Bootlegging: The Great Gatsby - Essay Example

BOOTLEGGING: THE GREAT GASBY Introduction The period during the early twenties was highly representative of revolutionary changes in the American society, accentuated by illegal gatherings and practices. Such a dramatic transformation had a huge impact on the people, who, before this period, were lead extremely conventional lives; as well as their lifestyles and their sensitivity towards various ethical and moral issues. During the 1920s, however, the basic moral and ethical practices were largely lost and gave way to corrupt and illegal activities such as bootlegging, consumption of drugs and other such prohibited items. This period in the history of America, during which the practice of bootlegging soared to popularity, is effectively represented in the book The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald. The book helped in effectively portraying the culture that was rampant during that period in history, where people resorted to various illegal activities and which was highly representative of a gradual moral degradation of the American society. The moral decline is depicted by Fitzgerald by the three central characters of the book namely Gatsby, Daisy and Tom. This paper seeks to explore and discuss the concept of bootlegging and its relationship with The Great Gatsby. Brief Background: The concept of Bootlegging is used in reference with the illegal trafficking of liquor in the United States during the early 1920s. The expression Bootlegging was formerly used to illustrate the practice of hiding the containers of illegitimate liquor in boot tops while executing trade deals with the Indians. The concept gained widespread popularity in the 1920s after the consumption; manufacturing or sale of liquor was prohibited by passing of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. Formerly, the bootleggers smuggled imported liquor from the neighboring countries such as Mexico and Canada through ships which were anchored in international waters while various other types such as medicinal whiskey, denatured alcohol, corn liquor were eventually added as part of the trade. The prohibition and the subsequent smuggling of liquor ultimately contributed to the rise of organized – crime groups which managed all the activities associated with purchase, manufacture and sale of illegal liquor in various places of public gatherings such as restaurants and public halls1. Bootlegging became immensely popular and widespread after the eighteenth amendment was added to the Constitution in January 1920, which prohibited the manufacture, transportation, import / export, and sale of intoxicating drinks across the United States. This period depicted the peak of intensive efforts on the part of the government as well as various other organizations to eliminate the use of liquor and other similar illegal activities thriving in the American society and causing spread of moral decadence. The prohibition eventually rendered several states ‘dry’ but when the people were prevented from legally buying / selling or manufacture of liquor, it gave way to smuggling and illegal trade of liquor. Thus, as opposed to the intended purpose of prohibiting liquor, i.e. to stabilize the steadily deteriorating American morality, it triggered off a series of illegal activities, including bootlegging, which permanently transformed the manner in which the citizens regarded judiciary and the court system. Furthermore, the thought which is particularly unflattering was the fact that the authorities lacked adequate measures to ensure enforcement of law and ensure such illegal consumption, which in turn accelerated the activities such as bootlegging, which went on to become one of the most popular and extensive activity of organized crime giving birth to notorious criminals such as Al Capone2 and the fictitious character of Gatsby in the book The Great Gatsby by S. Fitzgerald. Consequently, bootlegging became a huge business during that era with a large number of immigrants and other individuals resorting to illegal trafficking of prohibited intoxicating beverages, particularly in the rich urban circle. Regardless of the innumerable enforcement efforts instigated by the federal, state and local authorities, to prohibit and stop bootlegging, it in fact prompted the nation to embark on a drinking spree. The impact of such a trend led to the formation of an enduring American national consciousness highlighted by wide-ranging disparagement and disbelief to such an extent that it prompted the ideology of the nation being one of the wettest regions of that era. Thousands of drinking parlors sprung up in and around the cities and illegal trafficking thrived despite prohibition. Physicians as well as pharmacists too, prescribed and distributed medicinal alcohol by acquiring licenses and was freely circulated and easily available across the state. The character of Gatsby in the book The Great Gatsby, is also known to own a “drugstore” which was involved in circulation and illegal alcohol among the rich and the wealthy urban population. The people involved in illegal trafficking of liquor, including the fictional character of Gatsby, were involved in operations of varying degrees and extent, formed complex associations to facilitate bootlegging involving middlemen and local suppliers and followed prolific lifestyles and built up a huge fortune for themselves in the process. They covered up their illegal activities by employing heavily armed guards and medicinal licenses to evade the law. The people involved in bootlegging usually forged prescriptions and liquor licenses with a view to achieve greater access to liquor. The association between pharmacies and bootlegging was accurately represented by F. Scott Fitzgerald, in The Great Gatsby, who was undeniably familiar with the dealings involved in obtaining whiskey from drugstores. In his most proficient novel, The Great Gatsby, the apparition of bootlegging and unlawful drug stores drifts in the setting of the lavish lifestyles enjoyed by the mystifying character of Jay Gatsby. Countless bootleggers and mobsters amassed enough riches and influence during the 1920s and the next rational step left was the flouting of the only barrier left: i.e. the entry into the uppermost stratum of privileged society. Gatsbys yearning to redeem himself by possessing an exaggerated house and material lavishness is representative of countless historical accounts of wealthy mobsters endeavoring to acquire morality with their plump subsidize of liquor money. 3 Sea routes were extensively used to smuggle liquor in and out of the country and hence Long island was used as the location of the story in The Great Gatsby. During ancient times, liquor was illegally smuggled in the United States through sea routes and loaded into mother ships which further transported the cargo to coasts of Long Island or New Jersey. The two islands which were manned by poor fishermen suddenly accumulated unexpected wealth during this period, when the illegal liquor was smuggled and were often helped by government officials or the law enforcement agencies in facilitating such illegal trade4. Bootlegging and The Great Gatsby: Several books, movies and write ups were centered on the concept of Bootlegging in the early 1920s in America including some of the most famous works by authors such as F. Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, and the film The Untouchables which depict the chronicles of that era when illegal trafficking of liquor was at its peak. Bootleggers audaciously penetrated nearly every aspect of the American lifestyle during the 1920s era and regardless of the knowledge of the close relationship between organized crime and bootlegging associations, a majority of the American population plainly declined to consider bootlegging as a grave offense. Distinct to the image of the obscure gangsters who provoked panic among the common people, bootleggers were usually perceived as valuable acquaintances who had the capability of providing liquor swiftly and unfailingly, although at ridiculously priced rates. On the exterior, the book - The Great Gatsby – appears t be a story of the disenchanted romance between the two central characters; the central premise of the novel, however, covers a much bigger and less romantic scope. The story is in the summer of 1922 in the surrounding area of Long Island in New York. The Great Gatsby is an exceedingly emblematic deliberation on America in the 1920s as a whole, and the gradual collapse of the great American dream with the advent of bootlegging and other similar illegal activities in an era dominated by unprecedented affluence and material gains. Fitzgerald succeeded in effectively and articulately depicting the 1920s as an era of corroded societal and ethical principles, substantiated by its overarching skepticism, self-indulgence, and unfilled chase for contentment and wealth. The uncontrolled jubilance characterized by the profligate parties and wild jazz music in The Great Gatsby resulted eventually in the deterioration of the great American reverie, as the uninhibited longing for wealth and contentment outshined other righteous aspirations. After the end of the First World War in the year 1918 the entire generation of young Americans who participated in the war had become extremely disenchanted, as the atrocious massacre which they had just experienced made the Victorian public integrity of early-twentieth-century America appear to be oppressive, vacant duplicity. The sluggish ascent of the stock market as a repercussion of the war facilitated to a swift, impulsive and unrelenting swell in the national wealth and a pristine acquisitiveness, as the citizens began to splurge and consume in exceptional intensities. Any individual irrespective of his/her socio – economic background, were able to make a fortune and indulged in outrageous illegal and immoral activities to spend the newfound wealth and status, while old wealthy families, displayed disdain of the habits of the newly rich class of people. Furthermore the introduction and the subsequent implementation of the 18th amendment to the Constitution prohibiting consumption and sale of liquor led to the creation of a thriving new business – that of liquor trafficking and smuggling to meet the bulging demands for bootleg liquor across all sections of the society. References: Behr, E., (1996). Prohibition: Thirteen Years that Changed America, Arcade Publishing, Pp. 77 – 91 Drowne, K. M., (2006). Spirits of Defiance: National Prohibition and Jazz Age Literature, 1920-1933, Ohio State University Press, Pp. 49 - 52 Gurr, T. R., (1989). Violence in America: The History of crime, SAGE Publishing, Pp. 151 Sisson, R., Zacher, C. K., Cayton A. R., (2007). The American Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia, Indiana University Press, Pp. 1240 Read More