In reality being blind is not a choice. A person can not just wake up one day and physically ask to be blind, but in the novel, The Great Gatsby, the characters do choose to be blind to certain things. In this novel there are many variations on blindness and of seeing and not seeing that help lead to the theme of Fitzgerald's book. The theme of the novel is understood to be the disintegration of the American dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess, (SparkNotes). This theme is easily understood with the writers emphasis in the books of all the different cases of seeing and not seeing.
Throughout the novel there are many interpretations of blindness that lead to the theme of the downfalling American dream. The author states “The little dog was sitting on the table looking with blind eyes through the smoke and from time to time groaning faintly,” (Fitzgerald pg. 41). This quote lets the reader feel the sadness and hopeless feeling the town has. A reader can get a shadowing feeling from the authors choice of words that help lead to the theme of The Great Gatsby.
Fitzgerald uses his images of
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In the novel, Jordan’s eyes are portrayed as grey, which can lead the reader to think of sad or dark things. “Her grey sun-strained eyes looked back at me with polite reciprocal curiosity out of a wan, charming disconnected face,” (Fitzgerald pg. 15). This quote helps connect to the theme because during this time the American dream was not all that bright and great, and Jordan’s eyes are described in a way to help the reader understand that. Jordan also was not the most honest person and understanding that, and connecting her grey eyes, really pushes to help define the theme. Though it is said Jordan’s eyes are grey, it is not referring to her as being blind. The grey can be described as the color of the eyes and the fact that Jordan was in a time of dishonesty and