Gender Roles In The Great Gatsby

Organized crime played a major role in the 1920s when criminals came up with the idea of illegal bootlegging. Fill in with a fact about gender roles Because The Great Gatsby used organized crime and gender roles it is an accurate representation of the corruption and the American Dream of the 1920s.
The mid 1920s was the beginning for organized crime. It says in the cover story of the Bootleg Wars “Powerful gangs distraught all the major cities all the way from Boston to Kansas City. They controlled vast empires of “breweries, distilleries, ware houses, fleets of trucks and fast boats and tens of thousands speakeasies.” During the prohibition of the 1920s, they did not have legal bars so criminal and gangsters came up with speakeasies, which

is “an illicit liquor or night club.” (BENZ, K.)
The setting in The Great Gatsby is during the prohibition of the 1920s.

It is portrayed in the story that Jay Gatsby gets his money from illegal bootlegging. In Chapter 7, it gives us written proof of Gatsby’s criminal activities. It says, “On a particular steamy day, after driving to New York, Tom, Daisy, Jordan, Nick and Jay Gatsby sit in a hotel room in the Astoria. Tom addressed Gatsby: ‘I found out what your ‘drug stores’ were. He turned to us and spoke rapidly. He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-streets drugstores here in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter.” (Fitzgerald) This is proof of bootlegging. “Bootlegging is the making, selling, or distributing of illegal goods especially liquor.”(The bootleg wars) The reason that Gatsby did this illegal act was to make money fast. Gatsby wanted to make money fast to be able to wow daisy and get her attention by throwing extravagant parties. Getting Daisy’s attention was not the only reason Gatsby threw these parties;

Gatsby threw them so he could sell illegal bonds to “gullible” people to make more, fast money. After Gatsby died, he got a strange phone call to his house from a Slagle that said, “This is Slagle speaking… ‘Young Parke’s in trouble,’ he said rapidly. ‘They picked him up when he handed the bonds over the counter.”(Fitzgerald) This is proof that Gatsby was part of some bond selling “team.” Another example is when Mr. Gatsby found out that Nick sells bonds for a living also, and Gatsby tried many times to get him to join his team so they could sell bonds together. During the 1920s, selling bonds was known as illegal during the prohibition. In conclusion, The Great Gatsby is a perfect representation of organized crime even though the story does not specifically say this it is in the backdrop of it.
Gender roles also played a big role in the American Dream of the1920s and in The Great Gatsby.

Gatsby is living what many would call the American Dream. Which is that “life should be better and richer for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.” Gender roles for women makes a 360 when women pick up the right to vote once the 19th amendment passes. This new lifestyle for women begins and they start doing extreme things like cutting their hair short, wearing shorter skirts and proving that they can handle themselves and that they do not need a man. This kind of new independence that they found in these women spooked Nick a little bit. When Nick first saw Jordan, he saw a free women and it spooked him because he is not used to seeing this kind of behavior in women. He is used to seeing women being dependent on a male like Tom and Daisy’s

relationship.
Tom is very controlling and puts up double standards for Daisy. Daisy describes him as “hulking.” In chapter one of The Great Gatsby Daisy says, “Look! I hurt it.” They all looked and saw her knuckle was black and blue. “You did it, Tom. She said accusingly. “I know you didn’t mean to but you did do it. That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great, big, hulking physical specimen…”(Fitzgerald) This shows how Tom’s character the author portrayed and how Daisy viewed him. In the 1920s women’s right to vote, made women start thinking different and more independent this was not the case for Daisy in The Great Gatsby. She tried to become more independent but having a controlling husband like Tom made it nearly impossible. When the Great Depression began in 1929, once it-begun women had to take a step back from what they were just getting used to (independence). They had to let the men start doing all the work while they stayed home. Now Nick and Jordan’s relationship was different. In the beginning of the 1920s, women started to become more freethinking and liberated. This inspired Jordan to become a more independent woman. Ever since Jordan was younger, she started playing golf, which back then many people would assume that golf is a man’s sport Jordan proved them wrong. In conclusion, Daisy was dependent on Tom like most of the women during the Great depression and Jordan was more independent like the women during the adding of the 19th amendment.
To conclude The Great Gatsby is a perfect representation of the corruption and the American Dream during the 1920s because it used organized crime and the topic of gender roles. It talks about how Gatsby sells illegal bonds and he ran many speakeasies. For gender roles, it talks about how Daisy and Tom’s relationship compared to Nick and Jordan’s relationship.