The Great Gatsby Chapters 8-9

    The first thing I'd like to discuss in Chapters 8 and 9 is the reoccurring phrase of "ash heaps." I find Fitzgerald's use of the phrase, like on page 167, really intrigues me. My best guess is that ash heaps in the landscape, shows the denigration of not only the city around the characters, but also the moral wasteland. The comparison adds great emphasis to how horribly trashy the characters are in the book.
   Another reoccurring symbol is "Doctor T. J. Eckleburg's eyes." I've discussed this before in other blogs, but haven't been entirely sure of its' meaning until now. Within chapter 8, Wilson reflects on the fact that his wife, Myrtle, was in an affair. Michaelis and Wilson have a conversation about it. When observing the advertisement, Wilson makes the statement, "God sees everything." I've come to the conclusion that this is the moral of the whole book. Although the characters are completely unaware of their unmoral state of mind, God, or the voice of reason, is always watching. The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg represent how disappointingly degraded society was at this time, and how God is observing the calamity of the world.
   The next thing I'd like to discuss is Gatsby's funeral. I found it incredibly ironic how all of the reporter and paparazzi reacted to his death. The amount of untrue, distorted stories that surfaced about his death were unreal! To me this parallels the gossipy stories that went around during the beginning of the book (Gatsby's parties.) If you recall, the people that went to his parties really didn't know much about him other than the stories they had heard. Similarly, the press distorted the story of way Mr. Jay Gatsby died. Is this not how every society reacts to famous people? Do we let the media influence what we hold to be true? This again, adds to the theme of a corrupt society.
   Great Gatsby really has gotten me thinking about the way society runs, and yet how nobody realizes how incredibly rotten we've gotten. "God sees everything," good or bad, and whether we realize it or not; a bad deed is a bad thing whether we are caught in the act and accused or not, and I believe that is what Fitzgerald really wants us readers to take from this book. We as a society can either ignore our God, the true voice of reason, and do whatever we want,  or we can fight for a clear conscience by doing what we know is right.