1. T. J. Eckleberg’s Eyes and “The Wasteland” by T.S. Eliot

2. T. J. Eckleburg The first time we see the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg, they're looming over the valley of ashes, which Nick and the others have to pass through any time they travel between the Eggs and the city: "above the grey land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg" (2.2)

3. The Valley of Ashes The ashes are, as ashes tend to be, "desolate" and "grotesque" (2.1). A Moral Wasteland! Think of the valley of ashes as a grey reality check. A Moral Wasteland! Fitzgerald wants you compare Gatsby's lavish life to this land of smokestacks and ash-men, and you quickly realize that not all the world is as privileged as our cast of characters.

4. The valley of ashes can also be seen as more commentary on the American Dream. The America of The Great Gatsby is ashen, decaying, and barren. Analyze the fact that the Wilsons live there: – Represents infidelity, immorality, lack of compassion, and anger —all is associated with this failed American Dream.

5. Back to T.J. Eckleburg's Eyes T.J. Eckleburg's billboard is the second notable pair of eyes in the novel (owl-eyes being the first). "The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic—their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose" (2.2).

6. As a reader you realize that they're not actually giant disembodied eyes; they're on a billboard, an ad for an eye doctor. Nick goes on for three sentences about these weird, disembodied eyes before actually explaining that they're on a billboard.

7. He gives your mind time to picture eerie images, to wonder what's going on, even to form other notions of what the eyes could be. Clearly, to us, the readers, the eyes are more than just a billboard.

8. Not long before the Tom vs. Gatsby showdown, Nick notes the eyes again keeping a "watchful vigil" (7) George then takes Myrtle to the window (from which, we know, the billboard is visible) and tells her she can't fool God. Wilson makes the same connection you might be: the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg are always watching, and so are the eyes of God.

9. There are a few thoughts you can take from here: First: The first is that, despite the absence of religion from the characters in this story, God is still there. He's all seeing, ever-present, and, as Nick points out, frowning. Things are not well in the valley of American ashes.

10. Second : The other thought you could take at this is to say that God has been replaced by capitalism. Instead of a truly religious representation, the best this world can do is manifest God in a billboard – an advertisement.

11. The Waste Land T. J. Eckleburg and his valley of ashes will sound a lot like T. S. Eliot and his "Waste Land." T. J. Eckleburg is Fitzgerald's nod to Modernist poet T. S. Eliot, whose vision of a post-World War I society was just about as depressing as Fitzgerald's.

12. What to make of this allusion? Is Fitzgerald setting up Eliot to be the god- like prophet of his generation? Is he indirectly tying Eliot to the valley of ashes? Could Fitzgerald simply be agreeing with Eliot that Central to the novel’s total effect, as in Eliot’s poem, are symbols and images of waste, desolation, and futility.

13. Setting: From the outset, the landscape is charged with symbolic overtones. Chapter II begins with a description, Eliot- like in tone and implication.

14. Description: About halfway between West Egg and New York the motor road hastily joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of land. This is the valley of ashes — a fantastic farm where ashes crow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of ash-gray men who move dimly and are already crumbling through the powdery air....

15. T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) Studied Philosophy and Indian Philosophy Modernist Respected poet: awarded Nobel Prize in 1948 Wrote “The Wasteland” while in the midst of a painful marital separation and nervous disorder Viewed by many as being the ultimate modernist work

16. “The Wasteland” (1922) Depicts a modern world in ruins: Characterizes modern man as – overly intellectual – incapable of expressing himself – physically and mentally sterile – challenged by modern gender politics – fractured, alienated and denegrated – victim of a chaotic state beyond his control Characterizes modern society as – out of control – culturally low – chaotic and fragmented – empty and infertile – alienating

17. The Fisher King The poem’s central allusion: The Fisher King – the king’s health and the land’s are one – a wound lead’s to the king’s illness

18. The Fisher King The poem’s central allusion: The Fisher King – the king’s health and the land’s are one – a wound lead’s to the king’s illness – land and king become sterile

19. The Fisher King The poem’s central allusion: The Fisher King – the king’s health and the land’s are one – a wound lead’s to the king’s illness – land and king become sterile – the king’s questors must find the grail to restore the king’s health

20. The Fisher King The poem’s central allusion: The Fisher King – the king’s health and the land’s are one – a wound lead’s to the king’s illness – land and king become sterile – the king’s questors must find the grail to restore the king’s health – the grail contains the blood of Christ

21. The Fisher King The poem’s central allusion: The Fisher King – the king’s health and the land’s are one – a wound lead’s to the king’s illness – land and king become sterile – the king’s questors must find the grail to restore the king’s health – the grail contains the blood of Christ – to obtain the grail and restore vitality to both land and king, the questor must answer one question: “What ails you?”

22. “One land, one king.”