"That's an advertisement," Michaelis assured him.

What is the advertisement that Michaelis is referring to?  Is it the billboard with the giant eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg or is it the statement that Wilson made, the phrase "God sees everything." 

It seems like Michaelis is just saying that the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg are just two eyes painted on to a billboard and not the eyes of God.  He is being the voice of practicality and reality.  However, I think that Fitzgerald situated this piece of dialogue in such a way that it could be taken both ways.  Michaelis doesn't seem to be throwing away God or religion, but his comment is strategically placed to hint this idea to the reader.  The question of God's existence becomes an issue in these two lines.

The connection between Doctor T.J. Eckleburg and God also shows an opinion on how one might think the modern world views God and religion.  If Doctor T.J. Eckleburg does, in fact, represent God, then Fitzgeralds's choice of putting him on a billboard is key.  He could have chosen a central character as a God-like figure, someone that had a major hand in the events of the novel.  Instead Doctor T.J. Eckleburg's face is on a faded and dusty billboard in the outskirts of New York.  He is just a spectator and not a participant.  I think that this situation sheds some light on a modern view of God and religion.  In our culture, religion has been forgotten and, as a society, we have placed it in the back of our mind.  It is faded and dusty and has been placed in the outskirts of our lives.  

by: Jessica Saltiel