The second chapter of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby opens with a vivid description of a small industrial strip along the road between West Egg and East Egg. Anyone taking the train to New York passes through this grimy landscape. Nick calls this place the “valley of ashes” because it is inhabited by “ash-gray men” and “gray cars.”
Overlooking this desolation is an old faded advertisement for the office of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, apparently an optometrist in the borough of Queens. The sign is weathered and out of date, but it impacts the narrator powerfully. Look at how Nick describes the sign in the opening paragraphs of chapter 2:
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 a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose . . . But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days, under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground.
This poignant description of the sign is echoed twice later in the chapter when the sign is described as watching over the people in the valley. Nick walks along the road “under Doctor Eckleburg’s persistent stare,” and Tom exchanges “a frown with Doctor Eckleburg.” This repetition tells the reader that this sign is important and that they should pay attention to references to Doctor T.J. Eckleburg’s eyes throughout the remainder of the story.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
How often and in what context are Doctor Eckleburg's eyes mentioned in chapter 2 of The Great Gatsby?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
What is the theme of the chapter Lead?
Primo Levi's complex probing of the Holocaust, including his survival of Auschwitz and pre- and post-war life, is organized around indiv...
-
Note that these events are not in chronological order. The story is told by the narrator, looking back upon her life. The first notable even...
-
It seems most likely you are asking about Michael Halliday's theories of language. He argues children have seven main functions they use...
-
Bacteria are single-celled microorganisms that thrive in diverse environments (such as the ocean, the soil, and the human body). Various bac...
-
When we try to analyze the modern world today, we’ll notice that it’s going through several changes. No one is sure who will control or s...
-
Meg Meg is the central character in the novel, and we see the action through her eyes. She is important to the novel because she, along with...
-
Ecofeminism (alternately ecological feminism) examines the connections between women and nature. Basic feminist tenets undergird ecofeminism...
-
Under common law, any hotel, inn, or other hospitality establishment has a duty to exercise "reasonable care" for the safety an...
No comments:
Post a Comment