The American Dream through the Prohibition in the Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was based in the 1920's during the Prohibition, which Avey states "may well go down as one of the biggest legislative backfires in American history" (2). Instead of being a prosperous, simpler time for America, it became a business boom for the black market, putting the money that was so desired by entrepreneurs into the pockets of criminals, as described by Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby, where Jay Gatsby makes his fortune from illegal bootlegging. Fitzgerald illustrates the corruption of society and the American Dream that occurs through the chaos of government prohibition, which Thornton states, "...it is no indictment against capitalism, as some may contend...It is rather an implicit condemnation of government prohibition....[where] [s]ocial order was replaced by chaos" (Thornton 1, 7). Government prohibition, where something is illegal, but not eliminated, builds the desire for it even more, in this case alcohol, and significantly increases its market, but not for legal companies, but illegal organized crime groups, which was how most of the "new money" West Eggers made their fortune, by illegally selling alcohol. Fitzgerald ties the social chaos into his image of the American Dream through the West Eggers, who tried to achieve the American Dream illegally and live up to the East Eggers, but somehow always manage to miss the mark, always below the East Eggers, who inherited their dream and wealth; for that reason, they would never reach the blissful American Dream that those in the East Egg represented, because the West Eggers went "...along a short-cut from nothing to nothing" (Fitzgerald 107). The West Eggers started off with nothing and despite their illegal work and false facades, still ended up with nothing, despite their new wealth and lifestyle, because, as Fitzgerald tries to illustrate, money cannot compensate for the empty stage behind the thick, mysterious curtain, nor outline the hazy shape of a man who has now been obliterated from existence through fabricated lies, fabulous facades, and complete and total denial of their past. Fitzgerald is demonstrating the broken American Dream that this twisted society has created through the Prohibition, one where people can short-cut through empty lives chasing everything they don't have--alcohol, wealth and for Gatsby, Daisy. And while the people can get their hands on alcohol, it's not by their own means, but by the means of someone else, a level of dependence that creates the desire in people to gain more for themselves; to have enough to support themselves and be on top, so they don't have to rely on others to get what they want, which is what keeps this broken dream going--the stubborn independence of people to have their own plentiful supply.
To Fitzgerald, government prohibitions were an evil that had the capability of rotting the most fundamental American values, such as the American Dream of hard work and prosperity, into a dream of short-cuts to wealth, power, and alcohol, which will never be worth the American Dream that is achieved through honest methods; his book is "...a testament to how twisted society can become, and how the Jay Gatsbys of the world can reach the stars, with the help of government prohibition" (Thornton 16).

Works Cited

Avey, Tori. "The Great Gatsby, Prohibition, and Fitzgerald." PBS. PBS, 14 May 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.

Thornton, Mark. "Prohibition Caused the Greatness of Gatsby." Mises Institute. Mises Daily, 15 May 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.