American Identity In The Great Gatsby

The Roaring Twenties represented the age of social and political change. The American Identity during the 1920s was one of the unique identities. The Great Gatsby had symbolized some major events and changes of the American Identity in 1920s. America had been through some big events that has impacted Americans socially and politically. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby reflects the turning point of American Identity during the 1920s through the prohibition of alcohol, inequality income, and a new image of a woman,
The prohibition of alcohol had impacted the American Identity of the 1920s because it rose the addition of alcohol. According to History.com, there were illegal manufacturing, speakeasies (stores or night clubs that sell alcohol), …show more content…
This shows how addicted Americans were to alcohol and businessmen finding any loop holes through the prohibition laws. The Great Gatsby shows the illegal operations through chapter seven. The following quote says Tom investigated into Gatsby’s past, “He and this Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side-street drug stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter… I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him and I wasn’t far wrong” (Fitzgerald 141). Another example is when Nick was drunk for the second time. That means people socializing with alcohol was a regular thing to do for the middle and wealthy social class. The following quotes supports that, “I have been drunk just twice in my life and the second time was that afternoon, so everything that happened has a dim hazy cast over it although …show more content…
According to Inequality.org, the top 1 percent peaked 23.9 percent of America’s total income. This was the highest income percentage of America’s top 1% before the Great Depression. Not only that, from 1979-2014, the weekly wages went from $383 to $379. The top 1 percent of America had been thriving since the 1920s while the 90% are struggling to even reach those numbers (Priester and Mendelson). These numbers do show in The Great Gatsby. One quote talks about an area of land, about half way between West Egg and New York; “This is a valley of ashes - a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air…” (Fitzgerald 27). This quote somewhat reflects the numbers above because the valley of ashes is basically the result of income inequality income. The bottom 90% of America surely weren’t living the “American Dream” with ashes around them The valley of ashes reflects the social classes because America had distributed their total income unequally, which caused the middle and lower to struggle to make money while the upper class gets wealthier (Priester and Mendelson). With America’s addiction to alcohol and inequality income, another turning point shines a bright light for