Moral Decadence In The Great Gatsby

The Roaring Twenties in America is the era of expansion in the economy and technology invention. It brings Americans more opportunities to get rich and a modern way of living. The era is also remarked by the decay of society’s moral during the Prohibition period. Fitzgerald describes this moral decadence through his famous work, The Great Gatsby, by portraying the infamous bootlegger, Jay Gatsby.

During the Roaring Twenties, the government ratified the 18th Amendment, also know as Prohibition, to ban all the sales, production and transportation of alcohol through the 18th Amendment. It happened due to the spread of the alcohol in the society during the 1800’s , “American boys and men aged 15 and older drank an average of 88 bottles of …show more content…
Gatsby’s parties are held during the summer of 1922, but “the bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside” (The Great Gatsby, p.40). People come to Gatsby’s mansion and drink alcohol without thinking of being arrested. They do not care about the prohibition. It happens because of two factors, the corruption and the moral decadence in the society, “Illegal producers known as moonshiners sold their illegal product to illegal distributors known as bootleggers, who in turn sold it to illegal retail establishments known as speakeasies” (Thornton, Mark, Prohibition Caused the Greatness of Gatsby). The number of criminals increases more than ever during prohibition. Every illegal action is all in secret and is protected by the corrupted politicians, therefore the criminals can do whatever they wanted without being arrested. Even the women, the main supporter of prohibition, drank alcohol. In The Great Gatsby, Daisy, Jordan, and Gatsby’s female guests find drinking or smoking are normal in their daily life. Prohibition causes a lot of serious problems in the society during that …show more content…
The people who got the most fortune are moonshiners, bootleggers, speakeasies, politicians and even doctors, who wrote “medical alcohol” prescription (Thornton, Mark, Prohibition Caused the Greatness of Gatsby). There were also a lot of infamous criminals such as Al Capone, Dean O'Banion, who were the bosses of organized crime in big cities. They used a small amount of their fortune to pay for politicians to overlook their crimes, and to open soup kitchens for the poor so that the society would cover for them. These kind of organizations is also depicted by Fitzgerald through Jay Gatsby, “He and this Wolfshiem bought up a lot of drugstore here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter.” (The Great Gatsby, p.133). Tom’s accusation reveals that Jay Gatsby is a bootlegger. It also tells the reader that because of the prohibition, people usually got alcohol through the drugstore by doctor’s prescriptions. There is also a reference to doctors through a Gatsby guest and Doctor T.J.Eckleburg, who is also very rich because of his shady works that he is like a boss of The Valley of Ashes. Gatsby, however, is different from the other criminals during that time. He is a biggest and smartest bootlegger. According to Kevin Roose’s research, “Even the most famous bootleggers in America rarely made millions during the early years,” but, “ between the start of Prohibition and the summer of 1922, Jay