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How Did Prohibition Affect The Great Gatsby

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The 1920s started as a social revolution marked by drastic cultural changes after WWI, the prohibition, and a new upper class formed by “new rich” who, like the Great Gatsby, profited from the illegal commerce of alcohol and other unlawful activities. The Great Gatsby was based on a time period where people had luxurious cars, houses, and parties. A time period where people never rested and parties never stopped. However it was also time period where it was illegal to sell or buy alcohol, but people still did it. Over time, this lavish time period became known as the “Roaring Twenties”.
The United States government decided that the consumption of alcohol in America needed to be controlled, therefore establishing the Prohibition Act. The Prohibition …show more content…

The producers and smugglers worked under the moon, hence the name, moonshiners, to avoid detection. The agency in charge of supervising and enforcing the Prohibition Act was the Internal Revenue Service and agents who prosecuted moonshiners and destroyed stills were commonly known as “revenuers”. Some of the unintended consequences of the enforcement of the Prohibition act were the formation of organized crime and the apparition of locals in which alcohol was served, “speakeasies”. The establishments received this name because costumers had to speak in a very soft voice when they asked the bartender for their drinks. It was common for this locals to present shows to the public and allow gambling which made gangsters to control gambling and prostitution (Henderson, …show more content…

The decade of the 20’s marked the change between the pre-war and the post-war eras and modernism and socioeconomic and cultural changes which converted the decade in a time of excesses, crime and degeneration of the upper-classes, obsessed with gin and sex.
James Gatz, a college-dropout, janitor-turned-conman, “young roughneck” from a poor family turned into Jay Gatsby, a wealthy, well-known man. After James Gatz saved Dan Cody from wrecking his ship, Dan became his mentor and taught James how to act like a gentleman. He taught him how to speak and act educated. Which allowed him to have a high-class ranking, and be able to reach people who he would not have had access to (Shalinsky, 2014). With this access he was making fortunes and no one knew how he was doing it. Gatsby planned the rest of his life around one thing, to get to

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The Moral Decay of the Materialistic Although F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby debuted in 1925– before the Great Depression– it serves as a prophetic exemplification of the the material excess of the 1920s that drowned out signs of the coming Great Depression. The book’s plot follows the bootlegger Jay Gatsby as he pursues his old love Daisy Buchanan through flaunting his new extravagant lifestyle, mainly by throwing ostentatious parties. Yet, in the end, Daisy chooses her unfaithful husband Tom over Gatsby. Through Fitzgerald’s use of wealthy, materialistic characters, he comments on the effect of the material excess of the roaring twenties: moral corruption.

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Then back in the U.S came the Volstead act, which was enacted to carry out the intent of the 18th Amendment (ratified January 1919), which established prohibition in the United States (“Volstead”). Yet the eighteenth amendment and the Volstead act weren't enforced very well. As in the matter a fact bootlegging, speakeasies, and distilling operation become a bigger and bigger. The earliest bootlegging operations began when gang associates started smuggling liquor over

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In December of 1917, Congress was able to pass 18th amendment, which stated that “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors,…for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited. ”3 By 1919, enough states had ratified the amendment, and it was officially made into law.3 Thus, the many advocates for Prohibition finally accomplished their goal, and looked forward to what they believed would be a more morally guided America. Of course, Prohibition did its job-at first.

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The roaring 1920's was a time when most Americans were living a prosperous life filled with wealth and achieving the “American Dream”. Many people called it the “Prosperity Decade” because it was the first time in American history that people were overwhelmed with wealth and could afford to purchase anything they pleased. The change of America's economy from a wartime economy back to a normal economy had the manufacturing industry in overdrive. So many American luxuries were developed, like the invention of the first automobile, the Ford Model T, and many sports became very popular. The Prohibition also affected the 1920's, this brought about higher crime rates, and the emergence of organized crime.

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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, brings the reader back in time to the 1920’s, where jazz had taken control of the New york city streets and dopamine seemed to infect the air and anyone who breathed it in. Outrages parties every night within various clubs and homes while illegal alcohol is being sold at every corner. Empty champagne bottles littering the streets as people wandered in and out of

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Prohibition The 1920’s were a time of change for America. Not only was it a new decade but also a change in America. After World War I, men came back to their families changed men and not always the gentlemen their families were used to. Alcohol became an issue.

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The 1920s carried much change in society. Some of these changes were more rights for women, jazz music, and prohibition. The people of the 1920s were disillusioned by society lacking in idealism and vision, sense of personal alienation, and Americans were obsessed with materialism and outmoded moral values (The Roaring Twenties).Cultural changes were strongly influenced by the destruction of World War I ending 1918. America needed to recover and with it youth rebelled against the norms of the older generations.

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Between World War I and the Great Depression, the 1920’s were unique and special years in American history. The best way to represent that time would be by historian Frederick Lewis Allen providing the historical account of America in the 20’s in Only Yesterday and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famed novel, The Great Gatsby. Both of them reflect America in the Twenties by showing lifestyles and behaviors of people who lived in that time. We can follow their beliefs, actions, and morality through the works. While Allen was seeking to capture a decade, F. Scott Fitzgerald did a good job by pointing to the main issues during that time.

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Risk taking, ground breaking changes, and wild parties are all important aspects of the 1920’s. The massive parties that included dancing, alcohol, and a house full of strangers were so essential to this magical era that F. Scott fitzgerald made them a key element in his book, “The Great Gatsby.” These extravagant parties that Jay Gatsby was notorious for hosting, attracted strangers from all corners of New York to take part in these luxurious events. These parties were so popular and well known in the eastern New York area that they basically become Gatsby’s trademark. Upon hearing the name “Gatsby” guests did not visualize the face of a young man, but rather envisioned the wild parties he threw.

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“The 1920s heralded a dramatic break between America’s past and future” (Zeitz). The 1920s also known as the “Roaring Twenties” is a time period in American history of success and new opportunities. The 1920s was a period of booming economic growth, empowerment for women, mass production of media, and technological discoveries. The economic growth led to more available income for people to spend on entertainment and leisure. This led to an energetic and thriving arts and entertainment industry and general societal exuberance which defined the 1920s as the “Roaring Twenties”.

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How important is Prohibition to “The Great Gatsby”? F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece “The Great Gatsby” is a famous novel read by almost every American. The book’s setting is in the 1920’s and during that time period, prohibition played a major part in the society. In fact, prohibition caused the richness and greatness of Jay Gatsby, the novel’s main character. A lot of money is made by producing and selling illegal liquor and Jay Gatsby was one of those so called bootleggers.

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The novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald focuses on the short period of time where the books protagonist, “Nick Carraway” meets the Great American character “James Gatz.” James is a self made millionaire, and bootlegger as pointed out in the end of the novel. The character also tries to buy Nick’s cousin, but with a currency he does not have, leading to tragedy, heartbreak, and the end for James’ indulgence of the “world’s most expensive orgy.” The story given within Fitzgerald’s masterpiece is only possible with the time and setting it took place. For the Great War was over, and successes with new found riches gives way to one of America’s most successful pieces of literature.

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Great Gatsby connection essay to prohibition The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was based on a time period when prohibition was a huge topic in America ergo the roaring twenties. There is easily a connection between prohibition and the Great Gatsby since it depicts how the country was affected by it on many levels. The Great Gatsby shows how our country evolved culturally, socially and morally when prohibition was introduced. F. Scott Fitzgerald would call the time period he was writing about “the greatest, gaudiest spree in history”.

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During the 1920s, America seemed to be a land of glamor and luxury. Underneath the beauty, however, was a vast underworld of crime: bootleggers and gangs ran rampant, controlling even members of the government. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, he tells a tale of that decade, which appears glamorous but is filled with corruption. The novel makes a naturalism argument about the impossibility of changing social class, revealing that only a facade of mobility can be achieved through debaucherous actions.

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The Great Gatsby is mostly an accurate portrayal of the 1920s due to the references towards the historical circumstances exhibited by the plot. For instance, a significant theme depicted in the story is prohibition and its influence on the society; consequently, since The Great Gatsby takes place in the summer of 1922, prohibition is an immense aspect of the American culture of the time. Correspondingly, organized crime and prohibition share a direct correlation since consumption of alcohol was illegal, yet it was very much alive. In the 1800s alcohol became a prevalent habit due to the new businesses that produced it; therefore, drinking became a widespread epidemic. Overall, The Great Gatsby portrays the Roaring 20s using pivotal references

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