Who is Owl Eyes?
Today, we're delving into the literary world to discuss one of the great mysteries of F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, "The Great Gatsby" - who the heck is Owl-Eyes?
For those of you who need a refresher, Owl-Eyes is the bespectacled man who appears at Gatsby's funeral in Chapter 9. He's one of the only people who attends, aside from Nick, the minister, and Gatsby's father. In fact, he's so surprised to see anyone there that he says, "What I don't understand, he said, is how they could have expected to sell bonds here at all." Clearly, he's not there to pay his respects to the deceased.
So who is Owl-Eyes, and why is he at Gatsby's funeral? One theory is that he's a symbol of the disillusionment that comes with the end of the Jazz Age. He's a witness to the decadence and excess that Gatsby embodies, and he's also a witness to its downfall. When he sees the empty house, he realizes that it was all just a façade, and that the glamorous parties were just a way to distract from the emptiness at the heart of it all.
But let's be real here - that theory is boring. So instead, let's speculate wildly about Owl-Eyes' background and his relation to Gatsby. Here are a few possibilities:
Owl-Eyes is Gatsby's long-lost brother. Hear me out - they both have unusual names, they both wear glasses, and they both seem to have a fascination with Gatsby's car. Maybe Owl-Eyes is the black sheep of the family, the one who didn't have the same ambition or drive as Gatsby. Maybe he's been estranged from the family for years, but came to the funeral out of a sense of obligation.
Owl-Eyes is a time traveler from the future. Okay, stay with me on this one. Maybe he's a scientist who's invented a time machine, and he's come back to witness the last gasps of the Jazz Age. He's been studying Gatsby and his contemporaries for years, trying to figure out what made them tick. But when he sees the empty house and the sad state of affairs at the funeral, he realizes that his research was all for nothing. He returns to his own time, disillusioned and defeated.
Owl-Eyes is a figment of Nick's imagination. This is the most boring theory of all, but it's worth considering. Maybe Nick is so grief-stricken and disoriented by Gatsby's death that he invents a character to talk to. Maybe Owl-Eyes is just a projection of Nick's own doubts and fears.
Of course, we'll never know the true identity of Owl-Eyes. But that's the beauty of literature - it leaves room for interpretation and speculation. And hey, if any of you have your own theories about who Owl-Eyes is, feel free to share them in the comments.
