Preview

Bootlegging And The Great Gatsby

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
692 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Bootlegging And The Great Gatsby
In today’s culture we are told of the american dream. An ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity thru hard work, determination, and initiative. The author made the decision of stopping Gatsby’s dream of being with Daisy as a life lesson. Setting an example that making bad choices in order to achieve your goals in life will not make them come true, but in fact make them less obtainable.The evidence needed to support this is based on the novel’s details..

Gatsby’s wealth is gained by cheating and illegally making his fortune . For those of which contradict the American dream’s way of achieving goals and dreams. As mentioned in the novel the most prevalent rumor is that Gatsby got his
…show more content…
Including his personal relationships and others as well. In the novel it shows of Daisy and Tom’s relationship together as Gatsby is involved between them more negative and leads to Tom investigating him into who he is and what he does. Gatsby presence and gaining of wealth intrigues Daisy which leads to tom inspiring different problems and lead towards Gatsby’s downfall as the man on top. Gatsby’s involvement in bootlegging creates the human aspects of corruption and jealousy. Both of which led to the event of Gatsby not fulling his goal in life. For the reason is that both create multiple new problems that show the negative way of achieving the American dream is the worst …show more content…
All of which are valid points that the author can use to convey to his message of achieving your goals in negative ways are never gonna come true. Evidence such as Gatsby’s wealth is gained by cheating and illegally making his fortune, Gatsby’s murder, and Gatsby’s involvement in bootlegging with the mob it leads to all kinds of problems. All of his causes was because of his way of earning his wealth was not the right way and never should be in the first place. All of which is based on a life lesson being told. The reasons are numerous but the main thing is that you do things the right way. Also a note of caution of money. Money equals more

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Coming from a poor and unsuccessful family, and being the son of “shiftless and unsuccessful farm people”(p. 63), Gatsby overcomes his origin and social barriers and tries to make the best of his personality, working hard on his character in order to become a great man, an American hero. Ever since he was young, Gatsby was obsessed with the idea to re-create himself, as he had an anti-sample in his mind, that of his parents. Owing to his perseverance, Gatsby succeeds. The absolute following of the program of self-improvement, which was taken in smallest detail from B. Franklin's Autobiography, bears its fruits - an ordinary poor boy finally turns into a millionaire. His father recalls later: “ Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves like this or something. Do you notice what he's got about improving his mind? He was always great for that' (p. 110) .…

    • 1410 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby, lives out the American Dream by cheating, lying, and using his personal belongings to flaunt as trophies. Gatsby’s main goal is to have Daisy in his life and shows his financial worth in order to achieve this. The American Dream is thought to be freedom, equality, and opportunity. Jay Gatsby takes these ideals and modifies them to how he wants to live them. Gatsby is extremely flashy in his lifestyle just so people believe that he was born into a wealthy family and is part of the ‘old money’ community. In this novel, Jay Gatsby corrupts the American Dream because of his suspicious business activity, his cheating ways and instead of looking forward for new opportunities, pursues the past.…

    • 509 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Great Gatsby Scott Fitzgerald says that the American Dream is in decline. This causes Gatsby to strive for riches because he wants to get the girl of his dreams. While she is shocked by his material things he loses her later in the story. While many of the wealthy people in this story are described as cruel, Gatsby was given a different description. Instead, they said that he turned out alright in the end. Then they went on to say that what had corrupted Gatsby was the amount of wealth that he had.…

    • 248 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    How Is Jay Gatsby Selfish

    • 798 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Gatsby’s hopelessness becomes apparent when he creates a new image for himself and ultimately soars to a higher class, and yet continually gets ostracized for his nuance in etiquette, “The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself...So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end” (98). First off, this conception of himself, which started from the age of seventeen; and at this age, he may have thought it out differently from the way that things actually played out which in turn, laid the groundworks for discrepancies further down in his life. The newly formed image that Gatsby had tried to make for himself was purely for his personal gain in the beginning, however expanded mainly in the effort to attain Daisy and her love. This idea of constantly needing to improve even when the American Dream results in success, is unhealthy when the effects on others become coherent. When Gatsby had finally become rich and met Daisy, those memories never left his mind, so he went on to pursue her and attempt to steal her from Tom. Though his attempts were pointless, as she would never think about abandoning her status for a man who is only barely on par with her husband, so…

    • 798 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lastly, the title of the book is ironic due to the fact that Gatsby made his wealth through bootleg businesses and never was approved by the traditional upper class. As a result, he never truly achieve his ultimate dream because of social corruption. First of all, Tom who represent the “old money” never approved Gatsby's wealth by saying “who is this Gatsby anyhow?” and his accusation of Gatsby did not made his money through a legitimate way.(Fitzgerald 107) Other upper class elite also did not approve Gatsby because they don’t truly likes him and see him as new money who does not have a wealthy family background. This point just demonstrate the author’s idea of one’s past can not be erased. Another reason why Gatsby did not achieve his dream…

    • 353 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In a society compelled by money, social status and love, all may seem virtuous for a moment, but come to a devastating finish in the matter of seconds. Everyone with ambition can live the American dream. People originate from third world countries to generate business in America. Many can live in poverty their whole life, but turn their lives around and become wealthy. Pursuing after his American Dream force Jay Gatsby in “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald to go against his morals just to prosper. Gatsby ends up morally corrupted and dead as he pursuits his dreams of becoming wealthy and winning Daisy over Tom Buchanan. Throughout the novel, readers discover that the American Dream was achievable for Gatsby despite his past.…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Everyone has dreams, some are big and some are small but everyone has one. For Jay Gatsby; dreams can seem close but impossible to obtain. Jay Gatsby is a confusing man to understand, but his dream is very clear to everyone; he wants Daisy’s love to be his for keeping. Although there are many obstacles that stand in between him and his dream; he has an ambition to succeed where the odds are against him and Jay believes that it’s possible. After all Jay Gatsby states “Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!”…

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Another illusion that Gatsby had believing was how he became so wealthy. Gatsby tells Nick how he acquired his wealth. “I am the son of some wealthy people in the middle-west-all dead now.” But in reality Gatsby is just was a poor boy from mid-west. He made all his money by illegal crime such as bootlegging and did not really own any drug store. “I found out what your “drug store” were”…

    • 432 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Daisy’s representation of the failure American Dream is portrayed as an illusion of Gatsby’s, one that he tries to…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He is a bootlegger during the time of prohibition in the United States, and uses illegal methods to obtain his wealth. Although Gatsby is in fact a “rags to riches” story, he uses these short cuts to achieve his riches. Like Gatsby, taking shortcuts to achieving one's goals and aspirations is second nature to many American workers in today’s society. The significance of the American Dream and its core values have been lost: “Since the industrial revolution, however, Americans have dreamed about finding shortcuts to extravagant wealth… The emphasis on good fortune rather than the industriousness and perseverance is eroding the work ethic that once made the American dream a respectable goal” (Warshauer 1). Similar to The Great Gatsby, the focus toward working today has shifted from the traditional work ethic of the American Dream, and is now focused on the best way to make money and the quickest way of making it. Whether it be through lawsuits, the lottery, or simply cheating other people for their money, businesses and people take advantage of one and another to accumulate wealth. The respect and work ethic of the corporate world had diminished significantly over the years. In both situations, Gatsby and the people of today, principals to the original American Dream has been lost. The core belief of working with what one already has to accumulate wealth is…

    • 395 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Since the beginning, Gatsby knew that to attain the American Dream he would have to create the persona of Jay Gatsby from James Gatz. Jay Gatsby is a rich, successful man from West Egg in New York while James Gatz is the penniless son of unsuccessful farm people. Evidently, Gatsby grasps that to attain the American Dream he absolutely can not be a lower class laborer and must be born affluent. In addition, Gatsby is revealed as a hard worker when his father presents a schedule that exhibits, “‘Jimmy was bound to get ahead’” (Fitzgerald 173). He refers to the anal schedule of self-improvement Gatsby grinded himself through. However, it is also revealed Gatsby earned his money through illegal activities when Meyer Wolfsheim, a mob leader, tells the narrator, “‘Start him! I made him’” (Fitzgerald 173). This exposes that Gatsby believs that in order to create the American Dream from nothing, integrity is impossible. In the end of the novel, everything is taken away from Gatsby when he is murdered by another victim of the hopeless American Dream, Wilson. Evidently, Daisy and her husband, Tom Buchanan, two people of privilege, can be linked to the intricate events leading to Gatsby’s downfall. Therefore, Fitzgerald reveals that all of Gatsby’s hard work and his own life was obliterated by the elite who were born into the American…

    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A man who was born poor may dream to become rich and believes that wealth can bring him anything he wants. Jay Gatsby the main character in the novel, was born into a poor family, at a young age he was determined to become rich. When Gatsby meets Daisy for the first time, he instantly falls in love with her. He was a young officer and had no money before being shipped overseas during World War I. After returning home and realizing that Daisy got married. He dreams of having her back and it was the main reason for Gatsby to become rich. Gatsby would do anything for Daisy, to have her back in his life. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, wealth can mean any dream can come true however, dreams do not guarantee reality, is shown…

    • 1287 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    For his own American dream, Gatsby cooperation with the bootlegger Meyer Wolfsheim to sell the illegal trafficking in alcohol. Just a few years among Gatsby is becomes a “riches”. Gatsby's success does not because of his honest and diligent. After Gatsby died, his father came from his hometown to attend the funeral, he carries Gatsby's “schedule”. Gatsby strictly requires himself, hard to learn, exercise, and thrift. These are the traditional “American dream” requirements. However, the adult Gatsby did not fulfill the promise, in order to wealth and status, in order to regain the love of Daisy, Gatsby became a person doing illegal…

    • 103 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Great Gatsby

    • 987 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Craig McCaw who Pioneered Telecommunications once claimed, “the American Dream is all about what people will do if you allow them the open opportunity. .. they have the desire, the toughness, the willingness to work, and the education, and then they do something with it, and it is extraordinary to see.” This illustration is demonstrated in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Gatsby, the main character, achieved success and wealth, the American Dream, by planning and working hard. He came from nothing and gained extraordinary wealth. The driving force behind his dedication was his love interest, Daisy. He wanted Daisy to leave her husband ,Tom, and marry him. Unfortunately, Gatsby’s wealth and promise did not bring what he desired. Instead, American Idealism brought corruption and moral decay to his life and his true quest, Daisy’s love, never materialized.…

    • 987 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Even with immense wealth, Gatsby’s life is haunted by a lack of meaningful relationships along with a distorted view of Daisy and the rest of the world; these weaknesses make him a fragmented character, acting as an example of the disillusionment of many people aiming for the American Dream…

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays