Discuss the symbols used in the Great Gatsby

Symbolism is used within the Great Gatsby to discuss and explore different societal and interpersonal issues. Fitzgerald uses symbols inimitely aside themes such as hope, corruption and moral decay. Perhaps the most fixed symbol within the novel are the eyes of Dr T.J Eckleberg which reside in the Valley of Ashes. Although not explicitely linked to religion until Wilson describes them as the 'eyes of God,' it is hard to ignore their firm presense and omnipresent nature. It is interesting to note that the novel has little religious undertone, but nevertheless the reader feels a deity like presence. Fitzgerald emphises this greatly through the description of the eyes themselves; it is not until a lengthly description that the reader comes to realise that they are infact on a billboard, developing the presense and importance even more: "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." 

The Valley of Ashes and Dr T.J Eckleberg's eyes also explore the ever so unnatainable American Dream: the novel is set in the 1920s with the looming Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the 'desolate' and 'grotesque' landscape emodies this moral and societal decay which the characters also embody. It is also interesting that although the eyes are assumed to be godly, in reality they are an advertisment; it could be aruged that capitilism has replaced religion in this loose moralled and chaotic world.