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Lv 4
? asked in Arts & HumanitiesBooks & Authors · 1 decade ago

What is the significance of the butler's (formerly a silver-polisher) nose in The Great Gatsby?

It occurs once in Chapter One, and other references show up elsewhere in the novel. Nick talks about it early in Chapter Four, I believe; Daisy describes a film director as having a kinda 'blue nose' and Dr T. J. Eckleburg has no nose either. How do all these tie in together?

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  • ?
    Lv 5
    1 decade ago
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    It's a book that I hated and this is a question I dislike even more (do your own homework!) But I do have a theory about it. There is a character in the story whose name is Wofsheim or something like that. The point behind mentioning his nose in detail is that he was jewish and the author was reflecting the disfavor of Jews at the time...whether subconciously or not I do not know. I've seen the butler's nose referred to as the Buchannan Family's secret. Perhaps this is an allusion to that.

    I do not know why the Eckleburg sign has no nose. I know that Eckleburg is supposed to symbolise God in some way, but why it mentions his nose I am unsure.

    Really I just think people get it in their head that the terms Fitzgerald used to describe things have deeper meaning than they do.

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