Karopoulos 1

Tyler Karopoulos

Mr.Smith

12/20/22

Gatsby’s Crimes

F Scott Fitzgerald’s Pessimistic View of The 1920s

I believe Fitzgerald's novel, “The Great Gatsby”, is a pessimistic view of the 1920s due to

his representation of crime within his writing and through his characters. How does the aspect of

crime within the novel impact the writer's view of a specific topic? Fitzgerald is able to convey a

sense of pessimism through the representation of crime, allowing him to give the novel a darker

and more serious or realistic theme or setting. My point being that,“The Great Gatsby” is

Fitzgerald’s pessimistic view of the 1920s through the written representation of crime within his

character, Jay Gatsby.

Fitzgerald does not state Gatsby's affairs outright. Instead, he alludes to them over time

throughout the story. One such example being, "For the reader bothered by Nick's retreat from

his ingrained skepticism in the case of Gatsby, this man of mystery seems more scheming and

duplicitous than Nick acknowledges, if only because Gatsby's extravagant possessions attest so

eloquently to his success with crime" (Pauly 2). Although these words are not directly from the

book, they still carry the idea that Jay Gatsby was involved in events that ultimately allowed him

to obtain his abundant wealth through unknown means. However, As stated in the quote, the
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reader can occasionally pick up on certain dialogue excerpts between Nick and Gatsby. Those

being tied to Wolfshiem, bootlegging, or his stories regarding his original background. This is

important to the overall thesis because it lays down the foundation for how Nick and the reader

understand or acknowledge the representation of crime throughout Fitzgerald’s writing, even

though it’s rather confusing.

Furthermore, Gatsby could also be seen as a symbol of the 1920's materialistic setting, or just

the overall perspective of crime during that era. An example of this statement would be,

"Fitzgerald was merely registering the widespread exploitation of pharmacies' exemption from

Prohibition law due to the large quantities of alcohol used in their prescriptions. Remus' success

was to make drug stores as well-known for alcohol as speakeasies. Within four years, he

controlled fourteen distilleries, a sprawling network of pharmacies and some 3000 employees"

(Pauly 2). This would reveal that Fitzgerald not only represents modern crime for that era, but he

was able to correlate those crimes to real events and statistics within New York City at that set

time. This quote can be seen as the foundation for Fitzgerald’s view on the 1920’s, as well as his

understanding of the laws broken during prohibition and his view on materialism.

It's important that Fitzgerald correlates the novel's events to the real world's crimes, as it

gives the story a bleaker tone, further feeding into a pessimistic view of the 1920s. Prohibition

laws being one such example. Prohibition laws can be summed up by stating,"During Prohibition

(1920–1933), the period when all alcohol sales were banned, the illegal sale of liquor became a

very profitable business. Gangs fought ruthlessly for control of their distribution lines and their

sales networks. As a result, the United States saw a dramatic rise in criminal doings centered

around mob activity” (Gale 16). This evidence details the events of Prohibition. A time in which
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alcohol had been prohibited by the United States government. It details how various gangs

residing in big cities would fight over distribution lines in order to sell bootlegged products to

consumers. This being closely related to Fitzgerald’s novel, “The Great Gatsby,” as Gatsby is

believed to be selling bootleg alcohol through fraudulent pharmacies.

Similar to this specific time period and events, it seems that the law concerning alcohol

was completely ignored among the story’s characters, which is apparent through Gatsby’s lavish

parties. These actions have a direct connection to real world events during this specific time

period. This is detailed when stating, “This was a period when the economic prosperity of

America led people to act with fewer reservations. There was broad support for the illegal supply

of liquor. Within an hour after the start of the ban, the law saw its first violators when a group of

six armed men were caught trying to steal whiskey from a train” (Gale 16). This would later

prove to be important as it highlights what happened as soon as the ban had been put into effect.

This quote does a proper job foreshadowing how crime, connected to prohibition, would soon be

a common occurrence, whether that be reality or within The Great Gatsby.

Furthermore, Fitzgerald’s view of crime can also be seen through specific interactions

between characters, most commonly Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby. An example of one such

interaction would be when gatsby says, “Well, this would interest you. It wouldn’t take up much

of your time and you might pick up a nice bit of money. It happens to be a rather confidential

sort of thing. ...You wouldn’t have to do any work with Wolfsheim” (Fitzgerald 88). This would

be one of multiple attempts from Gatsby to get Nick into selling bonds, as well as taking an

interest into his various drug stores. Following this statement, Gatsby then intentionally suggests
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that Nick won’t have to do any work with Wolfshiem, a notorious gangster,and assures him that

he would be independently driven.

This is seen once more after Nick invites his cousin Daisy, Gatsby’s love interest, over

for tea. Once Daisy has left, Gatsby reveals more of his past, even asking Nick once more if he

was interested in becoming a part of his pharmaceutical business. This is apparent when Gatsby

states, “I was in the drug business and then I was in the oil business. …Do you mean you’ve

been thinking over what I proposed the other night?” (Fitzgerald 97). Even after this interaction

Gatsby’s origins are ultimately unknown, but it’s clear that Gatsby is running something

extremely confidential when it comes to his drug stores.

It now becomes even more apparent that Fitzgerald used his Character, Jay Gatsby, and

the topic of crime to paint a pessimistic view of the 1920s. Through the use of subtle dialogue

between characters, and events similar to the real world, Fitzgerald is able to convey his views

about this specific era. I believe the issue of crime within The Great Gatsby is well hidden.

Fitzgerald doesn’t make Gatsby’s actions apparent immediately, instead he reveals the truth over

time through various character interactions.

Works Cited
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Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. KTOCZYTA PL, 2022.

"Gangster Era." Gale U.S. History Online Collection, Gale, 2022. Gale In Context: U.S. History,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/WTPHIL563246847/UHIC?u=mlin_n_newhigh&sid=bookmark-
UHIC&xid=fd5207d1. Accessed 3 Jan. 2023.

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&xid=150a5669. Accessed 20 Dec. 2022.

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

Comments:
Thesis

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 well-

evidence supports selected points of
topic sentence of comparison among
individual 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

Works Cited format:

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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:

Tyler,
This is the most I’ve seen your writing style, and I do enjoy it (aside from some aspects that we
can discuss further). The biggest issue with this essay is that you fail to really show proof/give
time to the pessimistic side of Fitzgerald’s viewpoint. You mention the mystery, but don’t really
address the second part of your thesis. I think that your goal for the next assignment is to make
sure that you are addressing all parts of your thesis.

Grade: C+