The Prohibition was a nationwide ban of the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages, and those who sold it were forced to sell it illegally and considered to be in the mob, criminals, or gangsters. With this being said, it is almost ironic that Jay Gatsby, the protagonist in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, “The Great Gatsby” is considered to be the American hero when he was illegally selling alcohol during this time period, being that he is going against American policy.  However, through party culture, mystery, and opposition to American policy, Gatsby is able to convince the American people that he is a heroic figure. 

Although there can be a lot of negativity surrounding the Prohibition, the nightlife and party culture was a highlight that came out of it. This phenomenon seemed to accomplish exactly the opposite of what it was intended to, being that it was created to the control the use of alcohol and have a lower crime rate, yet it accomplished just the opposite. Jennifer Schuessler highlights this point in her interview with Lisa McGirr in, “Lisa McGirr discusses ‘The War on Alcohol’ and the Legacy of the Prohibition.” McGirr is one of the many people in the United States that opposed the Prohibition, specifically because she believes that, “it was anything but a laughing matter for poor men and women” and that there was “corruption up and down the enforcement chain” (Schessler 1). McGirr genuinely believes that it was unfair the way law enforcement treated certain people, throwing them in jail for seemingly no reason, and how it specifically targeted poorer areas of the United States. Although McGirr makes it clear in her interview that she does not support it, she does mention the positive outlook that came out of the Prohibition. She says that the Prohibition changed the way people viewed nightlife and drinking today being that before the Prohibition, “public drinking was associated with the boisterous working-class male world of the saloon. Women who entered risked identification as prostitutes” (Schuessler 1). Yet, the effects of the Prohibition allow women into these spaces and to drink more leisurely without it being viewed as such a negative thing. Today, it is completely normal for women to go to bars or drink at the dinner table with the family, and according to McGirr, the Prohibition is partly the reason for that. In fictional relation, Jay Gatsby is known for throwing these extremely elaborate parties in “The Great Gatsby.” Gatsby invites both men and women to these parties and this refers back to McGirr’s point that Gatsby was one of those heroes during the Prohibition that helped change the view of men and women. Before the 1920’s, it would not have been necessarily socially acceptable for women to be drinking all the time at these parties, but during the Prohibition it was, and this changed the view forever. 

Since very few characters in the book really knew who he was, this brought out the true mystery of Gatsby himself, making him more appealing and interesting as a character. He invited people to his parties that he barely knew, therefore these people only knew him as someone who threw ridiculously fancy parties, but didn’t really know who he was as a person. Readers are intrigued by this, bringing them in because they want to know more about who he really is and why he has all this money to throw parties like this. Because of this, they also did not know what he really did for a living. Although he was supposedly the owner of drug store chains, it is safe to assume that he was really using this as a front to sell alcohol illegally. Scholars from the Mises Institute note that during the Prohibition, “The Walgreen’s chain of drugstores started in the 1920s with 20 stores in the Chicago area, but ended the decade with over 500, [leading us] to believe that it was not so much their great milkshakes, but the pints of Old Grand Dad that they were able to sell at high prices that contributed to its success” (Thornton 1). Affiliating this with the novel itself, readers tend to question, “Who really is Gatsby, and he is really just an owner of drug store chains?” making them like him more and see him as a hero more than they probably should. Gatsby is indeed a fictional character, but he can be compared to people in the real world like Al Capone who actually sold illegal alcohol during the Prohibition and were considered to be one of the most well-known gangsters in America. It is almost hard to relate Gatsby to someone like Capone because he is such a likeable, yet mysterious character; yet they are relatively similar, again making it ironic that people look at Gatsby as such a hero. It seems that readers choose to look passed this side of Gatsby because he has so many more appealing qualities about him. 

Because so many people opposed the Prohibition, they supported each other throughout it, considering that they had the same views about the phenomenon. People from the “Anti-Prohibition Protest” argue that the reason why it was so widely rejected was because it affected all social classes, upper, middle, and lower, so a larger population was hurt by it. Just like McGirr talks about in her interview, the people of this protest state that, “alcohol consumption was hardly impacted” (Anti-Prohibition 1) and instead people just paid more for alcohol and bought it illegally, again specifying that the Prohibition did not accomplish what it was supposed to. The supporters of this protest acknowledge this in their article when they say, “by the mid-1920s, it was obvious to even casual observers that the Prohibition was not working” (Anti-Prohibition 1). There were more and more violations of the laws every day and the Prohibition had very little impact on actually improving America’s fabric of society. Because so many people did not support the Prohibition, they turned to people like Al Capone to supply them with alcohol, and fictionally, they turned to people like Jay Gatsby. Although these men were not typically seen as heroes, they were during this time period because they could get people the items they could not get on their own. Gatsby provided the so called “forbidden fruit” to his characters throughout the book, again making them see him as their hero. People also were more likely to like these characters because they did not support the Prohibition either, meaning that they all came to together to protest the same thing. 

“The Great Gatsby” is considered to be one of the greatest stories of all time, and when looking at it on its surface, it makes sense because it is such a great novel. However, looking deeper into the actual topic of the novel, it seems strange that a book about a gangster falling in love gains so much attention from its audience. This goes to show how many people opposed the Prohibition, as well as the fact that people can love a character even if he normally would not be looked at as the hero of the story. The irony that surrounds Jay Gatsby is one of the many aspects that makes F. Scott Fitzgerald a genius of writing for the 1920s and even today.  
