Essay Response:: Great Gatsby Elegantly Tiptoes Along The Line of Appreciating Someone's Value, and Appreciating

Rosanna Viirre
5/10/15
Humanities
Essay Response:
F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby is a novel famous for its incredible continuity and
use of literary devices, such as symbolism, as a tool to further develop the authors ideas.
Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald intricately weaves together threads of symbols that one can
tug on, and find they all tie together into a common theme: mans tendency to assign (often
arbitrary) value to objects and ideas. The characters in the novel are motivated throughout by
symbols that the author routinely exposes to the reader.
One such symbol, which lurks through the novel are the eyes with retinas a yard high
the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg. The billboard with these disembodied eyes advertising
Doctor Eckleburg symbolizes not only the watchful eyes of God over American society and the
upper class, but also acts as exposition for George Wilsons character. In the final hours before
Gatsby is murdered by the hysteric Wilson, we see Wilson in his garage, being consoled by a
group of his acquaintances after the death of his wife, Myrtle. He is grief-stricken not only by her
death, but also by his discovery of her infidelity. In chapter two, before Tom Buchanans affair
with Myrtle is revealed, it is described that Eckleburgs advertisement is brooding over him and
Nick, and this choice of language is no coincidence. This is carefully executed symbolism on
Fitzgeralds part, which is alluded to directly when Wilson stares out the window directly into the
eyes of T. J. Eckleburg, and calls to Myrtle You may fool me, but you cant fool God!
Wilson perceives his quest to make the killer of his wife repent for their sins as divine.
Wilson is entirely self-motivated; no one suggests to him that he try to get revenge. This
motivation and self affirmation is Fitzgeralds expression of how intangible peoples assignment
of value can be. The author is leading you to question who or what decides the value of a
human life.
Our main character, Gatsby, is a man obsessed with self perfection and reaching a state
of pure idealism. A green light at the end of a dock is by no means something one would find
inspirational on its own not without a deliberately crafted world of context to transform this
object into a symbol. As Gatsby stares longing into the night at the light, hes not dreaming of
being able to reach the light itself; hes dreaming of being able to reach his ex-lover Daisy. Daisy
is a symbol herself she represents the lifestyle that Gatsbys strode for his whole life, and the
past he so passionately wished he could have changed. The real reason behind the obsession
Gatsby has with Daisy, her emblematic wealth and status, is nearly camouflaged by love. The
Great Gatsby elegantly tiptoes along the line of appreciating someones value, and appreciating
how valuable they are.
In chapter eight, Nick listens as Gatsby recalls his first encounters with Daisy, and
spends a lot of time describing her house and how lavish and beautiful it was. In this passage, it
becomes clear that Gatsby has literally assigned value to Daisy he associates her with being
rich, and being rich with being happy. This mental connection between her and wealth goes on
to drive nearly all of Gatsbys behavior in the future. At the point in Gatsbys life Nick is
immersed in, getting back together with Daisy will not bring Gatsby the same awe he felt sitting
in her driveway and admiring her house its too late for that. We as readers are even aware of
how fickle, material, and downright self-centered Daisy can be. And yet, all that this unrelenting
force of a character, the Great Gatsby, does in the scope of this novel is due to the motivation
he felt to rekindle the feeling he had when he first became enthralled with Daisy and all her
riches.
The beautifully and tragically choreographed events that play out in The Great Gatsby
are manifestations of symbols Fitzgerald envisioned. Nick laments in chapter eight about how
Gatsby must have felt as he was dying, and how he must have reflected upon what a
grotesque thing a rose is. This line eloquently sums up Fitzgeralds point that objects have
values like beauty or grotesqueness because we as humans assign them values. Money only
has value because people believe it does, and the same goes for billboards, dock lights, pretty
women, and even prettier houses.

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Rosanna Viirre

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