Symbols In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald is a literary masterpiece in the sense of symbolism. Fitzgerald is not only telling a story, but also laceing in deeper meaning which can go unrecognized until looking back and reflecting on his work. The symbolism he uses is sometimes faint and sometimes very bold making it hard to miss. Fitzgerald uses his symbolism to let the reader get a deeper meaning out of his work for his or her own benefit and understanding. His symbolism is not set in stone it is for the reader to decipher for their own meaning. This maybe relating to how they feel, think, or perceive the world. Symbolism is a wonderful literary element for writers to take advantage of because it lets the each reader interpret for themselves deeper meaning in the work. A couple examples of symbolism that may go unthought of are the eyes of the oculist’s sign and the owl-eyed man in The Great Gatsby. These

For example, when the owl-eyed man brags to Nick and Jordan that the books in the library are real “absolutely real- have pages and everything”(45). He did not just take one look at the books and label them as “... nice durable cardboard”(45), he actually went and took a closer look feeling the pages. He is a symbol of a person who does not just believe the rumors, or stereotype people at first impression. He symbolisms a person who is willing to take the extra step and actually know a person for who they are. He is the only one of Gatsby's party guests who goes to the funeral because he was the only one who actually took the time to realize Gatsby was a real person with real feelings and not judge him by the rumors. A person’s perspective is their reality. In which do not perceive and judge a person by their cover, but wait until their pages are made known. The owl-eyed man is a great symbol of the way all people should realize life is sacred and everyone is