Essay on Dr. Eckleburg of The Great Gatsby - 502 Words

Dr. Eckleburg of The Great Gatsby Throughout the course of events in The Great Gatsby, the watchful eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg stare into the depths of each character, while the Doctor serves as a god of conscience from his middle ground between two worlds. As the creations of F. Scott Fitzgerald, the characters whose stories unwind before us live twisted webs of lives in which there is a distorted view of a greater force outside their worlds. Dr. Eckleburg merely watches over the grey land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it at the spot where when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene for as long as half an hour (27-8). This is†¦show more content†¦There is not much sincere encouragement of morality, and even at the funeral of Gatsby a reference to God is vague to the point of barely existing in the text. Gatsby himself is his own God, emulating the basis of Gods essence: creation. He creates his own world and being to such an extent that rather than being included in the vast expanse of the territory over which the traditional view of God is all-powerful, he is about his Fathers business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty (104), and is so in his own territory. Likewise, no character has any strong inclination towards a traditional God, but rather lives in his own perception of the universe. Among the ash heaps, the dark bridge, and the eyes of Dr. Eckleburg, there is no greater sense of religion. In this purgatory of New York, however, where sins bite and consciences nag, the giant eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg [keep] their vigil (131). He watches, as God does, as the worlds of George Wilson and Myrtle, Gatsby, Daisy and Tom collide and dissolve, leaving the tangled mess that had arisen shattered and dead among the debris of his universe. Just like the fake, deceitful lives everyone led, there was a fake interest in God and religion. There was never any real understanding of the world in which they lived, with no attempt to explain why they were even there. In the world of the ash heaps and dustyShow MoreRelated The Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg in The Great Gatsby Essay459 Words   |  2 PagesThe Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg in The Great Gatsby In the novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there is an important theme in the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. These eyes watch over the events and characters of the novel like the eyes of God. Many things happen in front of the eyes of Dr. Eckleburg, like the vehicular manslaughter of Myrtle. There is one quote in particular that describes the eyes of Dr. Eckleburg. This quote has many different meanings to the reader, depending on whichRead More Failure and Destruction of a Romantic Ideal in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby1639 Words   |  7 PagesThe Great Gatsby and the Destruction of a Romantic Ideal      Ã‚   In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald tells the story of a romantic ideal and its ultimate destruction by the inexorable rot and decay of modern life. The story is related by Nick Carraway, who has taken a modest rental house next door to Jay Gatsbys mansion. Jay Gatsby is a young millionaire who achieves fabulous wealth for the sole purpose of recapturing the love of his former sweetheart, Daisy Fay Buchanan. Five years priorRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald Essay1529 Words   |  7 PagesThe Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a novel that is swimming with several types of symbolisms and motifs. Each element helps expand the plot of the storyline and in turn, helps us better analyze the main characters and their thoughts and feelings. The main symbols that will be analyzed in this essay are the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg and the eyes of ‘Owl Eyes’, the symbolization of the green light and the other colors referenced, and locat ions like the Valley of Ashes, East andRead MoreThe Great Gatsby1205 Words   |  5 PagesEnglish Essay Ââ€" The Great Gatsby The main theme of the novel The Great Gatsby focuses on the American Dream and it is portrayed through the life of Jay Gatsby. Through Gatsbys life we see the withering of the American Dream, a tragedy that struck Jays near finished dream. The American Dream is what many have hoped of achieving, it has existed in the past and is in the present. The American Dream gives people a goal that they can work towards, it also gives them a purpose in life. The AmericanRead MoreBroken Dreams and Fallen Themes: the Corruption of the American Dream in the Great Gatsby1477 Words   |  6 PagesDreams and Fallen Themes In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald employs the use of characters, themes, and symbolism to convey the idea of the American Dream and its corruption through the aspects of wealth, family, and status. In regards to wealth and success, Fitzgerald makes clear the growing corruption of the American Dream by using Gatsby himself as a symbol for the corrupted dream throughout the text. In addition, when portraying the family the characters in Great Gatsby are used to expose the corruptionRead More Corruption of the American Dream in the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald1438 Words   |  6 PagesDreams and Fallen Themes In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald employs the use of characters, themes, and symbolism to convey the idea of the American Dream and its corruption through the aspects of wealth, family, and status. In regards to wealth and success, Fitzgerald makes clear the growing corruption of the American Dream by using Gatsby himself as a symbol for the corrupted dream throughout the text. In addition, when portraying the family the characters in Great Gatsby are used to expose the corruptionRead MoreThe Importance of the Settings in Novels1479 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"It’s pretty, isnt it, old sport?†(Fitzgerald 53), hollow words that describe an era precisely. The Great Gatsby is a wonderfully depressing novel about a man who literally made a name for himself and died in search of the American Dream. It was set in the Roaring Twenties, also known as the Jazz Age, a time about dynamic subcultures all around the world, and their grand art, social lives and music. This book is set by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the North East of the United States, New York, and LongRead More The Valley of Ashes as Metaphor in The Great Gatsby Essay1969 Words   |  8 PagesThe Valley of Ashes as Metaphor in The Great Gatsby      Ã‚  Ã‚   Throughout F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby, location is a critical motif. The contrasts between East and West, East Egg and West Egg, and the two Eggs and New York serve important thematic roles and provide the backdrops for the main conflict. Yet, there needs to be a middle ground between each of these sites, a buffer zone, as it were; there is the great distance that separates East from West; there is the bay that separatesRead MoreThe Great Gatsby And The Handmaid s Tale : Crushing Dreams2951 Words   |  12 PagesRilye Fries Mrs. Tucker English 12 hour 3 13 March 2015 The Great Gatsby and The Handmaid’s Tale: Crushing Dreams The Great Gatsby is regarded as a classic novel for its sad and hopeful story of Jay Gatsby and his quest to obtain Daisy Buchanan, his first love. Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid s Tale is regarded as a more modern day classic, taking place in a dystopian society where women are regarded as sex slaves and the Bible is law. Both F. Scott Fitzgerald and Margaret Atwood, despite havingRead MoreComparative of the Great Gatsby, Casablanca and Translations2685 Words   |  11 PagesThe texts which I have studied in my comparative course are â€Å"The Great Gatsby† (G.G.) written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. â€Å"Casablanca† (C.B.) directed by Micheal Curtiz and â€Å"Translations† (T.) written by Brian Friel. The cultural context of all three texts impacts on how and why the people behave the way they do. In this essay I will examine the elements which I thought had the most significant impact on the characters which contributed to their behaviour throughout the na rratives. The first aspect