The rest of the face isn't pictured, and the billboard is dirty with paint that has faded from being weathered. Before we can figure out what the eyes mean as a symbol, let's do some close reading of the moments where they pop up in The Great Gatsby.
The first time we come across Dr. Eckleburg and his eerie eyes, we are in the midst of a double whammy of terribleness. First, Nick has just described Queens as a depressing, crumbling "valley of ashes" that is "grotesque" and "desolate" 2. Second, Tom is about to introduce Nick to Myrtle Wilson, his married mistress. But above the grey 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 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… I followed [Tom] over a low white-washed railroad fence and we walked back a hundred yards along the road under Doctor Eckleburg's persistent stare Just like the quasi-mysterious and unreal-sounding green light in Chapter 1 , the eyes of Doctor Eckleburg are presented in a confusing and seemingly surreal way :.
Instead of simply saying that there is a giant billboard, Nick first spends several sentences describing seemingly living giant eyes that are hovering in mid-air.
Unlike the very gray, drab, and monochrome surroundings, the eyes are blue and yellow. In a novel that is methodically color-coded, this brightness is a little surreal and connects the eyes to other blue and yellow objects. Moreover, the description has elements of horror. The "gigantic" eyes are disembodied, with "no face" and a "nonexistent nose. Adding to this creepy feel is the fact that even after we learn that the eyes are actually part of an advertisement, they are given agency and emotions.
They don't simply exist in space, but "look out" and "persistently stare," the miserable landscape causes them to "brood," and they are even able to "exchange a frown" with Tom despite the fact that they have no mouth. It's clear from this personification of an inanimate object that these eyes stand for something else—a huge, displeased watcher.
The second time T. Eckleburg's eyes appear, Tom, Nick, and Jordan are stopping at Wilson's garage on their way to Manhattan to have it out with Daisy and Gatsby. We were all irritable now with the fading ale and, aware of it, we drove for a while in silence. Then as Doctor T. Eckleburg's faded eyes came into sight down the road, I remembered Gatsby's caution about gasoline…. 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. 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.
This time, the eyes are a warning to Nick that something is wrong. He thinks the problem is that the car is low on gas, but as we learn, the real problem at the garage is that George Wilson has found out that Myrtle is having an affair.
Of course, Nick is quickly distracted from the billboard's "vigil" by the fact that Myrtle is staring at the car from the room where George has imprisoned her. She is holding her own "vigil" of sorts, staring out the window at what she thinks is the yellow car of Tom, her would-be savior, and also giving Jordan a death stare under the misguided impression that Jordan is Daisy.
The word "vigil" is important here. It refers to staying awake for a religious purpose, or to keep watch over a stressful and significant time. Here, though, both of those meanings don't quite apply, and the word is used sarcastically. The billboard eyes can't interact with the characters, but they do point to—or stand in for—a potential higher authority whose "brooding" and "caution" could also be accompanied by judgment.
Their useless vigil is echoed by Myrtle's mistaken one—she is vigilant enough to spot Tom driving, but she is wrong to put her trust in him. Later, this trust in Tom and the yellow car is what gets her killed. Our last visit to the eyes happens during a private moment between the coffee shop owner Michaelis and George Wilson.
Since Nick isn't actually there, this must be Nick's version of Michaelis's testimony to the police after the murder-suicide. Maybe even if you haven't been there for a long time? Maybe I could call up the church and get a priest to come over and he could talk to you, see? Wilson's glazed eyes turned out to the ashheaps, where small grey clouds took on fantastic shape and scurried here and there in the faint dawn wind.
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 saw with a shock that he was looking at the eyes of Doctor T. Eckleburg which had just emerged pale and enormous from the dissolving night.
Something made him turn away from the window and look back into the room. But Wilson stood there a long time, his face close to the window pane, nodding into the twilight. Here, finally, the true meaning of the odd billboard that everyone finds so disquieting is revealed. To the unhinged George Wilson , first totally distraught over Myrtle's affair and then driven past his breaking point by her death, the billboard's eyes are a watchful God.
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How does Gatsby represent the corruption of the American dream? What does Daisy look like in The Great Gatsby book? What indications are there that Daisy and Tom will stay together? Previous Article What kind of anecdotes are there? Next Article Who is the most popular Monsta X member? Eckleburg are a pair of fading, bespectacled eyes painted on an old advertising billboard over the valley of ashes. They may represent God staring down upon and judging American society as a moral wasteland, though the novel never makes this point explicitly.
Why did Myrtle marry George if she didn't love him? Myrtle said the reason she married George was because she thought he was a gentleman and knew about making children. When Myrtle was talking about Daisy Tom told her to stop and when she didn't he punched her and broke Myrtle's nose. What does an eye symbolize? Eyes are probably the most important symbolic sensory organ. Other qualities that eyes are commonly associated with are: intelligence, light, vigilance, moral conscience, and truth.
Looking someone in the eye is a western custom of honesty. Why is Myrtle attracted Tom? Tom is attracted to Myrtle merely due to her immorality and position in the lower-class. Because Myrtle is dissatisfied with her social standing, she is practically desperate and willing to endure Tom's many abuses in order to transcend her social status.
What are some symbols in The Great Gatsby? The valley of ashes. How does Nick characterize Gatsby's state of mind? How does Nick characterize Gatsby's state of mind before "the incident" which occurs at the end of the chapter, and what is the incident? Nick characterizes it as a ghost. He was shot while laying down in his pool. What does Myrtle say about Daisy? At a party in their apartment, Myrtle keeps saying the name "Daisy" over and over. Tom hits Myrtle across the face, breaking her nose.
This is the second time that Tom's penchant for hurting women is very real.
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