Eyes,+Seeing


 * __ ﻿ Eyes, Seeing __**

One of the most evident and common symbols within F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, __The Great Gatsby__, is the motif of ‘eyes’ or ‘seeing’. Fitzgerald’s interpretation of this motif uses eyes to not only characterize characters and their emotions (akin to hordes of other authors), but also to represent different objects or abstract concepts (such as God, or a parent). He uses figurative language to characterize characters through their eyes, while using metaphorical comparisons in order to advance the symbolically relevant nature (such as the eyes of Dr. Eckleburg) of the objects or concepts that he presents. This motif helps the reader better understand the characters while simultaneously symbolizing larger concepts or arguments proposed within the book.

 **__ Traditional Characterization __** - This usage of the motif is extremely common across all types of literature—Fitzgerald uses it to help the reader construct an image of a variety of characters' faces, ranging from Daisy to Mr. Gatz, by describing one of their most prominent features; their eyes.

(95) “‘My house looks well, doesn’t it?” he demanded. “See how the whole front of it catches the light.”

I agreed that it was splendid.

“Yes.” His eyes went over it, every arched door and square tower.”


 * This characterizes Gatsby as extremely materialistic—he __demands__ recognition from Nick in order to validate his thoughts.


 * This is very similar to Daisy and Tom in the way that he 'watches' over all of his possessions and may represent Fitzgerald’s consensus that many of the upper class characters are extremely materialistic.

(125) “‘Who wants to go to town?” demanded Daisy insistently. Gatsby’s eyes floated toward her. “Ah,” she cried, “you look so cool.”

Their eyes met, and they stared together at each other, alone in space. With an effort she glanced down at the table.

“You always look so cool,” she repeated.

She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw. He was astounded. His mouth opened a little, and he looked at Gatsby, and then back at Daisy as if he had just recognized her as someone he knew a long time ago.

“You resemble the advertisement of the man,” she went on innocently. “You know the advertisement of the man ——”

“All right,” broke in Tom quickly, “I’m perfectly willing to go to town. Come on — we’re all going to town.”

He got up, his eyes still flashing between Gatsby and his wife. No one moved.


 * During this conversation, the characters’ eyes become the characters. Their actions are described through the interactions of their eyes and the way that they interact. This represents the dominance of the eyes in a character’s face and the impact that it can have.


 * Daisy also brings up the Arrow Collar man, one of the most successful advertisements in the United States. The Arrow Collar Man is known for being "[s]martly dressed, dignified, and handsome, he symbolized taste, manners, and quality, and represented the ideal American male." (Arrow)

"The Arrow Collar Man." __1920's Fashion__. Gale Cengage, 2010. __eNotes.com__. 2006. 29 Oct, 2010 

(175- 168) “His eyes **__leaked__** continuously with excitement […]After a little while Mr. Gatz opened the door and came out, his mouth ajar, his face flushed slightly, his eyes **__leaking__** isolated and unpunctual tears.”


 * This represents the change that seeing his son’s body had on Henry Gatz; he hadn’t understood the true reality of the situation earlier, but now he fully comprehends the implication of the situation.


 * Fitzgerald purposefully frames the sentence by using the same verb (leaking) to describe his eyes in order to indicate the instantaneous transformation that occurred.

 **__ Seeing- Humans __** Multiple characters, especially Gatsby, are portrayed as watching and observing people or their surroundings as it often lends insight into their mindset or character, while simultaneously contributing to Fitzgerald's arguments about human nature. Interestingly, Nick usually discovers a character watching or observing; therefore, any indications about the nature of their observations are only presented through Nick, presenting a bias problem.

(25) “I was not alone — fifty feet away a figure had emerged from the shadow of my neighbor’s mansion and was standing with his hands in his pockets regarding the silver pepper of the stars. Something in his leisurely movements and the secure position of his feet upon the lawn suggested that it was Mr. Gatsby himself, come out to determine what share was his of our local heavens.”

· Despite that this is the first time that Nick sees him, Nick clearly respects him and the way he observes the sky, proven through his description as a confident, yet calm person.

· Gatsby is portrayed as almost God-like in that he appears to oversee the heavens, determining his share of it. Gatsby isn't necessarily depicted as greedy, as his movements are described as 'secure', not as opportunistic.

· Fitzgerald may even be trying to say that Gatsby believes that his material possessions extend all the way to the sky, and he therefore believes that some of it is his.

(40) “Yet high over the city our line of yellow windows must have contributed their share of human secrecy to the casual watcher in the darkening streets, and I was him too, looking up and wondering. I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.”

· This represents Nick’s "capacity to imaginatively project himself into the experiences he observes" and understand the implications present within them (Bruccoli).

· It also represents Nick feelings in that he is not like the others—he has the ability to look within the window and observe himself, while the others fail to objectively consider themselves.
 * Note, Bruccoli = author of the included preface

(131) “That locality was always vaguely disquieting, even in the broad glare of afternoon, and now I turned my head as though I had been warned of something behind. Over the ashheaps the giant eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg kept their vigil, but I perceived, after a moment, that other eyes were regarding us with peculiar intensity from less than twenty feet away.

In one of the windows over the garage the curtains had been moved aside a little, and Myrtle Wilson was peering down at the car. So engrossed was she that she had no consciousness of being observed, and one emotion after another crept into her face like objects into a slowly developing picture. Her expression was curiously familiar — it was an expression I had often seen on women’s faces, but on Myrtle Wilson’s face it seemed purposeless and inexplicable until I realized that her eyes, wide with jealous terror, were fixed not on Tom, but on Jordan Baker, whom she took to be his wife.”

· Eckleburg appears to be able to foreshadow the events; he warns Nick of the dangers of Myrtle watching Tom and Jordan. This is a God-like quality, further enhancing the notion that Eckleburg represents God.

· Eckleburg keeps vigil (ie. Is right in his notions), while Myrtle makes mistakes when watching.

o This may be a commentary on human error judgment and the effect that it can have on your life. Eckleburg makes the right prediction while Myrtle is just a foolish mortal! What could she know?

**__ Seeing- Non-Human or concept __** Fitzgerald imaginatively utilizes images such as faces to represent characters brooding over each other while using objects and animals, such as a billboard and a dog, as allegories for ideas he wishes to present in the novel.

(27-28) “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 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. 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.”

· Eckleburg’s eyes are literally gigantic eyes that watch over the events in the novel. Importantly, the eyes are placed in the Valley of Ashes, which is right in between New York and the Eggs, where almost all of the events take place. This means that the eyes have a perfect vantage point for the story.

· In addition, the eyes are presented in contrast to the "gray land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it" (the Valley). The eyes appear to have a sort of special ability to perceive through the darkness and observe the events, which makes the eyes almost God-like. Also, the eyes ‘brood over’ the Valley, implying that they are judging the events and characters within the novel.

· The eyes could themselves be an omniscient narrator as they appear to know and understand everything that happens in the novel.

(41) "The little dog was sitting on the table looking with blind eyes through the smoke, and from time to time groaning faintly.”

· The dog represents an innocent bystander, hurt by the actions of others. It characterizes the lack of affection present within the other characters as they ignore the dog as he/she is "groaning faintly".

· The dog may also be judging the characters as judges are often described as blind in that ‘justice is blind’.

(85) “I had no girl whose disembodied face floated along the dark cornices and blinding signs, and so I drew up the girl beside me, tightening my arms.”

· Nick believes that Daisy and Myrtle are just disembodied faces—they’re not showing their true self, they’re just artificial. More importantly, Nick isn't obsessed with a woman like Gatsby is.

· This is also extremely relevant to the cover of the novel, which depicts a disembodied face of a woman.

 - This is a possible representation of Eckleburg’s eyes.  []