Golden Noses Rotting In Money

Throughout the book The Great Gatsby, the distortion of noses has been used to represent the corruption of people by wealth. In the novel, whether it be direct or indirect, both the rich and the poor are affected by wealth. Although none of the main characters of the book have their noses distorted, a few secondary characters are described as having their noses deformed. Such as the movie producer, “‘I liked that man what was his name? With the sort of blue nose.’ Gatsby identified him, adding that he was a small producer,” the gambler Mr. Wolfshiem, “A small, flat−nosed Jew raised his large head and regarded me with two fine growths of hair which luxuriated in either nostril,” and Tom’s mistress, Myrtle, “With her face bruised and her nose swollen,” (Fitzgerald, 133, 75, 167). All of these people were well off and had plenty of money to spend, whether it be their own or their lover’s. They all became corrupted in some form or another by money. In Wolfshiem’s case, he loved money so much that he broke the law just to obtain more of it. The most well-known use of a nose as a symbol in the book is the story of the butler’s nose, “‘Well, he wasn't always a butler; he used to be the silver polisher for some people in New York that had a silver service for two hundred people. He had to polish it from morning till night, until finally it began to affect his nose,” (Fitzgerald, 17). In this quote, the butler’s nose is still distorted by riches, the silver, even though it was not his. The other mention of a nose that I found to be very important was the “nonexistent nose” of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg (Fitzgerald, 26). Eckleburg is used as a symbol of the all seeing eye in the valley of ashes. He does not have a nose because he is supposed to be the pure incorruptible god that has not and will not be corrupted by money. I believe that Fitzgerald used noses to symbolize corruption from money because they are typically used to describe rich people being stuck up when they turn up their noses to other people or things.