Theme Of Eyes In The Great Gatsby

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F. Scott Fitzgerald presents many themes in his novel, The Great Gatsby. One of the themes is someone is always watching. This theme is developed throughout the book by his use of the motif of watchful eyes. The motif of watchful eyes compares to the theme. This motif is represented by The T.J Eckleberg sign, Gatsby staring at Daisy’s house, and Owl Eyes. The T.J. Eckleberg sign is a billboard of two big eyes overlooking the Valley of Ashes, and it represents God. George has his suspicions that Myrtle is stepping out on him. He preached to Myrtle that “you may fool me, but you can't fool God” ,meanwhile he was pointing at the billboard (Fitzgerald 159). This represents how nothing can be completely hidden every move is being watched. The “eyes” of T.J. Eckleberg see many things including cheating and murder, so the signs eyes are a motif. …show more content…
He is very intoxicated, and is snooping around in Jay’s personal library. Owl Eyes was checking out the books and was stunned when he found out that “they're real” (Fitzgerald 45). He thought Gatsby was phony or even made up, so he is puzzled to find out the books are real. Owl Eyes is part of the motif by obviously using his eyes to observe and then shows once again that people are always watching. There are multiple scenes in which Jay Gatsby seems to be keeping a watchful eye on Daisy. At the beginning of the book we are introduced to Jay while he is staring at Daisy's home across the Bay. Towards the end of the novel, Gatsby is hiding outside of The Bucannons’ house and tells Nick that he is “just going to wait here and see if [ Tom] tries to bother her” (Fitzgerald 144). Jay is outside of the house just waiting and watching Daisy to make sure that she is

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