The Great Gatsby has some wonderful imagery throughout the novel. What is the importance of the two images the "valley of ashes" and the "eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg?
First introduced in Chapter II,) The valley of ashes splits West Egg and East Egg and consists a long stretch of desolate territory created by the dumping of industrial ashes. It is first introduced in Chapter 2 when Tom visits Myrtle. The symbolic value of the valley represents the moral and social decay that results from the uninhibited pursuit of wealth, . It also symbolizes the poverty, for example George Wilson, who lives among the dirty ashes and loses his vitality as a result.
Second, the eyes that are “blue and gigantic” and “look out of no face" symbolize "the watcher". The eyes were first introduced by Nick when he arrived at the Valley of Ashes in Chapter 2. While Nick does not show that he is a religious man, he feels as if the eyes were "watching" him. ”we walked back a hundred yards along the road under Doctor Eckleburg’s persistent stare.” This made me feel as though the eyes were eyes of God. Through his eye, God was observing New York, the two Eggs, the Valley of Ashes, and the decadence of the 20s. In fact, the eyes not only observe the incident in the two Eggs and New York, but also the characters in the book.
Haha, I basically copy pasted my previous statement, so I will redo and put my own thought into it.
The valley of ashes represent poverty. George Wilson, who works in a automobile garage, and Myrtle Wilson represent the people who had fallen from or never ascended to the elite class of New York. Second, I did not know the true meaning of the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg so I looked up some info regarding the eyes on spark notes. When I found out about it thought, everything matched suitably. The eyes were the "watchers" that observed every incident in the novel and knew everything happened among the characters.
I agree with Kyle’s regarding his meaning of the ashes portraying the moral decay experienced in the book and the eyes being the "watchers.” But I would also like to add that more than that the eyes to me represented the fading of the honorable stature in society wealthy people once had. In the book wealth alone would not mean high society, it was just something that opened the position of it. To be of "high class" the people with wealth had to live in East Egg and had to have connections with people. But as the money and differences with people brought upon moral decay, the power rich people once had became lesser. This can be symbolized by the fading colors of the Dr. T. J. Eckleburg's billboard. The position which once was regarded as high for a doctor began to lesser and became forgotten in the valley of the ashes.
Agreeing with Kyle’s description of the eyes as ‘the watcher’, I saw the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg as a laughing critical observer. I also thought that the eye’s location was key. I support Kyle’s comment ‘The valley of ashes represent the moral and social decay that results from the uninhibited pursuit of wealth’ by taking into account the Doctor’s original goal to build the was to “fatten his practice”. He had a dream of becoming rich and successful, and this, to him, was the way to do it. He built the eyes on dreams and hope, but he only kept the end in mind – not the means. Since it was only about the end result (having his practice well announced), when his dream was met, there was no practice to ‘fatten’, for he had become blind. I feel that many of the characters had the same problem, and they, like Dr. T.J. Eckleburg, fell blind to it all (as did society as a whole).
I agree with Kyle. The “valley of ashes,” a very solemn ground, represents moral corruption but also represents the poor through the character George Wilson. The barren land shows the difference between the rich and poor and how the rich seems to only care about themselves. As Kyle mentioned, “eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg” seems to be “the watcher”; however, to George Wilson, the eyes represents God. He thinks it’s God and he mentioned in chapter VII that ‘God sees everything’. On the other hand, to Michaelis the “eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg” is just an advertisement. I think that through this, one can see that the “eyes” means different things to each character showing a bit more about their personalities.
Why will the author write about the valley of ashes and the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg so detailed? The reason the author carefully describes these two images is to emphasis their importance. When I think about the valley of ashes, I think about it as the "waste" of rich people. The valley of ashes represents poverty and moral decay as my classmates above had mentioned. When the book mentions "ashes grow like wheat", I saw it as a metaphor of no matter what the poor people did, poverty never left them and kept growing like wheat does. However, although people from the valley of ashes were in terrible conditions, they still had hope. As Danica had mentioned, the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg represented hope, that someone or God is watching them and knows in what conditions they were living. In addition, the eyes of the doctor are an important symbol which is the reason why even the book has a drawing of the eyes in as the book's cover.
7 comments:
First introduced in Chapter II,) The valley of ashes splits West Egg and East Egg and consists a long stretch of desolate territory created by the dumping of industrial ashes. It is first introduced in Chapter 2 when Tom visits Myrtle. The symbolic value of the valley represents the moral and social decay that results from the uninhibited pursuit of wealth, . It also symbolizes the poverty, for example George Wilson, who lives among the dirty ashes and loses his vitality as a result.
Second, the eyes that are “blue and gigantic” and “look out of no face" symbolize "the watcher". The eyes were first introduced by Nick when he arrived at the Valley of Ashes in Chapter 2.
While Nick does not show that he is a religious man, he feels as if the eyes were "watching" him. ”we walked back a hundred yards along the road under Doctor Eckleburg’s persistent stare.” This made me feel as though the eyes were eyes of God. Through his eye, God was observing New York, the two Eggs, the Valley of Ashes, and the decadence of the 20s. In fact, the eyes not only observe the incident in the two Eggs and New York, but also the characters in the book.
Haha, I basically copy pasted my previous statement, so I will redo and put my own thought into it.
The valley of ashes represent poverty. George Wilson, who works in a automobile garage, and Myrtle Wilson represent the people who had fallen from or never ascended to the elite class of New York. Second, I did not know the true meaning of the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg so I looked up some info regarding the eyes on spark notes. When I found out about it thought, everything matched suitably. The eyes were the "watchers" that observed every incident in the novel and knew everything happened among the characters.
I agree with Kyle’s regarding his meaning of the ashes portraying the moral decay experienced in the book and the eyes being the "watchers.” But I would also like to add that more than that the eyes to me represented the fading of the honorable stature in society wealthy people once had. In the book wealth alone would not mean high society, it was just something that opened the position of it. To be of "high class" the people with wealth had to live in East Egg and had to have connections with people. But as the money and differences with people brought upon moral decay, the power rich people once had became lesser. This can be symbolized by the fading colors of the Dr. T. J. Eckleburg's billboard. The position which once was regarded as high for a doctor began to lesser and became forgotten in the valley of the ashes.
Agreeing with Kyle’s description of the eyes as ‘the watcher’, I saw the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg as a laughing critical observer. I also thought that the eye’s location was key. I support Kyle’s comment ‘The valley of ashes represent the moral and social decay that results from the uninhibited pursuit of wealth’ by taking into account the Doctor’s original goal to build the was to “fatten his practice”. He had a dream of becoming rich and successful, and this, to him, was the way to do it. He built the eyes on dreams and hope, but he only kept the end in mind – not the means. Since it was only about the end result (having his practice well announced), when his dream was met, there was no practice to ‘fatten’, for he had become blind. I feel that many of the characters had the same problem, and they, like Dr. T.J. Eckleburg, fell blind to it all (as did society as a whole).
I agree with Kyle. The “valley of ashes,” a very solemn ground, represents moral corruption but also represents the poor through the character George Wilson. The barren land shows the difference between the rich and poor and how the rich seems to only care about themselves. As Kyle mentioned, “eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg” seems to be “the watcher”; however, to George Wilson, the eyes represents God. He thinks it’s God and he mentioned in chapter VII that ‘God sees everything’. On the other hand, to Michaelis the “eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg” is just an advertisement. I think that through this, one can see that the “eyes” means different things to each character showing a bit more about their personalities.
Why will the author write about the valley of ashes and the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg so detailed? The reason the author carefully describes these two images is to emphasis their importance. When I think about the valley of ashes, I think about it as the "waste" of rich people. The valley of ashes represents poverty and moral decay as my classmates above had mentioned. When the book mentions "ashes grow like wheat", I saw it as a metaphor of no matter what the poor people did, poverty never left them and kept growing like wheat does. However, although people from the valley of ashes were in terrible conditions, they still had hope. As Danica had mentioned, the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg represented hope, that someone or God is watching them and knows in what conditions they were living. In addition, the eyes of the doctor are an important symbol which is the reason why even the book has a drawing of the eyes in as the book's cover.
Post a Comment