Throughout the history of literature, it is known that the greatest works tell more than just a story. Most of those great works of literature have symbolism. Through symbolism, the reader can understand better and enjoy the book more. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book The Great Gatsby there are various scenes that include symbols. Two major things that are understood through the symbols in the novel are hope and the similarities with Christianity. In the first chapter of the novel, the reader can see the first symbol in The Great Gatsby. It states, “he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward—and distinguished nothing except …show more content…
It states, “Michaelis saw with a shock that he was looking at the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, which had just emerged, pale and enormous, from the dissolving night. ‘God sees everything,’ repeated Wilson.” (159). Myrtle Wilson, George Wilson’s wife, is having an affair with Tom Buchanan. Wilson suspects that Myrtle is having an affair but does not know with whom. Being a religious man, Wilson knows that God sees everything so he uses the symbol of T.J. Eckleburg's eyes to remind himself that even though he might not know who she is having an affair with, God does know. It is clearly known that Wilson believes this because in the novel it states, “Wilson’s glazed eyes tunned out to the ashheaps, where small gray clouds took on fantastic shapes and scurried here and there in the faint wind. “ ‘I spoke to her,’ he muttered, after a long silence. ‘I told her she might fool me but she couldn’t fool God.’ ”(159). Wilson looks out and recalls that even in the Valley of Ashes, a place where there is no good, God is still present. Myrtle believed that by hiding her affair with Tom meant that she wasn’t committing a grave sin. Through Wilson’s quote, the reader understands that what Myrtle believes is untrue. No one can hide from God for he is omnipotent and