The Great Gatsby God Symbol Analysis

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was set in the 1920’s, a time of mixed fortune where a select few made millions while the common people in society were very unfortunate. As people started to value wealth on the dawn of the Great Depression, the poor became poorer and the rich disregarded their existence. Social classes became even more separated as the newly rich fought with the old money for power. The thirst for opportunity was still present, but the traditional American Dream was declining. In the novel, Fitzgerald implemented various symbols to express this social divide. One particular symbol he used was the human eye. Fitzgerald used the symbol of the eye to illustrate God watching over the neglected American people, God’s view on the …show more content…
Fitzgerald used the symbolic eye in The Great Gatsby to represent God’s observance of the working class. When Nick and Tom went to New York to visit Myrtle in the Valley of Ashes, they passed an abandoned billboard for an eye doctor. That eye doctor was oculist T.J. Eckleburg. “The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic — their irises are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from …show more content…
Fitzgerald used the eye to represent God’s vigilance of the poor. Secondly, the symbol was also used to represent God’s understanding of the corruption of the wealthy. Ultimately, the symbol was used to express the decline of the American Dream in the 1920’s. As social classes grew farther apart, the distribution of wealth became in favor of the rich. Less than one percent of Americans held a stake in the majority of land and resources. The old money fought constantly with the new, as caricatured in the novel. The only one who was not blind to the truth was God, as emphasized in the billboard for Dr. T.J.