Symbolism 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

In life everyone strives to get rich, but is having an abundance of money always good? Sometimes people use money for personal benefits, sometimes it's for the benefit of others, but at times people with money use it to create their social status. In The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the idea of wealth is seen throughout. Jay Gatsby, who lives next door to Nick Carraway; the Narrator of the story, wants to be with his dream girl Daisy. Gatsby is wealthy and throws parties to impress Daisy. Daisy however, is married to another man Tom Buchanan. Throughout the story the people with money use it to create their social status. In The Great Gatsby F.Scott Fitzgerald uses symbolism to convey, wealth causes people to assert

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.

In the Great Gatsby however partying, easy money and the absence of God corrupts this dream. During the 1920s God was believed to not be present. People believed God just sat back and watched things unravel. When a man named Wilson said “God sees everything” (160) someone replied with “That’s an advertisement”(160). A symbol for God in Fitzgerald’s books is a billboard ad for eye glasses. This billboard had large yellow glasses, blue eyes but no nose or face, named TJ Eckleburg. TJ Eckleburg was always present and watching everything that happened but that’s all he did, he never took action, much like God. Gatsby conserves many of his connections in order to maintain his luxury lifestyle. When speaking to Nick, Gatsby mentions one of his rather big “gonnections”, Mr. Wolfsheim. Gatsby explains “He the man who fixed the world series back in 1919”(73). Fitzgerald allows us to see Gatsby’s corrupt achievement through a false sense of pride. This lets the reader understand completely that Gatsby as well as the American dream are corrupt. When Gatsby reveals a shadier side of how he came into his wealth with Wolfsheim, Fitzgerald foreshadows a theme of corruption late in the story. Therefore Gatsby’s craving for love and money finally disassembles his life

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

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

The book The Great Gatsby is written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it’s a narrative told from the perspective of Nick Carraway. He tells the story of the tragic life of Jay Gatsby and talks about the society of the wealthy people with high social status. He talks about the conflict between the two huge power Tom and Gatsby, due to their similarity in their money and social status, while they compete for dominance and masculinity by fighting over Daisy. Through Nick’s narration and his close relationship with Gatsby, the readers realize that the motive behind everything that Gatsby does is to win back Daisy’s heart to repeat the past, the first time when he fell in love with Daisy.

While reading The Great Gatsby, we see a symbol of God in the eyes of Dr. TJ Eckleburg and the character of Owl Eyes. Dr. Eckleburg represents an all-seeing, uninvolved God who sees the immoral actions, but does not interfere. In a conversation with Michaelis, Wilson says, “‘I told her she might fool me but she couldn’t fool God. I took her to the winds’ - with an effort he got up and walked to the rear window and leaned with his face pressed against it - ‘and I said ‘God knows what you’ve been doing, everything you’ve been doing. You may fool me, but you can’t fool God!’’ Standing behind him, Michaelis saw with a shock that he was looking at the eyes of Dr. TJ Eckleburg, which had just emerged, pale and enormous, from the dissolving night” (Fitzgerald 167). Wilson believes that the one person who has the right to judge is God and He is watching.

The allusion is placed in this phrase because Gatsby also knew from a young age that we was destined for greater things- outside of his poor family’s farm. Although Gatsby may see himself as the Son of God, he is not the representation of God in this novel. The eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg represent God because of it’s wise awareness, not the glamorous richness of Gatsby.

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

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.

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

   Throughout the course of events in The Great Gatsby, the watchful eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg stare into the depths of each character, while the Doctor serves as a god of conscience from his middle ground between two worlds. As the creations of F. Scott Fitzgerald, the characters whose stories unwind before us live twisted webs of lives in which there is a distorted view of a greater force outside their worlds. Dr. Eckleburg merely watches over the "grey land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it" at the spot where "when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene for as long as half an hour" (27-8). This is

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,