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Eleanor Leahy

Mr.Smith

1/12/23

Pessimistic Views of Crimes in the 1920s

The crimes going on in the 1920s are clearly shown throughout The Great Gatsby. There

is bootlegging and even murder. When crimes are going on the book Fitzgerald shows the worst

of it. Whenever alcohol is a part of what is going on the mood is never good. There is always

something negative happening and it always ends poorly. Yes, alcohol was a big part of the book

but towards the end of the book murder also became a big part of the book. In the book The

Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald shows a pessimistic view of the 1920s involving crime by showing

prohibition and murder.

The 1920s also known as the roaring 20s was a hectic time. The war had ended,

prohibition had begun and soon came organized crime and bootlegging. Because the sale of

alcohol became illegal during this time bootleggers became popular along with speakeasies.

Bootleggers were people that would buy alcohol from other countries then sell it to americans.

Speakeasies were bars and or restaurants that would risk their businesses to sell alcohol to

consumers illegally. ”Between the new arrivals of immigrants every day and the Prohibition

laws, organized crime became a big business.”(pg 33 Will). During this time alcohol was banned

and soon bootleggers became very popular. Because of the need and or want of alcohol coming

from Americans, organized crime and bootleggers became very popular. But with organized

crime violence rose. Different organized crime groups were in a war with each other over power

of the people, it was all about making profit. This is further demonstrated in the article
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Mafia/Organized Crime. “Smuggling, bootlegging, and brewing moonshine thrived. Fascist

dictator Benito Mussolini's 1922 rise to power in Italy, and his efforts to rein in the Mafia, further

spurred migration of mafiosi such as Joe Bonanno and Joe Profaci to the United

States”(Mafia/Organized Crime). During this time period there was a lot of crime going on

because of new laws the government was creating. Prohibition came into play when the

government realized how alcohol is negatively affecting society. When the need and want for

alcohol was still there the illegal sale of alcohol also came into place. The book The Great

Gatsby shows a lot of crime like bootlegging, murder, and unfair justice. Throughout the book

there is a lot of alcohol involved. One example is when Gatsby gets exposed for selling alcohol

at his convenience stores. Another is when they all go into the city and Tom brings hard alcohol.

During this time speakeasies were also a big part of society. Both sources explain how the

prohibition caused more and more illegal activity involving the sale of alcohol in the 1920s.

They explain how the things going on throughout the 1920s provoked people into buying things

like alcohol illegally. Throughout the book there are a lot of parts where it shows alcohol is

involved. At Gatsby's parties alcohol is all around. Not only Gatsby's big parties but Daisy and

Toms small dinner parties. Alcohol was a large part of crime going on in the book.

Alcohol was a big problem throughout the book but that was not the only crime. Murder

was another issue towards the end of the book. “driver hurried back to where Myrtle Wilson, her

life violently extinguished, knelt in the road and mingled her thick dark blood with the dust.”(pg

105 The Great Gatsby). We see a transition from the beginning of the book to the end of the

book, in the beginning alcohol was the main problem and by the end murder was the problem.

Daisy knew what she was doing when she saw Myrtle run out into the middle of the street and

she still didn't stop. Because Daisy was driving Gatsby's car, that's when Myrtle's husband began
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to believe that Gatsby was the one that was having an affair with his wife and was the one that

killed her. After Myrtle's husband convinced himself that Gatsby was the one that killed Myrtle

he went out for revenge. “the gardener saw Wilson’s body a little way off in the grass, and the

holocaust was complete.”(pg 124 The Great Gatsby). George went out after Myrtle's death to

look for Gatsby and take revenge for taking his only love away from him. He searches for him

and when he finally finds him he kills him and then himself. George truly believed that the only

way to fix this was to take it into his own hands and deal with Gatsby himself. The characters

went and took things into their own hands. Daisy and George both didn't like how things were

going for them and so they dealt with it in their own ways. Daisy killed Myrtle and George killed

gatsby. The 1920s were filled with crime and the book The Great Gatsby illustrates it perfectly.

During the 1920s prohibition was going on and alcohol was not allowed in the United

States so that is when bootlegging became a big part of society. In the book Gatsby had

convenience stores where he would illegally sell alcohol. There were also speakeasies, which

were underground restaurants/clubs that would sell alcoholic drinks illegally and risk everything

just to make money. Crime was a big problem in the 1920s. The beginning of the book shows

how alcohol was a problem and how it set a negative mood in the book and by the end of the

book it showed how murder was a problem and how it ruined families and relationships.
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Work Cited

Cottrell, Robert C. "Mafia/Organized Crime." St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture

Online, Gale, 2013. Gale In Context: U.S. History,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/FHEJZG524062875/UHIC?u=mlin_n_newhigh&sid=bookmark-

UHIC&xid=64c01a11. Accessed 10 Jan. 2023.

Machcinski, Kathryn F. " Civilization is Going to Pieces": Crime, morality, and their role in The

Great Gatsby. Diss. Cleveland State University, 2013

Skill Not Foundational Proficient Advanced

Yet
Identifies a topic Appears in first Thesis establishes a
paragraph complex claim

Thesis establishes a
topic and a claim

Thesis Comments:
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Includes two or Includes evidence Includes specific,

fewer sources from scholarly and meaningful, and
informational well-chosen
Some evidence sources that connect evidence that relates
relates to the thesis to the novel and to the thesis
support the thesis

Evidence

Comments:

Summarizes sources Explains how Explains

evidence supports well-selected points
topic sentence of of comparison
individual among sources and
paragraphs evidence and their
connection to the
Analysis Explains how details thesis
in the novel are
significant in
regards to context,
character, plot, or
theme

Comments:

Little connection Explains how the Clearly explains

between texts; texts/sources are relationships among
difficult for the related, though texts (how they
reader to see how points could be confirm or challenge
the texts are related more selective or each other, build on
better developed each other, provide
Synthesis differing
Includes multiple perspectives, etc.)
sources in each body
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paragraph

Comments:

Some elements Heading is correctly No errors in MLA

missing or some formatted format
errors in MLA format
Pages are numbered

In-text citations are

correctly formatted

Works Cited format:

hanging indent,
MLA Format double-spaced,
alphabetized, starts
on a new page

Works Cited: each

source entry is in
correct MLA format
Comments:

Shows evidence of Most quotes are All quotes are

basic proofreading correctly integrated correctly integrated

Follows essay Shows evidence of

Conventions organization careful proofreading

Shows evidence of
proofreading

Comments:

Eleanor,
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This essay has a solid thesis, but your evidence and analysis do not truly address it. Your
outline the crimes occurring in the novel, but do not explain why this presents a pessimistic view
of the 20s. I think your goal in future writing should be to keep your argument in mind as your
write.

Grade: C-