In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Owl Eyes is the only character able to see behind Gatsby’s facade, and his omniscient knowledge makes him an omen for death.
Stumbling into Gatsby 's extensive library, Nick and Jordan happen upon an Owl-Eyed man who, by acting surprised, implies his ability to see past Gatsby’s pretense. Once the owl-eyed man finds Gatsby’s books he exclaims, “ ‘See!”... ‘It’s a bona-fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella’s a regular Belasco. It’s a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop, too - didn’t cut the pages…’” (Fitzgerald 46). In the 1920’s, wealthy people would buy books to seem intelligent. But, because the rich folks would not read the books, they would cut out the useless …show more content…
Gatsby’s facade is that his wealth makes him happy, just like any other rich man out there. But Gatsby, unlike other wealthy people of his time, worked his way up to the top through dedication, education and perseverance only in hopes to achieve happiness through something other than wealth; Daisy. Ironically, during the 1920’s automobiles were a symbol of wealth and in the end, Gatsby’s wealth ultimately leads to his death. In the library, Owl-Eyes sees more than just a rich man, despite what everyone else sees, by looking past the books and looking into the true Gatsby. Owl-Eyes, in his extensive knowledge of other people’s books, sees Gatsby’s uncut pages and realizes that Gatsby differs from others; he really is smart. Furthermore, Owl-Eyes references Belasco, “this fella’s a regular Belasco”, a theater producer who relied heavily on props. Owl-Eyes implies that the …show more content…
His wisdom allowed him to understand that people who attended Gatsby’s parties used him for his wealth. He tells Nick, ‘they used to go there by the hundreds’, comparing the past large crowd to the significantly small crowd now. He indicates that out of all the guests and “friends” Gatsby seemed to have, none of them truly cared enough of him to attend his funeral. Now that Gatsby is gone, he must constantly wipe his glasses in order to see, signifying the struggle between seeing good and evil and the real and unreal. The owl-eyed man was able to differentiate between Gatsby and cliche wealthy people, and see the truth from the lies. But, now that Gatsby is gone, so it the “truth”. Because the glasses are fogged, taking away his ability to see the real and unreal, Owl-Eyes must wipe his glasses over and over just to be able to see something he could clearly before; Gatsby. Owl-Eyes is a minor character who no one truly knows, but all of Gatsby’s so-called friends - party goers- do not even attend his funeral. His given name is, “Owl-Eyes” , based off of one judgement, because no one cared enough to find out his real name. Similar to Gatsby, no one cared enough to find out who the man really was, except Owl-Eyes. The owl-eyed man represents an omnicious presence, despite his struggle to see clearly after Gatsby’s death.
Owls, a
Stumbling into Gatsby 's extensive library, Nick and Jordan happen upon an Owl-Eyed man who, by acting surprised, implies his ability to see past Gatsby’s pretense. Once the owl-eyed man finds Gatsby’s books he exclaims, “ ‘See!”... ‘It’s a bona-fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella’s a regular Belasco. It’s a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop, too - didn’t cut the pages…’” (Fitzgerald 46). In the 1920’s, wealthy people would buy books to seem intelligent. But, because the rich folks would not read the books, they would cut out the useless …show more content…
Gatsby’s facade is that his wealth makes him happy, just like any other rich man out there. But Gatsby, unlike other wealthy people of his time, worked his way up to the top through dedication, education and perseverance only in hopes to achieve happiness through something other than wealth; Daisy. Ironically, during the 1920’s automobiles were a symbol of wealth and in the end, Gatsby’s wealth ultimately leads to his death. In the library, Owl-Eyes sees more than just a rich man, despite what everyone else sees, by looking past the books and looking into the true Gatsby. Owl-Eyes, in his extensive knowledge of other people’s books, sees Gatsby’s uncut pages and realizes that Gatsby differs from others; he really is smart. Furthermore, Owl-Eyes references Belasco, “this fella’s a regular Belasco”, a theater producer who relied heavily on props. Owl-Eyes implies that the …show more content…
His wisdom allowed him to understand that people who attended Gatsby’s parties used him for his wealth. He tells Nick, ‘they used to go there by the hundreds’, comparing the past large crowd to the significantly small crowd now. He indicates that out of all the guests and “friends” Gatsby seemed to have, none of them truly cared enough of him to attend his funeral. Now that Gatsby is gone, he must constantly wipe his glasses in order to see, signifying the struggle between seeing good and evil and the real and unreal. The owl-eyed man was able to differentiate between Gatsby and cliche wealthy people, and see the truth from the lies. But, now that Gatsby is gone, so it the “truth”. Because the glasses are fogged, taking away his ability to see the real and unreal, Owl-Eyes must wipe his glasses over and over just to be able to see something he could clearly before; Gatsby. Owl-Eyes is a minor character who no one truly knows, but all of Gatsby’s so-called friends - party goers- do not even attend his funeral. His given name is, “Owl-Eyes” , based off of one judgement, because no one cared enough to find out his real name. Similar to Gatsby, no one cared enough to find out who the man really was, except Owl-Eyes. The owl-eyed man represents an omnicious presence, despite his struggle to see clearly after Gatsby’s death.
Owls, a