The owl-eyed man attends Gatsby's funeral

The owl-eyed man, a bespectacled, drunken guest first encountered marveling at the authenticity of Gatsby's library, becomes the sole mourner from Gatsby's vast acquaintance to attend his funeral. His presence at the graveside, a solitary act of respect in a downpour, provides the only genuine human acknowledgment of Gatsby's death from among the hundreds who had freely partaken of his hospitality. This final appearance transforms a figure of comic relief into an emblem of unexpected decency, throwing into sharp relief the abandonment of Gatsby by everyone who had professed to know him.

First Appearance: The Library and the Books

The owl-eyed man first appears during Gatsby's inaugural party that Nick Carraway attends. Found sitting drunk on the edge of a great table in the high Gothic library, he is staring with unsteady concentration at the shelves of books. He excitedly demonstrates to Nick and Jordan Baker that the books are "absolutely real—have pages and everything," having expected them to be mere cardboard. He praises Gatsby as a "regular Belasco" for the thoroughness of the illusion, noting with approval that Gatsby "knew when to stop, too—didn't cut the pages." This moment establishes him as a perceptive, if intoxicated, observer who appreciates the elaborate construction of Gatsby's persona.

The Car Accident: A Comic Interlude

Later that same night, the owl-eyed man is involved in a bizarre car accident just outside Gatsby's drive. His new coupe has lost a wheel after hitting a wall, and he stands in the middle of the road looking from the car to the tire in a pleasant, puzzled way. When asked how it happened, he declares he knows "nothing whatever about mechanics" and "very little about driving—next to nothing." The accident reveals that he was not even driving; another man, who emerges from the wreck pale and disoriented, was at the wheel. The scene is played for dark comedy, with the owl-eyed man's calm detachment contrasting with the chaos around him.

The Funeral: A Solemn Witness

Three months later, on a rainy afternoon, the owl-eyed man reappears as the only person from Gatsby's social circle to attend the funeral. Nick Carraway, who has been unable to find anyone else willing to come, hears a car stop and sees the owl-eyed man splashing through the soggy ground toward the cemetery. The rain pours down his thick glasses, and he takes them off to wipe them as he watches the canvas being unrolled from Gatsby's grave. When someone murmurs, "Blessed are the dead that the rain falls on," the owl-eyed man responds with a brave "Amen to that." After the brief service, he speaks to Nick by the gate, expressing his shock that no one else came: "Why, my God! they used to go there by the hundreds." He takes off his glasses and wipes them again, then delivers the epitaph that captures the tragedy of Gatsby's life: "The poor son-of-a-bitch."

Significance: The Uninvited Guest as the Only True Friend

The owl-eyed man's journey from a drunken, comic figure at Gatsby's party to the sole mourner at his grave creates a powerful ironic reversal. He was never a close friend or business associate—he was a stranger who wandered in uninvited, appreciated the artifice of Gatsby's world, and then, alone among the hundreds who had accepted Gatsby's hospitality, showed up to pay his respects. His final words, "The poor son-of-a-bitch," spoken without sentimentality but with genuine feeling, stand in stark contrast to the calculated indifference of Meyer Wolfsheim, the cowardly evasion of Ewing Klipspringer, and the complete silence of Daisy Buchanan. The owl-eyed man, who had once marveled at the illusion of Gatsby's books, becomes the only one to recognize the reality of Gatsby's human worth in death.