I'll be your mirror A dominant symbol within F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is the billboard eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. The eyes focus around the novel's symbolism of the loss of spiritual values in America during the 1920's, and the corruption of America's people. The American Dream originally centred around the discovery of happiness yet by the 1920's, this had evolved into a desire for wealth irrespective of the means, following the belief that money brings happiness. Within the text a man;s success is measured by his money as opposed to his sole, and Fitzgerald shows the impossibility of achieving happiness through symbolising the emptiness of growing commercialism in America through these eyes.
In the story the billboard was erected to promote the business of an optician, the billboard is now faded in the valley of ashes, giving the impression of society's, and the optician's lost dreams. The eyes are neglected, mirroring the neglected religious and moral values. The eyes stare down on the characters as they pass underneath the billboard, recognising their abandoned spiritual values in the attempt to achieve material wealth, and their conflict between love and money. The image of glasses also allows the characters to use the image as a reflection on themselves, in particular when incidents may happen to them throughout their journey in the novel, projecting meaning onto characters where it does not exist, the billboard acts as a placebo conscience. Whilst mirrors imply vanity and shallowness, the reflection of mirrors are symbolic through physical and spiritual means. Physical mirrors reflect how we appear and how the world around us appears, whereas spiritual mirrors reflect back external and internal surroundings. By showing us people, places and events which are part of the life we have created for ourself, mirrors allow continual reflection upon results of thoughts and actions in an ongoing process of self evaluation. Mirrors reflect truth and are a sign of wisdom and self knowledge. Using reflective mirrors as a styling element allowed for multifaceted meanings and symbols which would refer to the concept of neglected conscience and denial of truth. The glasses reflect the characters attention and rejection of their spiritual value, whilst communicating a more conceptual and modern approach to the connotations of the 1920's. Sunglasses were worn in the 1920's and 30's as being in the sun became fashionable, though the novel does not directly link sunglasses to any themes of the book they became popular around this time with the elite, symbolising the wearer's wealth. Though currently sunglasses are a globally popular essential item for sun protection, they symbolise her intentional projection of wealth and importance through celebrity and elite marketing. Using glasses which reflect light projects the wearer's eye's from being seen by others, avoiding conscience and hiding from the truth, whilst highlighting her belonging or want to be part of the elite, and an empty material image based around commercialism.The theme of shallowness and absorbency lead to the use of white, symbolising the irony of innocence and sacrif ice made by the characters. However shallow, the characters are on the pursuit of the American Dream, believing they have good intentions, they naively sacrif ice their morals to peruse happiness, with the belief happiness will follow. The transparent fabric represents openness to do whatever it takes, but also leads to connotations of shallowness, nothingness and inevitable emptiness. Feathers, and flowers represent truth, innocence and virginity. Feathers are used to mirror the conscience of the glasses, whilst the innocence and virginity of the flowers represents how a characters innocence can be corrupted by society. Flowers are used as a choker on the neck to symbolise the neck as the most vulnerable place on the human body, spiritually said to connect head and heart, mind to body and spirit.