Power and Betrayal in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Essay

Scott Fitzgerald was a writer who desired his readers to be able to hear, feel, and see his work. He made it his goal to be able to make readers think and keep asking questions using imagery and symbolism. The Great Gatsby was not just about the changes that occurred during the Jazz Age, but it was also about America’s corrupted society which was full of betrayal and money-hungry citizens. It was the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg that overlooked all the corruption that occurred throughout the Valley of Ashes. It was the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg that serves as a symbol of higher power who witnesses everything from betrayal to chaos in Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. We encounter the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg in the valley of ashes, the desolated land between West Egg and New York. The vulgar eyes of Dr. Eckleburg have become something to intertwine with the Valley of Ashes to many critics and readers. The setting of where the billboard is located makes it seem as if it is not significant. However it is also the location of the billboard that explains how the eyes overlook both New York and West Egg since it is between it. The valley of ashes is exactly what its name sounds like. Scott Fitzgerald described it as: About half-way between West Egg and New York the motor road hastily joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of land. This is a valley of ashes---a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens, where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of grey cars cr... ...haracter percipient enough to comprehend Gatsby’s greatness and who rock pneumonia to pay homage to the man who has given them so much – not exoterically but esoterically.† (Savage 74) In other words, they both appreciated all the things they have received, learned, or gained from Gatsby. In return, they both were there for him through the end. Gatsby was more than the neighbor who was rich and threw parties, but he was also a friend†¦a human being. Work Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2013. Print.