There are a few episodes on Breaking Bad where a toy eye that Walter removes from his pool appears. It seems to be having some sort of judgmental meaning as if it sees everything that Walter does. What is the true meaning of it? Especially, interesting to understand what does it signify when Skyler spots the eye but in the end doesn't seem overly confused over finding something of that sort at Walter's apartment.
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3Related: What does the pink teddy bear represent in Breaking Bad?. (Though, it seems you might not even be aware that it's the eye of that teddy that fell out of the crashing plane.)– Napoleon WilsonCommented Sep 2, 2015 at 12:46
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I remember the eye coming from a pink teddy bear half burnt from the plane crash. But seems like producers possibly had a few deeper meanings to it once it got separated from the bear.– eYeCommented Sep 2, 2015 at 12:51
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2Sure, I was just confused that you didn't mention the teddy at all.– Napoleon WilsonCommented Sep 2, 2015 at 13:07
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4 Answers
Vince Gilligan:
The teddy bear eyeball that Walt found in his swimming pool is symbolic. It's very, very symbolic. However, I'm not sure I can tell you with 100% certainty of what the symbolism is, what it represents...On the face of it, when we were coming up with that eye as an image, it probably, represented some form of the eye of the universe, the eye of god, the eye of morality, I suppose judging Walter White...And so symbolism like the eyeball, I'm not sure what it means to me completely but I'm always interested in hearing what it means to viewers of the show. I guess if you're going to hold my feet to the fire, what it means to me is the eye of God on Walt. If not necessarily judging him, nonetheless watching him, keeping tabs on him. And then the question: If that is what the symbolism stands for, then why does Walt keep that eye? Why does he keep it in his drawer versus discarding it?
answered Sep 3, 2015 at 9:22
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What was the source of that quote? (link is not working) Commented Jan 23, 2017 at 1:21
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Yes, that's the same link... which incidentally works again now. But I've been unable to track down where the actual source of the quote. No citation is given in the wiki. Commented Jan 23, 2017 at 4:51
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What I'm saying is that they didn't state where / when VG uttered it, unfortunately. Commented Jan 23, 2017 at 15:05
I always believed it to symbolise the innocence Walter had destroyed staring back at him. If you'll realize, every time he sees it, or it sees him, he is in a pathetic state, ignorant, or just guilty.
The teddy bear and the missing eyeball symbolizes Gus. When Walt kills Gus at the end of season 4, one of Gus's eyes was missing.
I have frequently noticed that an artist, an author, a sculptor or anyone in the creative field may be able to analyze and/or explain their art, but frequently overlooks what another, an unknown third party viewer may be able to see. (No pun intended.) Yes, the eye of the once perfect pink teddy bear, the eye that is forever lost to the teddy bear and the teddy bear itself, forever lost to one child or another, may symbolize what one character IS able to see and what another character may not notice at all.
The son has MS, the Mother commits illegal acts at the accounting firm, the DEA brother-in-law steps outside of his legal boundaries, purposefully with no remorse. Every character on the series has a flaw, but it seems as if Walt may be the only one to recognize his own flaw and yet continue to act in a manner in which he knows is wrong.
He keeps the eye for a few reasons. He wants to remind himself that what he is doing IS wrong, and to never take it for granted that it is in anyway OK; he recognizes his own flaws and does not want to forget.
He is fearful, in hiding, that more than the teddy bear's eye will see him, so he even tries to hide that eye from time to time. Walt understands that no-one and nothing is perfect Curiously, it is only one eye and not two that are lost from the stuffed animal so the animal is never rendered fully (and symbolically) blind. So too is true of the character Walt.
Even the bear, in its burnt (out) and seemingly no longer worthwhile position (now debris and seemingly worthless when at one time the bear was a treasured possession), part of this pink broken bear still has worth. Walt does not want the entire bear to "go away" just to be replaced by another toy. He keeps the eye, without realizing, that he is attempting to keep some value unto himself knowing that even the flawed are worthwhile. With the eye as his superego as well as his reminder of the fact that all will be lost to him one day,Walt "holds on" to what is real and what is perception.
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Also, just heard (Season 4) that pale pink, the color pale pink, is the most stable color of the rocks aka minerals that the Brother in Law has in his possession. So, perhaps, in part at least, the missing eye of the pink teddy bear, in the possession of Walt, symbolizes the beginning of the loss of stability as well as a feeble attempt to hold on to the same.– avaCommented Oct 16, 2017 at 1:06
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Moving toward the end of the series, I see (ha!) how limited my explanation was, though still competent. Look at the eye also as the "I" and in me, myself and I, and connect that to Whitman's work "Song of Myself"...some of the same lines, or at least close to the lines in the poem, appear within the script of this series as I have now re-read the poem from having shelved it so many years back. Even the black hat connects the poem to the character named Walt So, I am adding yet another possible of symbolism may be that the ever present eye may very well be the ever changing "I.."– avaCommented Oct 18, 2017 at 1:26