UNDERSTANDING THE
FALSE EYES OF “GOD”
SYMBOL- AN OBJECT OR ACTION
THAT STANDS FOR SOMETHING ELSE
BACKGROUND
INFORMATION
TIMES ARE CHANGING

Modernity




Literary and cultural movement
Concerned itself with the present (NOT the past)
Focus was shifted from reality to introspective reflection and
abstract images
Industrialism
The Age of the Machine
 People no longer did ALL of the work
 Machines allowed for a better, more complex life


Religious tone of post-WWI era
No longer concerned themselves with an omnipresent being
who controlled everything and everyone
 Moves toward self-seeking and self-reliance

WHAT DO WE
KNOW ABOUT THE
BILLBOARD?
WHAT WE KNOW

Located in the Valley of Ashes


Gigantic blue eyes with yellow rimmed glasses


“But 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” (35).
“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” (35).
The billboard is advertising for someone of importance
that has faded away

“…his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days under sun
and rain, brood on over the summer dumping ground” (35).
WHAT
CONCLUSIONS
CAN BE DRAWN?
SYMBOLISM

The billboard represents the eyes of God in a
morally broken America


The billboard represents that God is still present
even when people reject Him or don’t seek Him


The billboard watches over the very place that Tom
picks up his mistress– in a town that is so polluted
with ashes from all of the factories
The billboard still stands even though the paint and
quality of the structure are clearly neglected
Eternal Blindness

Moral decay of the time– people looking for
satisfaction, but ending up broken
DR. T. J. ECKLEBURG’S
BILLBOARD AND ITS EERIE EYES
ARE THE EYES OF GOD IN A
POST-INDUSTRIAL, MODERN AGE.
Do you agree with this
statement? Write a
paragraph to explain
your answer.