The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald - 1506 Words

â€Å"By 1929 it was estimated that there were 219,000 speakeasies in the United States, 32,000 of which were in New York City† (Boardman 71). People of the 1920s used Prohibition to get ahead in society by selling alcohol illegally. F. Scott Fitzgerald, wrote, The Great Gatsby, which takes place in Long Island, near New York City, during the 1920s. In the novel, the main character, Jay Gatsby, is a successful man who has participated in shady businesses to get what he wants. In, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrays the corruption of American society using Prohibition and how it brought about the rise of organized crime in the 1920s. First, the Prohibition Act, proclaimed in the 1920s, was not taken seriously by American society. The act was a†¦show more content†¦This highlights the corruption of society in the 1920s caused by the passing of Prohibition and disunity between the eyes of the law and the eyes of the people. President Herbert Hoover, who was untrusted by the public, said that prohibition was a worthy experiment but was far reaching for society (Boardman). In reality, Prohibition was a colossal failure in American history highlighting the corruption in the 1920s by individualistic people going against law. Parallel to the Prohibition in the 1920s, in, The Great Gatsby, Prohibition was widely ignored and alcohol was imprudently consumed by the wealthy in society. Nick Caraway takes the reader through the house of Mr. Gatsby and notices his surroundings and behavior of people in the house. Nick exclaims, â€Å"The bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outs ide, until the air is alive with chatter and laughter, and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot and enthusiastic meeting between women who have never knew each other’s names (40). Nick points out the causality of people in the house who are committing a crime which reveals to the reader the mindset of people at the time and how