks to the lost expectations and dreams of individuals who have neglected to satisfy the American Dream.

The desire for social pleasure was rampant in the roaring twenties and in The Great Gatsby. On the surface, Gatsby’s dream appears very materialistic. We’ve just talked about his fancy parties and his flash car. But if Gatsby’s dream was truly material, would he chase after Daisy? If his aim was purely material, he wouldn’t have been such a desperate romantic figure. We’re selling him a bit short here by accusing him of just wanting money. He is unsatisfied with his wealth, and pursues something greater – ‘true love’. Gatsby’s idea of ‘success’ was Daisy. Granted, you and I will agree that Gatsby could have done so much better. In fact, what does Daisy represent? Daisy has a symbolic name, and the way she gleams “in the sunlight” (pg 160) is merely a white façade covering her superficiality. The truth is, she and Tom are “careless people”, they “smash up things…and retreat into their money and carelessness…let other people clean up the mess they’d made” (pg 191). You may think Gatsby’s corrupt. However, clearly Daisy and Tom are the corrupt ones; they think they can do anything and everything, with the social influence and wealth they gained at birth. Daisy exploited Gatsby, his naive desire of “the golden girl” (pg 128), the ‘girl of his dreams’ – or so he believed. Fitzgerald also wanted a girl out of his league; Ginevra (Erbentraut, 2013). Very much like Daisy, Ginevra couldn’t be with Fitzgerald because of she was rich and cool and he

Fitzgerald indicates that wealthy people are not always happy. At Tom and Daisy’s dinner party, Nick says that Daisy’s face “was sad and lovely” (13). The description of Daisy’s attitude and appearance shows the reader that her beauty intends to mask her despair. Many

( 185 ) The eyes are only allowed to see certain things and they are portrayed in a careful watchful tone like those of the owl-rimmed glasses. The ever-present theme of seeing and not seeing. The eyes are condemning as they view the futile efforts of Gatsby as he tries to obtain the American dream. Nick becomes the eyes that see the full picture and how other people affect Gatsby through the writing of his book. The eyes see through everything and everyone through actions and words.

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.

Everyone has a face, whether it be literal or figural. But in the story of The Great Gatsby, author F. Scott Fitzgerald tells the story of how Nick Carraway observes the lives of others. Throughout the book he notices that each person has an outer apperance that they show to the world. But as Nick gets to know them, he realizes what truly lies within them. Fitzgerald tells the story of how a person’s appearance doesn’t reveal who they truly are through the literary devices of symbolism, point-of-view, and foreshadowing.

For Tom, this means running of to New York when it suits him and finding pleasure from his other romantic affiliations. Daisy is no more faithful. Throughout the novel, Tom expresses distaste for the very type of woman he married as well as the girls he continues to see. The “modern” woman is supposedly not at all to his taste, with all of the running around and flirtation. After his discovery of Daisy’s affair, he erupts, shaming the lifestyle he himself leads. “I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife” (Fitzgerald 139). Tom and Daisy represent the failed American Dream completely- each unhappy, corrupt, and pretending to live a lifestyle inconsistent with their actions. The hypocrisy is overwhelming.

You may think you can decieve individuals. You may think you can escape with anything you need. You may think nobody is observing in any case, you are continually being viewed. Ordinary somebody has their eyes on you. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald partners Dr.TJ Ecklebergs eyes to speak to that we are continually being viewed.

Another aspect of Fitzgerald's criticism of the American dream is Gatsby's desire to gain the love of Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby's object of affection and his "holy grail" (Fitzgerald 160). Daisy on the outside is beautiful, pure, and seemingly perfect. Nick Carraway describes her as wearing white clothes and driving a white car. Her name itself is a white flower. But in actuality, she is as false and shallow as the rest of the society (Lathbury 20). The narrator Nick comments about the foul nature of Daisy and Tom Buchanan who were Americans living in the superficial world of the 1920's:

Tom and Daisy, despite already living the American Dream, behave in a self-absorbed manner to continue to maintain their social standing. They show reckless disregard for the lives of others as well as their own loved ones, all driven by the compelling desire to be equated to a higher social class. As Nick and the Buchanans begin to have dinner they are interrupted by an unexpected call. While everyone is aware of the source of the call, Jordan breaks the news to a confused Nick that “Tom’s got some woman in New York” (Fitzgerald 20). The entire idea that Tom’s “got some woman” (Fitzgerald 20) shows readers the presence of

The Great Gatsby Motifs The theme society and class in The Great Gatsby relates directly to the motif of the parties. The parties showed how each class acted at the party or how it was hosted based on their rank in society. At Gatsby’s parties it was described as “…they conducted themselves according to the rules of behavior associated with an amusement park.”

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.

“Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and I, were all Westerners, and perhaps we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life.”(Fitzgerald 165). Nick considers the behavior and value choices of Tom, Gatsby and Daisy, as the outcome to the wealth-obsessed society of New York. Nick comes into terms of how wealth influences a person to contradict with the ethics of the typical American dream of equality. That often becomes distorted. On the other hand, Nick remains to find success in the bond business and still stays intact with his personal morals and values of respecting others no matter the quantity of his wealth. “The modesty of the demand shook me. He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths, so that he could come over some afternoon to a stranger's garden.” (Lorcher). Therefore, moral ambiguity becomes present when Gatsby is convinced that using his materialistic items, that wealth has provided him with, will help gain Daisy back. He fails to come to the realization that the past remains in the past, and the present is to be lived in the moment of, and not created through fantasies. All Gatsby had purchased, was in hope to woo Daisy back. Furthermore, Gatsby went against the American Dream with his mindset that