Gatsby Biblical Symbolism

For each excerpt, you will fill out two columns: a literal
meaning and a figurative meaning

For the literal meaning, just summarize what is going in

the excerpt from Gatsby.

For the symbolic meaning, explain what the biblical

excerpt adds to our understanding of the text.

1) Wilson’s glazed eyes turned out to the ash-heaps, where small gray clouds took
on fantastic shape and scurried here and there in the faint dawn wind.

Ezekiel 37: 1-2 [a] valley … full of bones, And … lo, they were very dry Psalm
23:4 I walk through the valley of the shadow of death ….

2) ‘I spoke to her,’ he muttered, after a long silence. ‘I told her she might fool me
but she couldn’t fool God. I took her to the window.’— with an effort he got up
and walked to the rear window and leaned with his face pressed against it ——’
and I said “God knows what you’ve been doing, everything you’ve been doing.
You may fool me, but you can’t fool God!”’

Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man
soweth, that shall he also reap.

3) Standing behind him, Michaelis saw with a shock that he was looking at the
eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, which had just emerged, pale and enormous,
from the dissolving night. ‘God sees everything,’ repeated Wilson. ‘That’s an
advertisement,’ Michaelis assured him. Something made him turn away from
the window and look back into the room. But Wilson stood there a long time,
his face close to the window pane, nodding into the twilight.

Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and
 the good

4) At two o’clock Gatsby put on his bathing-suit and left word with the butler that
if any one phoned word was to be brought to him at the pool. He stopped at the
garage for a pneumatic mattress that had amused his guests during the
summer, and the chauffeur helped him pump it up. … Gatsby shouldered the
mattress and started for the pool.

John 19: And [Jesus] bearing his cross went forth…

5) Once he stopped and shifted it a little, and the chauffeur asked him if he needed
help, but he shook his head and in a moment disappeared among the yellowing
trees. …

Luke 23: As they led [Jesus] away … there followed .. women, which .. bewailed
and lamented him. But Jesus … said … ‘Weep not for me…’

6) He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and

shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight
was upon the scarcely created grass. A new world, material without being real,
where poor ghosts, breathing dreams like air, drifted fortuitously about . . . like
that ashen, fantastic figure gliding toward him through the amorphous trees.
The chauffeur … heard the shots… I drove from the station directly to Gatsby’s
house and … four of us, the chauffeur, butler, gardener, and I, hurried down to
the pool… There was a faint, barely perceptible movement of the water as the
fresh flow from one end urged its way toward the drain at the other. With little
ripples that were hardly the shadows of waves, the laden mattress moved
irregularly down the pool. … The touch of a cluster of leaves revolved it slowly,
tracing, like the leg of compass, a thin red circle in the water.

John 19:33-4 .. When they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already …
one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out
blood and water.

7) It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw
Wilson’s body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete.
 Matthew 27: 3-5 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, … went and hanged
himself.

Extract Literal Meaning Additional Symbolic

Meaning

1 Wilson’s glazed eyes The "small gray clouds"

turned out to the ash- are formed by the ashes,
heaps, where small gray
and the dust clings to
clouds took on fantastic
Wilson and covers his
shape and scurried here
and there in the faint dawn clothes like his sadness.
wind.

2 ‘I spoke to her,’ he this quote illustrates the

muttered, after a long belief that God looks down
silence. ‘I told her she in judgement upon
might fool me but she everyone, just as Wilson
couldn’t fool God. I took
judges his wife.
her to the window.’— with
an effort he got up and
walked to the rear window
and leaned with his face
pressed against it ——’
and I said “God knows
what you’ve been doing,
everything you’ve been
doing. You may fool me,
but you can’t fool God!”’

3 Standing behind him, Michaelis saw The night of Myrtle’s death,

with a shock that he was looking at the George’s friend Michaelis
eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, which had recalls George telling him that
just emerged, pale and enormous, from
the dissolving night. ‘God sees he warned his wife, while
everything,’ repeated Wilson. ‘That’s an pushing her into the window
advertisement,’ Michaelis assured him.
Something made him turn away from the
window and look back into the room. But
Wilson stood there a long time, his face
close to the window pane, nodding into
the twilight.

4 At two o’clock Gatsby He got the idea when the

put on his bathing-suit gardener, the only
and left word with the remaining servant,
butler that if any one
suggests that he drain the
phoned word was to be
pool. Since it hadn't been
brought to him at the pool.
He stopped at the garage used all summer, Gatsby
for a pneumatic mattress tells him to wait
that had amused his
guests during the summer,
and the chauffeur helped
him pump it up. … Gatsby
shouldered the mattress
and started for the pool.

5 Once he stopped and an unusual way to carry a

shifted it a little, and the mattress, evokes an image
chauffeur asked him if he
of Jesus shouldering the
needed help, but he shook
cross on his back.
his head and in a moment
disappeared among the
yellowing trees. …

6 He must have looked up at an The rose has been a

unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves
and shivered as he found what a grotesque conventional symbol of
thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight
was upon the scarcely created grass. A beauty throughout
new world, material without being real,
where poor ghosts, breathing dreams like
centuries of poetry. Nick
air, drifted fortuitously about . . . like that Suggests that roses aren't
ashen, fantastic figure gliding toward him
through the amorphous trees. The inherently beautiful, and
chauffeur … heard the shots… I drove from
the station directly to Gatsby’s house and that people only view them
… four of us, the chauffeur, butler,
gardener, and I, hurried down to the that way because they
pool… There was a faint, barely
perceptible movement of the water as the
choose to do so
fresh flow from one end urged its way
toward the drain at the other. With little
ripples that were hardly the shadows of
waves, the laden mattress moved
irregularly down the pool. … The touch of
a cluster of leaves revolved it slowly,
tracing, like the leg of compass, a thin red
circle in the water.

7 It was after we started It is revealed the Wilson

with Gatsby toward the evidently killed Gatsby,
house that the gardener and then killed himself -
saw Wilson’s body a little idea of holocaust as
way off in the grass, and ultimate destruction with
the holocaust was nothing left
complete.