Symbolism In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is a symbol itself. The Great Gatsby was written to represent the rise and fall of the American Dream. The author places the rich and wealthy lifestyle on a high pedestal while he shows the dramatic consequences of moral and social decay amongst the characters. As each turning point is revealed, the American Dream slowly crumbles in the selfish hands of those who remain ignorant to anything else in the world. The significance of the many symbolic elements in The Great Gatsby plays a role in revealing the underlying themes of the American Dream, the ongoing clash between love and wealth and social and moral destruction.

The eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg mean something different to everybody in the book. To Nick, they symbolize the haunting waste of the past. He uses terms such as “Eckleburg’s persistent stare” and “haunting, unblinking eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg” (Fitzgerald 24)to explain why he thinks this. To George Wilson, the eyes represent the eyes of God, which see everything. In chapter 8, Wilson says his wife could fool him, but she couldn’t fool God, and he says “God sees everything” (Fitzgerald 160). He’s looking at the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg when he says this.

Bruce Wayne once said, “As a man, I'm flesh and blood, I can be ignored, I can be destroyed; but as a symbol... as a symbol I can be incorruptible, I can be everlasting”. Symbolism is used in literature to create a deeper connection or meaning for the audience. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a deeper meaning is shown through the green light on Daisy’s dock and the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. In Batman Begins by David Goyer, bats and Thomas Wayne’s Stethoscope bring out a deeper meaning. Therefore, symbolism is prominent in The Great Gatsby and Batman Begins to show deeper meaning.

F. Scott Fitzgerald includes many motifs and symbols within The Great Gatsby. One important motif is the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. Fitzgerald ultimately uses the eyes to show disapproval and criticism of society and how God watches over everyone and everything. The eyes of Dr. Eckleburg represents the all seeing, overlooking eyes of God. The eyes of Dr. Eckleburg develops religion as the desire of wealth and social class have replaced spiritual values in American society during the 1920s.

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

T.J. Eckleburg’s eyes also represent advertising in a world driven by materialistic needs as they are on a giant advertising billboard. The eyes can also be interpreted as the eyes of ‘God’ watching over the underprivileged in the valley of ashes. ‘But 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.’ The eyes are ‘blue and gigantic – their retinas one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of yellow spectacles which pass over a non-existent nose.’ Nick Caraway explains the eyes for a long time as though they were detached from a God before explaining that they were in fact just an image on a billboard. He gives the reader’s mind time to conjure up the image of these enormous gleaming eyes hovering high in the air watching, Fitzgerald gives the ideas that the eyes are really the eyes of God and it becomes more than just a billboard. ‘He was looking at the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg, which had just emerged, pale and enormous, from the dissolving night. “God sees everything,” repeated Wilson.’ Here Fitzgerald has acknowledged the idea that the eyes represent God, and how God knows everything because he can see it all sitting high up and looking down. Even though there is a significant absence of religion in ‘The Great Gatsby’, God is still there, he’s universal and determined to bring some sort of moral

Another major symbol in this novel is the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg. These are a pair of spectacles painted on an old billboard in the Valley of Ashes. The significant aspect is that this symbol only has meaning when other characters instill it with meaning. The eyes represent a higher power looking over the

“Symbolism exists to adorn and enrich, not to create an artificial sense of profundity.” -Stephen King. In F.Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, symbolism is used to give the reader a better understanding of the characters and their motivations. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald hints at the peculiarity of the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg that are seen on the billboard outside George Wilson’s auto shop, demonstrates the importance of the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, and captures the significance of Gatsby’s mansion.

Have you ever noticed a character's symbolism? In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, he uses symbolism throughout the whole novel, whether it’s through characters, objects, weather, or settings. Characters play a big role in symbolism, with how they act and how they are portrayed to an audience, almost every character in a book or movie has a meaning behind them. Nick Carraway, who is the narrator in The Great Gatsby, symbolizes the integrity of people who live as background characters during society in the period, Meyer Wolfsheim symbolizes the criminality in people in the 1920s through his illegal activities, and Daisy Buchanan symbolizes the facade of innocence that masks the complexities of her character. The first character is Nick Carraway, who symbolizes the integrity

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Gatsby with a great deal of symbolism and for good reason. Symbolism in writing adds more meaning and depth to a story and helps the reader think about underlying themes. It can show what is really going on under the surface of the plot. Several issues exemplified through The Great Gatsby were that wealth and power corrupt, people aren’t what they seem, you can’t go back to the past, actions have consequences, and that the idealistic American dream has been replaced by materialism and greed.

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

Thinking about the past almost always affect present happiness. Perhaps the wrong memories, and sometimes the right memories with someone have negative effects. Many people experience overthinking. This requires someone to sit around and think about something in their life until they begin to over exaggerate the situation. Coming up with every negative outcome that they can acquire. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book, The Great Gatsby, there is almost an opposite thinking coming from the main character, the wealthy Jay Gatsby believes that he should find comfort in the past and hope for it to positively affect the present. Through the text Gatsby is taught using symbolism, that it is foolish to attempt to recover the past because it is impossible for it to lead to present happiness.

Gatsby is not misleading, and cares and hopes for the best to every one of the characters he meets. Gatsby progressed in a multitude of ways, such as how he talked and thought of certain people such as Daisy. The way F. Scott Fitzgerald described Gatsby as a character and how he progressed Gatsby couldn't be more fitting as a caring and more respectful kind of guy. How Gatsby relates to society is that he threw parties and how a lot of rich people went to his parties. He may even be able to challenge societal norms because of how he brought himself up to be a kind of character who looks like a rich guy who is just like everyone else, normal, but really he had so much inside of him that Nick Carraway(friend and Narrator) can for some reason only see. Through this journey, some may feel that Fitzgerald wanted to that there is always some sort of light around, maybe you will have to look hard for it but there will always be light, in Gatsby’s case, there was a green light, and how he looked at the light made it seem as it was his hope, but not for loss. As Gatsby says "single green light" and how it was "unattainable dream," the "dream [that] must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it”. This is one of Gatsby’s quotes that he used with a reference to the green light.

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

Happiness can only truly be acquired through the fantastical idea of dreams, and it is well known that money cannot. But in the 1920s, this idea changed as it became into a desire for wealth by whatever means; mistaken that money will bring happiness in one’s life. This conception leads to the end of true morality and turned a person into someone very selfish. F.Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates this notion through the use of a variety of symbols and themes.One of the dominant ideas within this novel is wealth which is supported through the symbol: eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg.The eyes symbolize the loss of spiritual values and growing commercialism in America. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, the theme wealth creates a pathway to the corruption of morals is evident through the decisions and thoughts of the Buchanans and Gatsby who are indirectly influenced by the symbol Eye of T.J Eckleburg.