The Great Gatsby is a novel about the American Dream and how achieving it became so important to one man that it ultimately killed him. The cover of the 1988 edition of The Great Gatsby is mainly royal blue and depicts a bright big city and two big eyes overlooking everything. The two big eyes represent “The eyes of God” overlooking everyone and everything. The eyes see everyone doing wrong but they also represent where America had gone in that day and age. The prevalent colors, royal blue and yellow and green and red, also stand for multiple things throughout the novel. I will explain and show each symbol and how the cover represented the novel as a whole.

The eyes come from a billboard that belongs to T.J. Eckleburg, an optometrist in Queensborough. Billboards are used to promote businesses and this one represents the growth of America and its economy in the 20’s. The billboard also symbolizes that America in this time was all about money and material things, Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby, and how their worth was based on how much money they had, not who they were personally. The billboard lacks any realistic facial features other than the eyes, taking away the personal aspect. It also just promotes the business without saying anything else. If you really pay attention you will see that the billboard is worn down and not fixed and I interpret this as being because the part of town that it was in was not important, and he knew he would not receive business from it so he no longer cared about it. This is shown in the novel when Daisy Buchanan chooses Tom because of his wealth and does not wait for Gatsby, even though she really loved him at first. Gatsby sees why she chose Tom and devotes his life to getting her back by throwing huge, extravagant parties and using people to get closer to her.

The eyes also represent how America had strayed away from spiritual values and morals. Eckleburg’s eyes are known as “The eyes of God” and then the book goes on to describe them as basically being dead. “But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paint less days, under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground.” (Fitzgerald) This symbolizes that the people of the 20’s had neglected God. The description of the eyes being dimmed due to its own neglect also shows that people were always worried about themselves and did not take care of things. 

The billboard stands for its own corruption and meanings, but it also overlooks everyone’s wrongdoings. The eyes are looking down on the land right before you enter New York City. This is where Gatsby is involved with business and people he should not be and where Tom Buchanan’s affairs take place. This is also where Daisy hits and kills Myrtle, Tom’s mistress, and allows Gatsby to take the fall for it. All of these instances being watched by “The eyes of God” is just another example of people’s moral and spiritual values being lost, which I explain alluded to earlier.

Lastly, the eyes represent the dark side of the American Dream. The “American Dream” can be described as a lower class person, who is worthy, works very hard to open up opportunities and achieve things that he/she would have otherwise not been able to achieve. Jay Gatsby is a prime example in this novel. He works hard, illegally and legally, to achieve this dream of having huge parties and being able to attain everything he needs in order to win Daisy back. He thinks that he knows best for her and that all of these items will bring her back to him. 

Things that also stand out on the cover are the colors and they symbolize multiple things throughout the novel. The gold of the city represents money and the new age woman. Daisy is called the “golden girl” and Gatsby wears a gold tie to see Daisy at Nick’s house. The yellow of the city stands for the fake side of things and how it’s for show instead of true value. Gatsby’s car is yellow and shows his fake entrance into the higher society. It is also mentioned in the book about “Two girls in twin yellow dresses” who do not compare to the “Golden Jordan”. T.J. Eckleburg’s glasses are also yellow on the billboard that overlooks all. The color yellow in all represents corruptness and can be described two different ways. One way is that the eyes overlook corruptness, but the other way is that the eyes are being looked out of by someone who is corrupt. The color blue is the most prevalent on the cover and stands for unhappiness. It is also around the main character the most. Gatsby’s blue “obsession” is started when he truly entered the higher society through another man who bought him a blue blazer. He goes on to have his garden, the dresses he sends women, and the water separating him from Daisy, blue. T.J. Eckleburg’s eyes are blue which represents the hopelessness and Tom Buchanan’s car is… well you guessed it… blue! The color green is also used in a big way within the novel. There is a green light at the end of Daisy’s dock that Gatsby reaches out to multiple times, symbolizing him reaching for his dreams and thinking they are within his grasp when in reality they are not. The color red is used to symbolize love and rage. The Buchanan house is mostly red and this is where a lot of violence goes on. 

In all, The Great Gatsby is a novel that contains many symbols and representations of things and the most important ones, to me, are depicted on the cover. The visual text is used to show the biggest symbol within the book and give you an insight on the main theme. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote this novel to show that the American Dream is not all that everyone has made it out to be. He lived the dark side and saw the true struggles firsthand. It eventually killed him as well. 
