The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Prohibition had many causes during the nineteen twenties, but sercentaly not rooting just from that era. The issue of prohibition came up during the mid-nineteenth century. Many people throughout the United States believed that ridding the country of alcohol would better America’s prominence. Expecting to lower the crime rates, unfortunately, doing just the opposite. Turning those everyday law abiding citizens into criminals just to get enough money to put food on the table. “Prohibition creates new profit opportunities for both criminals and non criminals” (Thornton, 116).

One of the reasons why prohibition failed during the 1920’s in the U.S. was due to Americans wanted to drink alcohol anyways and break the law. Secondly, law enforces were corrupted due to being underpaid thus being easily bribed by organized crimes. Even politicians would vote against it, but would still drink in private. Thirdly, government agencies had very few people prohibition agents that were underpaid and also were easily bribed. Fourthly, government wasn’t really ready to enforce any type of laws like prohibition they were still weak. A lot of public officials did not support prohibition. Fifth, the rise of speakeasies, organized crime, gun fights, bootlegging, illegal consumption of alcohol, corruption, and rise of gangsters such

The 1920s in America was known as the “Roaring Twenties”, and is portrayed as an exciting time with positive changes. The reality, however, was that even though there were changes favored by most of the population, there were a lot of issues that many of the population argued over. One of those issues was prohibition, which forbid the production, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages within the United States. Most of the people who supported prohibition lived in rural areas, while most of the people who were against prohibition lived in cities. If I had lived during the 1920s, I don’t think I would have supported prohibition. I understand that alcohol destroyed some families lives, but people are going to find ways to sell

Prohibition during the 1920’s and the 1930’s was the banning of the production and selling of alcohol throughout America. The Prohibition era was one of the most controversial periods in the United States History due to its outcomes it lay behind. Factors that lead to congress toward an Alcohol-free law came with the United States entry into World War 1. Legislators feared that the military personnel health and actions were at risk

The Great Gatsby’s spot on depiction of the 1920’s may have contributed greatly to the novels success in American literature. Many of the scenes that take place within the story show exactly what was happening out in the real world. For example, prohibition proves that the novel, undoubtedly, could not have taken place in any other time period. In 1919 the ratification of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution took place, this banned the distribution and manufacturing of alcohol (The Roaring Twenties.) In the novel, prohibition played a major role in providing Jay Gatsby with his wealth.

The decrease in morals and ethics during the roaring 20’s led to the creation and increase of organized crime. Nick and Gatsby are going to lunch and they meet a man named Meyer Wolfsheim. He asks Nick about Gatsby and Wolfsheim’s business in the underground speakeasy. Wolfsheim said to Gatsby “I understand you 're looking for a business gonnegtion… Oh, no,” [Gatsby] exclaimed, “this isn’t the man.” (Fitzgerald 71). Nick was under the impression that Gatsby was not one hundred percent clean, but this was the first time he was exposed to Gatsby’s biggest weakness. The manner in which Gatsby got rich. The 1920’s were a decade of considerable increase in organized crime. One factor of the increase is alcohol and prohibition. Clearly they are in an illegal establishment that sells alcohol,

Drinking was on the rise. Prohibition in 1920s America was supposed to stop the national drinking problem and the negative effects of alcohol. The temperance movement began by advising moderation, but progressed into abstinence and eventually caused the 18tth amendment (ThoughtCo), which was the prohibition of alcoholic beverages. However, the 18th amendment only made the violence worse (NY Times Lincoln), like the gang-related Valentine’s shooting and spurred the emergence of organized crime. For example, the rise of the Mafia is largely due to the illicit selling of liquor during prohibition (History.com), the Mafia’s former leader, Al Capone’s luxury clothing pictured in the newspaper evidences this prosperity. (NY Times) Prohibition during the 1920s and 1930s in Chicago greatly affected the development of organized crime through both its economic impacts and its effect on increased corruption.

The Roaring Twenties have come to describe America during the time of the Prohibition. In the early 1920’s, when the book is set, World War I had just come to an end. Many people flocked toward the bigger cities from their original small towns. They viewed the big cities as an opportunity to search for excitement and a more modern way of living. Alcohol flowed like rivers in many new American homes and drunkards occupied many prisons and poorhouses. A group of activists made a valiant effort to eliminate alcohol in and attempt to help the country return to the simpler lifestyle. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the corruption of the 1920s through his character Jay Gatsby and his illustration of the evils of prohibition.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald chronicles the life of Jay Gatsby, a self-made man, narrated by a social outsider named Nick Carraway. The story takes place in New York during the Roaring Twenties. In this decade, American’s lives were characterized by a fascination with new technology, great wealth, and an increased emphasis on social activities and leisure. In addition, many Americans engaged in binge drinking despite Prohibition laws which made the consumption of alcohol illegal. In order to avoid arrest, Americans would smuggle illegally purchased alcohol into private social events and there consume it in excess. This dangerous behavior, in the context of secrecy and exclusivity, caused many Americans to re-evaluate their life

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, took place during the Prohibition era. Jay Gatsby was one of the wealthiest characters in the roaring 20s, because he was a bootlegger. During Gatsby’s parties Nick Carraway, the narrator, describes the party as “... lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun, and now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music, and the opera of voices pitches a key higher… excited with triumph, glide on through the sea-change of faces and voices an colour under the constantly changing light.” Gatsby’s parties were so large and everyone in New York knew about them, but no enforcement was shown to stop the alcohol drinking at these lavish parties. Moreover, Al Capone was a real life Gatsby in the 1920s. He was a gangster and organized crimes. Al Capone earned sixty million

The prohibition of alcohol within the United States of America from 1920 to 1933 was highly ineffective in improving many social, political and economic aspects of society, and hence, was not beneficial. The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1919 established the general framework for the prohibition, whilst the Volstead Act enabled the Amendment. It was hoped by Pressure groups in favour of enforcing prohibition, and general supporters of temperance, that the prohibition would create a utopia, but overall it evoked the opposite effect, as many continued to drink in secret “speakeasies” bars and suffer the negative heath effects of alcohol, the loss of liquor revenue affected the government in the long-term, the hypocrisy of politicians

Gatsby’s parties are the essence of 1920s America. The liquor flows, Hollywood actresses are always in attendance, and The American Dream was just beginning to take its place. But Gatsby himself is a mystery, never to be seen by the greater public.

One of the things going on in the novel, The Great Gatsby, is the era of prohibition. It was a time where liquor was outlawed in America. People believed it was a sin and caused a lot of problems in the home of these drinkers. This caused lots of unrest in the U.S. when prohibition was really enforced in the 1920’s. Prohibition was the catalyst that started it all. Soon after, a lot of people took up organized crime in the form of bootlegging. This made a lot of places difficult to live due to the increase of corrupt officials.

“The ratification of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution–which banned the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors–ushered in a period in American history known as Prohibition” (History.com Staff). Overnight, alcohol went from a common drink of choice to an illegal asset that became the heartbeat of bootlegging organizations and organized crime. The otherwise “Roaring 20s” was marred by the gang violence and public unrest that resulted from Prohibition. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, the effects of Prohibition are event throughout. The main character, Jay Gatsby, would not be possible without the implementation of Prohibition. Throughout the novel, one can identify the underlying themes of Prohibition that become evident as the reader learns more about the main character and those around him; bootlegging, drinking, and speakeasies are a staple of Fitzgerald’s attempt to place the reader in one of Americas most prosperous and simultaneously criminal eras: the 1920s.

January 16, 1920 brought about a new era that outlawed the selling of alcohol, yet allowed the purchase of alcohol. The new prohibition era dramatically altered the diets of the Americans where alcohol was once a staple, now leaving American families reeling due to their conflicted emotions about the purchase of alcohol (Kyvig 3). Not only were diets drastically altered, the job market experienced a negative rise in illegal professions. A large percent of the American people saw the prohibition as unnecessary and an error, and as a result did not take the laws regarding the consumption of alcohol seriously (Kyvig 179). As people sought after alcohol, the rise of bootleggers and speakeasy owners rose during the 1920s, and Fitzgerald embraced this as the profession for his protagonist, Jay Gatsby. At Gatsby’s parties, alcohol flowed freely, "I 've been drunk for about a week now, and I thought it might sober me up to sit in a library" (Fitzgerald 61). Regardless of the prohibition, Gatsby had the ability to get drunk and drink consistently. Fitzgerald created an air of mystery surrounding the source of Jay Gatsby’s ability to get alcohol. In The Great Gatsby partygoers would compare wild stories that they believed accredited for Gatsby’s unbelievable wealth that afforded him alcohol. In the voice of Tom Buchanan, Fitzgerald revealed that Gatsby was indeed a bootlegger. Tom stated “He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and