The Great Gatsby Book Review

The Gilded Age was the time Civil War and the World War 1. It is also known for the population and economic growth that went rapidly during this time. All the good things led to a lot of political corruption and bad deals. The American political landscape during this time was more corrupt and they didn’t care about political ethics. The business owners had more power than the politicians.

Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby explores East and West Egg and the Valley of Ashes, examining the differences in social status between the two. Life during this time was based around social status and wealth. Most people’s lives were about how much money one had and how high in the social hierarchy they were. Many people became rich through organized crime or bootlegging. The social hierarchy still exists today, but now one can change their lives to become a different level of the social hierarchy.

Not only men went to fancy parties, but women as well were invited, sometimes appearing to have no company. Times were changing for women, for they could go out on their own and dress spontaneously. In many occasions throughout the book we get sights of the characters drinking, another big boom of this era; we know that prohibition was an enormous debate about this time as people began to drink more (Fitzgerald). All of this ties together, because Fitzgerald’s vision of the American dream was about discovery, individualism, and the pursuit of happiness. Were his works for the characters of his book and his readers, or for himself?

As if becoming the decade of the worst economic bust in history, usually referred to as the Great Depression, was not enough, the early 19th century also came to be known as the age of Prohibition. For many years prior to the 1920s, a growing number of people had feared the damage alcohol could do to America. After years of work by organizations such as the Anti-Saloon League, the Eighteenth Amendment was passed and prohibition started on January 16, 1919 and continued until December 5, 1933. Although it was formed to stop drinking completely, it ended up being a resounding failure. It created a large number of bootleggers who were able to supply the public with illegal alcohol.

Fitzgerald uses characterisation to explore the concept hollowness of the upper class. The further through the novel characters such as Tom, Daisy and Jordan are shown more in depth where their true hollow personalities surface, becoming more despised of by readers as they reveal their identities as careless by causing trouble and retreating into their money at Gatsby’s funeral and Myrtles Murder this is the most hollow and empty thing anyone could do. The hollowness of the upper class is highlighted by Daisy and Tom Buchannan whom are from the established class, both coming from a long tradition of wealth strongly believing that the grass is greener on the other side. Their hollow personalities cause them to commit adultery, corrupting their marriage as they desire money and new materialism.

Gold has always been symbolic of money, and is used constantly by Fitzgerald to show the riches of East and West egg. However, these riches are not entirely made from legal practices, for example Gatsby who drives a “yellow car”, has ties with the Bootlegging industry. He not only has alcohol at his parties, but it is revealed that he is wealthy due to his Bootlegging business. His yellow car, (a result of corrupt money), also ends up killing Myrtle Wilson leading to the death of Gatsby and George Wilson. This shows how corruptness will always end badly.

The Mafia is a massive organized crime organization hailing from Sicily, Italy. They weren 't big in America until the 1920’s, when they got their start from smuggling alcohol during the prohibition era. The influence of the mafia can be seen across books, television, and movies. The mafia is still an important subject today because of how much power they had in America. There have been many popular movies made such as The Godfather that show what the mafia is like.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. In these words, Charles Dickens describes the grand scheme of the Roaring Twenties. Also known as the Jazz Age, this was a decade that for the most part, was full of extravagance. During this time, prominent writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald ruled American literature. Following his success in The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald found inspiration in his life of luxury, alcohol, and a mentally deteriorating wife, and this inspiration soon erupted into his fourth novel.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald chronicles the debaucherous jazz age through the narration of Nick Carraway. Carraway moves from the Midwest to the West Egg of Long Island, where witnesses the hollowness of the upper class. A color that plays a significant role in Gatsby is gold. The evening Gatsby and Daisy reunite is seeped in gold: Gatsby’s car, Gatsby’s dresser, Daisy’s dress buttons, lemon cakes , even the plum blossoms bear a “pale gold odor.” It is not coincidental that novel centering around wealth in excess places such significance around the color gold.

Throughout ¨The Great Gatsby¨, Fitzgerald shows just how organized crime increased. First, Gatsby said, ¨I thought you didn't, if you'll pardon my-you see, I carry on a little business on the side, a sort of sideline, you understand. And I thought that if you don't make very much- you're selling bonds, aren't you, old sport?” This shows that Gatsby has some illegal business on the side to; the bootlegging business was booming at the time, so Gatsby was rich. Second, Tom said, ¨And if it runs out I can stop at a drug store.

Criminals would earn lots of money for illegally selling this to the consumers. (Document A) Criminals would be the only people having a good time during the Great Depression. In Prohibition the murder rates sky rocketed

Considering the way that preclusion went to the United States in 1920, thousands rushed to Paris to tune in, see, move and drink. It was the new age. Be that as it may, despite the fact that there were French arrangers in every aspect of pop, musical drama, or established music, the American 's vicinity troopers and their Jazzy music, changed states of mind for Parisians

The successful bootleggers at the time were able to capitalize on the high demand for alcohol. “Through the criminal experience gained and the political connections established in gambling and prostitution rackets in the early 1900s, gangsters had become well prepared for the exploitation of Prohibition.” One could argue that these gangsters may have only been successful from an economic standpoint and that their lives seemed more glamorous then they truly were. Many of them died terrible deaths but the fact is historians and society will forever be fascinated with these figures and their lifestyles. Through my research, I have determined that it was more than this; these successful gangsters had very similar character traits and childhood

However, in the 1920s, because alcohol was a part of people’s daily lives, people didn’t stop consuming it. Alcohol consumers with no respect for the law simply decided to buy, sell, and drink alcohol illegally. People who sold alcohol made a lucrative business out of it. Al Capone, for example, who was a famous American gangster, earned $60,000,000 annually by selling illegal liquor (Al Capone). Prohibition did not stop people from drinking, and criminals were making the money the sale.

The black market which was led by several mafia organizations, was the cause of this, which basically led to worse social conditions. New York and Chicago were the main states that rose to power through the successful selling of illegal liquor that the mafia organizations offered, but New York was the main home of a dozen big time mobsters. New York became one of the nation’s largest market for bootlegging alcohol. The mafia organizations found ways to avoid being detected by law enforcement during the prohibition. Some of these crimes included money laundering, bribing law enforcement, smuggling, and bootlegging.