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Prohibition In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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Prohibition was a time in the United States when alcohol was banned. This happened from 1920 to 1933. People couldn't legally make, sell, or transport alcohol during this time. The government hoped this would solve problems like crime and poverty, but it caused other issues instead. Many people still drink alcohol in secret places called speakeasies. Some people made money illegally by selling alcohol, which led to organized crime. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's book "The Great Gatsby," Prohibition plays a big role, showing how it affected people's lives and their pursuit of the American Dream. In "The Great Gatsby," Prohibition is a big deal. The rich people in the story, like Gatsby, threw huge parties with lots of alcohol, even though it was illegal. This …show more content…

This made society kind of messed up, with people doing bad things for their own gain. "The Great Gatsby" talks about how Prohibition changed society and made some people act in not-so-nice ways. Even the figure of Daisy is connected to the prohibition theme; Daisy lives a life of luxury, attending fancy parties and enjoying the finer things, including alcohol. She's involved in cheating and her own affair, which reflects the blurred lines between right and wrong during Prohibition. In the 1920s, there was a new style called "flapper." Flapper dresses were different because they had shorter skirts and they looked looser and more flowing. Daisy in "The Great Gatsby" wears clothes like this, her dresses match this trendy style. Analyzing historical events; In 1906, a new wave of attacks began on the sale of liquor, led by the Anti-Saloon League (established in 1893) and driven by a reaction to urban growth. In addition, many factory owners during the Industrial Revolution supported prohibition in their desire to prevent accidents and increase the efficiency of their workers in an era of increased industrial production and extended working

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F. Scott Fitzgerald incorporates a theme of prohibition throughout his novel “The Great Gatsby”. Prohibition is an important contributor to Gatsby lifestyle, and had affected many men and women in the 1920’s as well as the other characters and events in the novel. Prohibition started when the 18th amendment got ratified; which banned the manufacturer, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquor-ushered from 1920-1933. The amendment was intended to help resolve the majority of societal issues. However, it failed to do so because, the prohibition movement only made the alcohol problem worse by increasing the consumption and selling of alcohol to others.

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During the 1920s “the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919, attempted to get rid of alcohol. Instead of ending the use of alcohol, “Prohibition prompted the growth of organized crime” teaches Gatsby learns to become rich by setting up drug stores at which they sell liquors as “bootleggers” . At the time of the Jazz Age bootlegging was considered a crime and bootleggers are known for trying to sell liquor at “speakeasies, where illegal alcohol was plentiful” . Just like many other actual bootleggers and gangsters at the time, Gatsby became wealthy through this mean of corruption. Fitzgerald accurately portrays the 1920s in The Great Gatsby through greed by using the characters Daisy Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson.

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In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author reveals a few aspects, of prohibition that were actually true to life in the 1920s. Prohibition in the 20’s gave a rise bootlegging, speakeasies and other underground drinking establishments. Which Fitzgerald writes about in his novel. Tom in The Great Gatsby on page 107 demands “who is this Gatsby anyhow?”........

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