What Does Wilson Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

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Throughout the entirety of The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the “eyes” of Doctor T. J Eckleburg are brought up as being able to see everything. It chapters eight and nine, this idea is furthered pressed by Wilson implying that these eyes are the eyes of God himself. As I was reading the book this always stood out to me as being important and I believed that the eyes represented someone who was able to see everything and see through any sort of facade people are putting up. The idea of them being the eyes of God makes even more sense than this though. After Myrtle’s death, her husband, Wilson, is in a very bad state of mind. The reader may think that he is simply losing his mind, but what he is saying makes sense in a more symbolic way. …show more content…

You may fool me, but you can’t fool God!” (Fitzgerald 159). At first, the reader may assume that he is literally referring to God up in heaven, not actually down on Earth, but when Michaelis looks out the window to see what Wilson is looking at, it is revealed that “he was looking at the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, which had just emerged, pale and enormous, from the dissolving night” (Fitzgerald 159 - 160). With all of the secrets being kept from the characters in this book, it is easy to understand why Wilson would view this billboard like this. Everything is hidden and nothing is like it really seems in The Great Gatsby and this could show that people are finally starting to see through the things around them and not everything can be kept a secret anymore. Wilson again repeats that “God sees everything” emphasizing that this shows that everything comes out into the light eventually (Fitzgerald 160). This comparison may also be connected to how immoral the lives of are of the majority of those in West and East

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