Jay Gatsby Bootlegger Analysis

1037 Words5 Pages

In my opinion Jay Gatsby was a bootlegger because how else would he have alcohol at all of his parties. He had new money and it wasn 't common for people to have new money because most people inherited it, also this gave many reasons to suspect him to be a bootlegger. Gatsby was one of those people that wanted to do stuff with his life but ended up doing bad stuff for a good reason but the cause killed him.He also never inherited any money. In ways people can say he is not but they can believe what they want but they are wrong to think that. Tom is very correct that Gatsby is a bootlegger. Bootleggers are people who illegally transport alcoholic beverages. Many people thought that if they banned alcohol they would better protect the lives of …show more content…

Bootleggers became a profitable source of income for many and as a result they gained enormous power. Many bootleggers would bribe high political figures, securing there illegal business. People started buying alcohol in the black market and in pubs called “speakeasies”.As the prohibition era went on, fewer and fewer people were controlling the money made by bootlegging. Prohibition was apart of the Eighteenth amendment that prohibited the manufacture sale production of alcohol but not consumption or possession. Prohibition supporters, called “dries”, present it as a victory for public morals and health. It created a surge of organized crime and eventually they repealed the amendment.The Volstead act was a big reason prohibition went into effect. Prohibition was a ban on the production importation and sale of alcoholic beverages. “I found out what your ‘drug-stores’ were.” He turned to us and spoke rapidly. “He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That’s one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn’t wrong.” Gatsby doesn’t deny Tom’s