How truthful was Gatsby when he relayed the story of his life to Nick? When Gatsby first told Nick his past in chapter four, his stories were completely false. They were separated from each other all night. All of the tension, cheating, background relationships are being revealed to us. Jordan tells Nick about how Daisy had been in love with Gatsby before the war, but decided to marry Tom instead.
He bought the house because to show Daisy how wealthy he was. Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel. Social studies. Ben Davis December 14, What might the eyes of Dr TJ eckleburg symbolize explain? What do eyes represent in The Great Gatsby? Nick is the first to notice the billboard and describe it as a watchful presence. He finds it a discomfiting cap on the misery and desolation of the "ash heaps" that separate Long Island from Manhattan.
In a way, the billboard does what Nick could never do—be a completely impartial, completely objective observer of the events around it. George Wilson. George seems to conflate the eyes of T. Eckleburg with his idea of an ever-present, all-seeing God. He reveals to Michaelis that part of his reaction to Myrtle's affair was to try to make her be afraid of a God who is watching her every move like the billboard does.
In the end, after he seems completely unhinged by Myrtle's death, George stares at the billboard in the same way that Gatsby stares at the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. It's possible to conclude that when Michaelis tells George that the eyes are just an advertisement, he removes the last barrier preventing George from acting out his violent intention.
Morality and Ethics. The values of the world within the novel seem to simply be: get whatever you want for yourself, as much as you can, in any way you can, and don't get caught. No one has an internal moral compass, and there is no external one either apparently.
The eyes of TJ Eckleburg come closest to being an external motivator for characters to at least consider the morality of their actions, as they squirm and become uncomfortable under the eyes' gaze.
Money and Materialism. The billboard is there in the first place as an advertisement, and thus also reflects the huge capitalist influence in everyone's lives. The real reason that there is no moral or ethical underpinning to the lives of these characters is that their world is based on a greedy, money-based notion of success. Even the object that is the closest thing to a religious figure is in reality trying to compel those who see it to buy something and make someone else richer.
The Valley of Ashes. The billboard of the eyes of T. Eckleburg is located in the middle of what Nick calls "the valley of ashes"—the industrial section of Queens that connects the rich neighborhoods of the Eggs on Long Island and the similarly booming Manhattan. That the eyes watch over this neighborhood in particular is an indictment of the way those who can't claw their way to the top get left behind in the lawless Wild East, shaming those passing through who are taking advantage of the hard work of the poor.
What makes the world of The Great Gatsby go around. Now that we've discussed the significance of the billboard advertising the oculist Doctor Eckleburg, let's figure out the best way to approach this symbol in an essay. Here are some possible essay arguments.
You can build from them as-is, argue their opposite, or use them as jumping-off points for your own interpretation. What Wilson really wants when he's staring at the eyes of Doctor T.
Eckleburg is the kind of intervention that a third-person narrator would normally provide: someone to punish the bad characters and reward the good ones. Because there's no supervising authority like that in the novel, Wilson takes justice into his own hands. The problem isn't that there aren't any moral rules in the world of the novel, but that everyone is so flawed that it would be impossible to figure out who is right and who is wrong.
That's why the only appropriate God figure is an inanimate object. The eyes are placed on the road between Manhattan and West Egg rather than in one of those places because this road is a place where characters could make different choices, and where they can make the decisions that affect their lives in either one of those destinations.
Who has the most options in the novel? Who has the least? Refresh your memory of the chapters where this symbol appears : Chapter 2 , Chapter 7 , and Chapter 8. Compare and contrast Tom and George to see why they react to the billboard's unsettling eyes in such different ways. Consider the location of the billboard by reading about the valley of ashes and the other settings in the novel.
Check out all the other symbols that enrich The Great Gatsby. We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score.
Download it for free now:. In many states, physicians were not required to complete medical school, pass a qualifying examination, or even obtain a license in order to practice medicine, but by the early-twentieth century standards for medical education and licensure were much more strictly regulated. The birth of bacteriology and the development of scientific medicine, in conjunction with the standardization of medical practice, contributed to the growing prestige of physicians in the late-nineteenth century.
As medical technologies improved, especially diagnostic technologies such as the microscope and the X-ray, it became possible for physicians to see things that the average American could not—most importantly, the microscopic germs discovered to be the cause of common diseases including tuberculosis, cholera, diphtheria, dysentery, and tetanus.
The recurrence of the eyes of Doctor T. Tom is aware of the privileges his inherited wealth bestows, yet blind—or at least indifferent—to the consequences such selfishness incurs. Nevertheless, Doctor T. Yet Doctor T. Why is Myrtle attracted to Tom? Why does Gatsby stop throwing parties? Quotes The Eyes of Doctor T. 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. The eyes of Doctor T.
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 non-existent nose. Evidently some 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.
Then as Doctor T.
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