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Symbolism In The Great Gatsby

Decent Essays

What do people that are in love often do? The most common course of action is to get married to their significant other. Oftentimes this matrimony is a symbol of the couple’s love for each other. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses symbolism to intrigue the reader and provide a more developed theme. Fitzgerald’s use of symbolism in his novel The Great Gatsby contributes greatly to the theme of staying faithful in marriage. One such example of symbolism is the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg on the billboard in the valley of ashes. Fitzgerald states, “The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and 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” (Fitzgerald 23). The eyes give the reader the impression of omnipotence. While the spectacles seem to clarify any hazy details the wearer may have missed without them. Later in the story, these eyes symbolize God watching and the characters action when Mr. Wilson is talking to Michaelis. George Wilson tells Michaelis:
“‘I spoke to her,” he muttered, after a long silence. ‘I told her she might fool me but she couldn’t gool God. I took her to the window’-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

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