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Doctor Eckleburg Symbolism In The Great Gatsby

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A verse from The Book of Proverbs stated, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place seeing the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:3). This relates to how the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg are portrayed by the characters in The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald as God staring upon the American society seeing everything that everyone does. The eyes are symbolic in the novel, they see everything and remind us that even when we think no one is watching; someone is. F. Scott Fitzgerald displays a negative view of America in the 1920’s through the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg by him seeing the loss of spirituality which causes the affairs, corruption, and murder. Many readers will believe that Doctor T.J. Eckleburg had no impact on the …show more content…

Eckleburg see that display a negative view on America in the 1920’s caused by the loss of spirituality. While discussing with Nick Tom said, “‘Terrible place, isn’t it,’ said Tom, exchanging a frown with Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. ‘Awful’” (Fitzgerald). The Valley of Ashes is a place that separates the American social classes, a place that is described as a “gray land” with “bleak dust”. The Valley shows how much worse the life of the poor class was, there wasn’t any middle, you were either happy and rich or miserable and poor. The eyes frown upon the Valley of Ashes as it is nothing but a place of hopeless dreams and people whom have been corrupted by the pursuit of the American Dream. Everything bad seems to happen in the Valley of Ashes; the murder, the idea of murder, the affairs, the illegal activity, etc. The Valley of Ashes is nothing but negative because it represents how ‘God’ is watching a decaying society that withholds Myrtles murder and Georges mistakes. America in the 1920’s was full of corruption caused by a loss in spirituality within the …show more content…

Fitzgerald captures the meaning behind many of the themes throughout the book with the help of the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. America in the 1920’s replace a society with religion, morals, and values with a negative society consumed of greed, wealth, and cheating. Figuring out why Fitzgerald wrote certain things and had things play out as they did make you think that maybe the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg weren’t just representing God, but maybe even F. Scott Fitzgerald himself. He wrote about the glamorous life in the 1920’s as well as the hidden truths which we readers get to see through the eyes of Doctor T.J.

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