I Can See Now
Recently, I went to see Baz Luhrmann’s highly anticipated adaptation of The Great Gatsby. I re-read the book to reacquaint myself with the storyline and characters, but the irony of needing 3-D glasses to appreciate the visual splendor was fascinating. And to be honest, it was a little confusing: Do I wear the 3D glasses over my actual glasses? Or do I put the reading glasses in front of the 3D glasses?
(Spoiler Alert)
I was fascinated by not only the decadence and opulence of Daisy/Tom Buchanan’s old money and Jay Gatsby’s questionable nouveau riche (new money) but also a billboard that appeared in the Valley of Ashes, the dreaded dismal area between West Egg and New York City.
Doctor T.J. Eckleburg’s eyes are a pair of fading, bespectacled eyes painted on an old advertising billboard over the valley of ashes. Now, there is probably another symbolic meaning of those big eyes looking down, but those eyes reminded me that as I approached middle age, the eyes were the first age-related change for me.