American Dream and Consumerism in 'The Great Gatsby' Essay

Oikos involves an ancient Greek household, family, or house that formed the basic unit of society in Greek city-states. Therefore, in the family setting, it meant the line of descent from the father to the son through inheritance from generation to generation (Fitzgerald 2007). In a political context, as used by Aristotle, Oikos involve people living in a particular house and would include immediate family, slaves, and the head of the Oikos. Oikos comprise people with different connotations in terms of what they own, their leaders, and the number of members. Depending on how extended it is, Oikos incorporate people only living in the Oikos but not those outside the Oikos. Therefore, this paper aims to explore Oikos and its relation to the Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald. The paper will be examined based on the aspect of blindness in The Great Gatsby.

“The Great Gatsby” is an ultra-modernist novel which was written by an American Scott Fitzgerald. The book is a symbolic reflection of what happened in the United States, especially on the collapse of the American dream on aspects of materialism and wealth (Joucla & Fitzgerald 2012). The two elements discussed in the novel relate to the West and East, each with different connotations and people living in each part. The two small islands East and West Eggs, are identical in terms of contours but different in many ways. The two pieces are different in terms of people living where the West Egg represents old money, and people living in this part inherited their fortune. On the same note, they look down upon the poor living in the Eastern Egg. In return, those in the East Egg participate in organized crimes and Hollywood to earn their fortunes. Therefore, both parts (eggs) are characterized in different ways where those living in the West have been regarded to be fair, sophisticated, and relatively innocent/naïve. Those in the East were characterized as corrupt and greedy. For example, West Egg is less fashionable, and this is where Bick and Gatsby love. On the contrary, the East Egg is regarded to be fashionably characterized by white palaces where Tom and Daisy live their comfortable and carefree lives. The color white is symbolic to indicate that things could be pure and innocent, but corruption lies on the inside of the Oikos.

The aspect of social class is depicted in the novel representing two different people with money and those without money. The bay between the two small islands represents the difference between the wealthy and poor social classes in the community which may not be met due to the difference in their social standards (Cameron 2008). However, when others join the other, for instance, the poor working for the rich, they are manipulated using excessive force to meet the standards of the wealthy. In this case, Easterners, who moved to the West Egg, have taken their mannerisms with them with their new life in the West. Gatsby is an excellent example of this novel. Another symbolic aspect in the Valley of the Ashes represents social and moral decay in society due to the unconstrained search for resources and wealth. In this case, the rich treat themselves to be of a high standard and consider their pleasure as of great importance more than anything else in the community. The valley is a colorless and desolate area because it is a dumping site for the ashes, and the parties present in this area are noisy and drunken compared to the parties in the West. They are relaxed and silent while enjoying their pleasure.

Throughout this novel, it displays people who watch their lives unfold, but despite seeing what happens, they do nothing to change the situation. They are figuratively blind because they are unable to see the truth in every case they face (Trümper 2011). Major themes portrayed through symbols include loss of social and moral standards alongside conflicting perceptions. The Oikos are related to these parts, the West and the East, where people living in Oikos are identified based on their control. Based on the ancient Greek, Oikos involves three distinct aspects, which include the family, family property, and the house. The house here refers to the homes that were made of sun-dried mud bricks, but the aspect of West and East, as depicted in the novel, is explained here. The numbers in the Oikos were differentiated based on how wealthy the members of the Oikos were. The West, in this case, represents the wealthy who live in large Oikoi while the poor represent those in the East who struggle through hard ways to earn money. Therefore, there were two types of houses for the poor and the wealthy (Joucla & Fitzgerald 2012). In this case, the latter inherited their wealth/old money from wealthy families, and the former earned a living through illegal practices such as selling alcohol and bootlegging. The poor are blind in the essence because despite being oppressed, they do not do anything regarding their situation but give in to the oppressors. Similarly, in today’s world, poor people in Greece still live in small houses, and those with wealth live in large houses. The large one has several rooms, a kitchen, and a small bathing room and owns several portions of pasta similar to a porch in modernized homes.

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The wealthy who live in the large homes are characterized by hubris-posing of excessive pride and deviating from social living in the community suppressing the poor in the city. On the other hand, they use excessive force to get wealthy and suppress the poor in society (Ault 2007). For example, in the novel, the West Egg includes states such as Minnesota and North Dakota, which are Nick and Gatsby’s hometowns, respectively. According to the author, Midwest states are hopeful states that enhance growth for the poor like in the case of Gatsby characterized by old-fashioned and stable values. These values are built on close relationships and support from ancient traditions. Buchannan originates from the Midwest also, but his character depicts that of an uncaring person towards people of his origin. He has a different view of life, and he lost all caring values from people from the West. Such old-money people take harsh values of New Yorkers because of staying in the East, but this explains the Hubris lifestyle. When they move to the East, they manipulative, careless, and aimless way of life taking into consideration material things rather than the beauty and purity in life as it was in their social life while in the West. For example, Daisy Buchanan and Tom are depicted in the novel as being under the influence of corruption, and they have adopted this as their way of life, indicating traits of moral decay in their characters.

The ethical and social geography in the novel is backed by symbolism, where new-money people are from the West but use illegal practices to gain their wealth. Gatsby is depicted to be struggling from a humble background, and his success story overrides the challenges (Fitzgerald 2007). The eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg are symbolized and the billboard in the valley of ashes represents his eyes. “Blue and gigantic---and their retinas are one yard high,” indicates how they are separated from other faces by the look through the ‘enormous yellow spectacles’ showing the issue of sight. The aspect of spectacles is the course to correct eye problems, but, in this case, the perspective is symbolic to the people living in the East and West Egg who cannot see anything with their prevailing situation. Consumerism is the dominant social force emerging in this case related to the 1920s that shaped the desires and behavior of the target audience. “God sees everything,” repeatedly said George Wilson as he forced his wife to look at the billboard. It demonstrates consumerism that replaced religion, but, in this case, Wilson distorts the perception regarding the reality that the billboard’s gaze cannot be fooled because it can be seen clearly. The Owl Eyes represent the ability of the people to see what happens to them in their lives.

The aspect of physical and moral blindness in Oikos is directly associated with confusing situations between the wealthy and the poor. Owning big and large houses with a lot of wealth, the rich in the Oikos chose whether to work or not (Crossref-it.info 2020). They used slaves to work for them on their farms and earned more wealth compared to the poor who were in small homes. Farms were a vital agricultural unit that was used to measure wealth in the ancient economy, and in this case, those who owned big farms, and many slaves were associated with large Oikos. Their farms that flourish and produce more are related to the Valley of Ashes in the novel. “This is the valley of the ashes-a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens, where the ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumble through the powdery air.” The term ‘ashes’ in this case explains the suffocation and death of the poor caused by the wealthy in the community. Because ashes are like dust and when in the air can be inhaled and get stuck in the throat, it depicts the behavior of the wealthy who use excessive force and intolerance towards the poor hence suffocating them in the community. They are not free to work and earn a living, but the rich have crapped everything for their benefit (Ault 2007). The ‘crumpling men through the powdery air’ is a symbolic aspect that suggests that wealthy people living well-established lives in the Oikos are vague when showing sympathy to the poor people living amongst them. These people are forced to work under harsh conditions to earn a living through the rich uncertain everything that they are helping. It indicates corrupt social attributes and values to suit their interests. For example, the slaves are being used by the rich to work on their farms, and they turn bossy because they have more money than the poor who work on their own to get the money. It is ironic because as much as they have the money, they do not work for them but use other people to get them.

With little wealth, the poor have no choice but to work hard to get more wealth under harsh conditions, which makes them suffer more under the hands of wealthy people. However, in cases where the poor struggle from rags to a successful person, it is questionable amongst the wealthy how such people get rich (Cameron 2008). For example, in the case of Gatsby’s transition from rag-related life to riches, it was questionable as a son of noble farmers how he managed to be successful. On the contrary, the wealthy in the Oikos invest their money, but the poor get stuck working for a better living for the rest of their lives hence the difference between the rich and the poor in the society. Hamartia, in this novel, explains the ultimate tragedy of Gatsby, a hero who meets his death as his fate. He meets his demise when shot by Myrtle’s husband from behind, and later the body of the fallen hero is retrieved from the swimming pool where it lay (Bruccoli 2002).