Whereas Chapter 1 ended with the mysterious Gatsby reaching out to his dream in the night, Chapter 2 opens with a striking contrast. It begins with a description of the valley of ashes. Nick describes a "waste land" between West Egg and New York City where the ashes from the city are dumped (put/left). The ashes (debris/ruins) cover everything, including the men who live there. Above this bleak (depressing) "Valley of Ashes" stares out two huge spectacled eyes from a billboard (advertising board). These haunting (unforgettable), unblinking eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg (The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg on the billboard overlooking the Valley of Ashes represent many things at once: to Nick they seem to symbolize the recurring waste of the past, which lingers (stays) on though it is permanently vanished, much like Dr Eckleburg's medical practice. The eyes can also be linked to Gatsby, whose own eyes, once described as "vacant (empty/blank)," often
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