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The Great Gatsby Historical Lens Essay

712 Words3 Pages

People are impacted by the surroundings that they live in. Impactful historical events, examined through the historic lens, get impressed upon the people that live during that time. Physical and mental status is highly influenced by the experiences and events that happen during one's lifetime. In the 1920s, World War 1 had just ended and the 19th Amendment banning alcohol had been passed which made the economy an all time high. In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, impacts from historical events can be seen throughout some of the characters like Gatsby and Nick. A historical lens shows the aftermath of WWI, prohibition, and the economic boom that influenced all social classes in the 1920s. The aftermath of WW1 affected all …show more content…

Alcohol, however, never really left the American people, since there were lots of loopholes to get around this ban. Federal authorities would only arrest the dealers they knew about, so there were lots of ways to get alcohol on the down-low. For example, Tom investigates Gatsby’s life and brings up how “‘He and Wolfsheim brought 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 up as a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn’t far wrong’”(Fitzgerald 133). Gatbsy was an illegal dealer of alcohol, which is how he got so much money. He got around the 18th Amendment by having a legal storefront that sells assumably legal items. Alcohol has become more popular with the ban because people are always appealing to things they can’t have. There was a constant surplus of alcohol at the party when “The bottle of whiskey—the second one—was now in constant demand by all present, excepting Catherine, who ‘felt just as good on nothing at all’”(Fitzgerald 35). Technically, drinking alcohol was legal by the 18th amendment, it was just the selling or production. However, it is highly unlikely they had so much alcohol before the ban and weren’t scared of running out of the alcohol. The ban showed influence on people of every class,

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