Significance Of Owl Eyes In The Great Gatsby

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

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 first symbol we see appears at the end of Chapter one. It is a

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 owl-eyed man is the first one to be mentioned. During chapter III the readers meet him for the first time. He has drank too much and goes on about Mr. Gatsby’s library on how impressive it is with having real books. As the reader breaks down his name we are left with owl. Owls are thought to be intelligent creatures and to have great sight. When Gatsby dies Nick has a hard time finding people to come to the funeral. All the people that showed up where Mr. Gatz, Mr. Gatsby’s father, Nick, a few servants, and the owl-eyed man. He said, “‘Go on!’ He started. ‘Why, my God! They used to go there by the hundreds.’ He took off his glasses and wiped them again, outside and in. ‘The poor son-of-bitch,’ he said”(175). In the quote the owl-eyed man

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

In the novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there is an important theme in the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. These eyes watch over the events and characters of the novel like the eyes of God. Many things happen in front of the eyes of Dr. Eckleburg, like the vehicular manslaughter of Myrtle. There is one quote in particular that describes the eyes of Dr. Eckleburg. This quote has many different meanings to the reader, depending on which way you pick it open.

"Never has symbolism played such a crucial part in the very foundation of a novel as it does in Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, The Great Gatsby." Harold Bloom has written about this book. The author used several types of symbolism in The Great Gatsby. The colours are probably the easiest to be recognized and guessed what they symbolized. According to the definition “symbolism” is "the practice of representing things by means of symbols or of attributing symbolic meanings or significance to objects, events, or relationships."

Behind closed doors, something familiar can present itself as completely different. The nine chapter, American classic The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald has meaningful motifs, themes, and various writing techniques used to express Fitzgerald’s ideas. The book follows Nick Carraway, a young bondsman, who documents the deadly affair between Daisy, who is married to Tom, and Gatsby, a bachelor who lives across from the Buchanans. Gatsby refuses to give Daisy up without a fight, which ultimately leads to his demise. Fitzgerald brilliantly uses tone in recurring motifs to express how appearances can be deceiving. The most prominent are the use of eyes, flowers, and heat.

ideas or concepts. For example, a dove is usually used to represent peace. In the novel The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald uses a lot of symbolism to connect the characters with each other or to other objects. Fitzgerald’s use of symbolism helps advance his thematic interest in his novel of The Great Gatsby. In the Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses various colors, objects, and gestures as symbols to portray the lack of moral and spiritual values of people and the different aspects of society in the 1920's.

In chapter 7 when Gatsby, Jordan, Nick, Daisy, and Tom are going to New York the eyes are referred again. “...I turned my head as if I had been warned of something behind. Over the ashheaps the giant eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg kept their vigil…” (Fitzgerald 131). From this piece of text we can infer that the eyes are theoretically foreshadowing that some form of “sin” or bad is about to take event. Not too long later in the chapter, Gatsby and Daisy are driving in the yellow car and hit and kill Myrtle and drove off. The eyes could have been a tool for the reader to know that something bad was going to take place in the

Symbolism provides an imagery that helps facilitate a deeper understanding. Taking place in the 1920’s, The Great Gatsby, is set during a time when society both put up facades while also striving to achieve wealth and high social status. The classic novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald cleverly uses multiple symbols throughout the novel to expose the issues with society at that time. The ultimate goal of this novel is to elaborate the class struggles and illustrate the goal to achieve of American dream. The Great Gatsby, The author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, uses the infamous green light, the metaphor of an egg, and pearls to show and support the overall theme of the American Dream.

The Great Gatsby is one of the most read pieces of literature throughout the current modern Western world. High school kids all across the globe must learn and read it as part of their curriculum. One of the aspects that makes this novel so notable is that Fitzgerald, at no point in the story, needs to convey to his audience the theme of his novel directly. The main points of his novel are brought out by the powerful symbols he infuses in the book. Not only does he use them to convey his theme, but also ties them in to the rest of the story. Every aspect of this book is affected by the presence of one of his symbols. Through the use of the green light, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, and the Valley of the Ashes as symbols,

One aspect of humanity is to only act if it will make their life better with fame or fortune. Even though when he was living Gatsby was a highly respected and very well known man, only three people attended his funeral. One of these was owl-eyes, who was introduced earlier in the book at Gatsby’s party. He is found in a library, staring in awe at the shelves and shelves of books in Gatsby’s library: “Absolutely real--have pages and everything. I thought they'd be a nice durable cardboard. Matter of a fact, they’re absolutely real. Pages and-- Here! Lemme show you” (Fitzgerald 45). Owl-eyes’ utter disbelief furthers his idea that Gatsby is nothing but a mirage, and also nobody really cares about Gatsby but more about what his social status promises. At the end of the book, owl-eyes once again shows up at Gatsby’s funeral. He seems a little upset in the turn out, “Why, my God! they used to go there by the

It fooled me. This fella’s a regular Belasco. It’s a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop too—didn’t cut the pages”. (Fitzgerald 24). Readers may view Owl Eyes as a mere whim to provide a break from the plot of the story, however, he serves a vital role in the novel as he represents the foundation of society as a whole. Some academia would assert that perhaps Owl Eyes can be described as “the avatar of the sightless T.J. Eckleburg,” however, a more wholesome explanation can be developed through a deeper interpretation (Shaw). Shaw points out that “[Owl Eyes] is constantly wiping his rain covered glasses in a futile effort to see what’s going on” (Shaw). What this indicates is that Owl Eyes is a character who, just like the rest of society, is blinded. Shaw points to the “rain covered glasses” to convey that Owl Eyes is the representation of all those who fall victim to the tricks of the wealthy, in this case, a mobster is hidden behind pages and pages of respected literature which have no connection to Gatsby’s identity for himself. The existence of Owl Eyes importance is contextualized only in coexistence with the billboard of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. Eckleburg, an inanimate object represents the truth of the Roaring Twenties, “Above the grey land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg” (Fitzgerald 45). Eckleburg, from the readers first description of