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Emma Keefe

Mr.Smith

Class A

1/12/22

The Great Gatsby

The Roaring 20's were unlike many eras that have come before. With the introduction of

flappers, speakeasies and loud music the Jazz age was born. F Scott Fitzgerald, writer of The

Great Gatsby, had an outstanding novel placed in the 1920’s in manhattan. It gave readers a

glimpse back in time and experienced a story, of a young millionaire trying to relive the past, and

win back over the girl of his dreams. However money cannot hide the truth of crimes. The Great

Gatsby portrayed a pessimistic view of crimes the wealthy class committed in the 1920’s, due to

corruption.

In the 1920s there was a lack of formal justice to say about the Wealthy Americans. Pauly, in his

article detailing Gatsby's past argues that,"He has faced many charges, some of which were born

in malice, but he has stuck to his guns and not once has any charge, legally made against him,

been sustained." (Pauly). The significance of this issue is how social classes are treated

differently in the aspect of illegal acts. The quote gives a detailed representation of Gatbsy

committing illegal acts, however getting away with no punishment. Referencing the book,

Gatsby commits very illegal acts throughout his life, for example on page (54) Gatsby commits

the act of bootlegging alcohol, to earn his biggest profits. During this time the 18th Amendment

was put in order stopping the consumption of alcohol to the public, accordingly many civilians

would pay top dollar for a bottle of whiskey. Although the weather might be free of charge with

no discipline needed, it will not be the same case with different classes of wealth and race. In
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“The Less Crime More Punishment” it argues that, “According to a New Orleans official, “it is

almost impossible to get a jury who will convict a negro for killing another negro.” During the early

1920s jurors acquitted roughly half of all felony defendants, yet this accounted for less than one-tenth of

the cases that ended without a conviction”(Alders 38). This evidence confirms just how different the

enforcement acts are indifferent towards the minority races. In the excerpt this quote was

emphasized because of the word “impossible” in the sentence, which was used to have action

against a murder. Later in the novel we learn that Gatsby was at fault for the death of Myrtle, and

did not get away unscaved. It relates to this quote because instead of race being the main subject,

social classes can also be similar to this. No jury back then might convict a wealthy person for

killing a poor person.When comparing Pauly's article about Crimes the wealth can get away with

and Alders article about less crime more punishment, it helps confirm the biasesness against race

and social status. It helps provide two different perspectives, the unfairness of punishment to

African Americans and the blindness shown by the local enforcement towards the rich.

Ultimately, both sources prove that the criminal justice system lacks integrity towards the

wealthy americans. The pessimistic views the novel portrays onto Gatsby and how the law

enforcement is relaxed on the wealthy class.

The disparity of actions of a wealthy person has an effect on the poor people and the

consequences. Fitzgerald, in his article detailing Myrtle's murder argues that,“Well, I tried to

swing the wheel —— He broke off, and sud- denly I guessed at the truth. Was Daisy driving?

Yes, he said after a moment, but of course I’ll say I was. You see, when we left New York she

was very nervous and she thought it would steady her to drive” (Gatsby 110). The significance of

this evidence is, the negative effect of the wealthy classes actions. During the duration of the

novel, many excuses are made to essentially “cover up” the wealthy class's careless mistakes.

Referencing the Quote, Gatsby is explaining how Daisy needed to blow off steam after the fall
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out of Gatsby and Tom. Gatsby is using this excuse to make the death of Myrtle Wilson less

tragic. Although Myrtle's death was tragic, justice did come sooner rather than later. And the

consequences finally circled around. Fitzergald writes a detailed narrative of Gatsby's death,

“The chauffeur…heard the shots'' and “There was a faint, barely perceptible movement of the

water as the fresh flow from one end urged its way toward the drain at the other. with little

ripples that were hardly the shadows of waves, the laden mattress moved irregularly down the

pool.” This evidence confirms that from the beginning of the book up until now the people from

The Valley of Ashes were paying for the consequences of the Rich. It was established as a huge

turning point in the book when Gatsby was rightfully served with all the mistakes he had made,

when George shot a bullet through Gatbsy. Fitzgerald presents another perspective on the topic

through revealing the cause and effect of a corrupt community. It proves the unfairness between

societies and in the end justice was served for the innocent. The Great Gatsby has been

portraying a perfectness within the wealthy community, when perfectness is dulled, is when all

truths are spilled out, and the wealthy are shown the real consequences.

Throughout the novel pessimistic views have been targeted mainly on Gatsby, for the

death of a woman and committing illegal acts. With all of Gatsby's faults at hand, for years of

dishonesty and unfairness, he faced his consequence at the end of the book.. All around life

cause and effect will play a major role, although money can bring people places, it will never be

able to pay for crimes against society. I attest to a quote Barry Popik once wrote that “Whatever

goes around comes around”.

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Work Cited

Pauly, Thomas H. "Gatsby as Gangster." Studies in American Fiction, vol. 21, no. 2, autumn

1993, pp. 225+. Gale Literature Resource Center,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A14769861/LitRC?u=mlin_n_newhigh&sid=bookmark-LitRC&xi

d=150a5669. Accessed 6 Jan. 2023.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott (Francis Scott), 1896-1940. The Great Gatsby. New York :C. Scribner's sons,

1925

Adler, Jeffery S. Less Crime, More Punishment: Violence, Race, and Criminal Justice. The

Journal of American History, n.d..

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Works Cited

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:

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:
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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
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
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Works Cited format:

hanging indent,
double-spaced,
MLA Format 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:

Emma,
I’m going to tell you 2 words that you are not allowed to use in your next piece of writing.

1. This (at the start of sentences)

2. People (as in: “ although money can bring people places, it will never be able to pay for
crimes against society”)
I want to see how this benefits your writing.

Overall, I think this is an improvement in reasoning and proving your thesis. Still some work to
do (especially in clarity of writing), but this is showing progress!

Grade: B-