The Owl-Eyed Man

The Owl-Eyed Man

Person

"A stout, middle-aged man with enormous owl-eyed spectacles." A seemingly minor character within the novel. He is the one who comments on Gatsby's book collection which can be found in the items page of this exhibit.

Fitzgerald focuses on description of the man as owl-eyed, repeating this phrase often. Because he specifically uses the word owl, the symbolism of owls comes into play.

Owls represent wisdom as well as a symbol for death. This man is a symbol for both within the novel.

The man seems to represent the entity of Death or is at least a harbinger or omen for Gatsby's death. "It was the man with owl-eyed glasses whom I had found marvelling over Gatsby’s books in the library one night three months before." This quote is from Gatsby's funeral when Nick notices a man he remembers from one of his parties. Interestingly enough, the owl-eyed man is the only other previous guest of Gatsby's that attends his funeral.

Fitzgerald also focuses on describing the man's glasses, "He took off his glasses and wiped them again, outside and in." Both glasses and eyes symbolize perception, and because we also have the addition of owl in describing both terms, it shows that this man has even greater perception. He is the only one who thinks of pulling the books from the shelves to see that they have not been cut. While the others guests are much to fake themselves to perceive something like this. This shows that their own facades of clouded their perceptions of reality.

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

Keegan Struble

Novel