Moral Decadence In The Great Gatsby

The Roaring Twenties in America was the era of expansion in economy and technology invention. It brought Americans more opportunities to get rich and a modern way of living. The era was 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.
Prohibition was a period during the Roaring Twenties in which the government banned all of 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 whiskey per year, 3 times
The people who got the most fortune were 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 Gatsby may have personally netted somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.25 million.” He finds a lot of money, and use all of them on the parties, houses, cars,... so that he becomes the most famous man and pursues his dream, once lost, Daisy. That makes Gatsby the greatest bootlegger of all time, who can do everything for his