Alcohol saturates The Great Gatsby, careening out of control at parties thrown by Gatsby and lubricating the decadent lifestyle of the rich. Composed during the years of prohibition, the novel survives in an age that thumbed its nose at the law to imbibe bottomless glasses of spirits. Drink symbolizes, not so much the raucous Roaring Twenties, but for moral corruption in disguises of tinsel sparkles. People are drinking, not just to have fun, but also as a means of escape from reality. Tom gets violent when drunk. Myrtle gets rowdy and irresponsible. Even Nick, who likes to think of himself as an observer, gets carried away by the euphoria of intoxication. Fitzgerald is showing how alcohol erodes the line between celebration and devastation. Gatsby’s bootlegging is never attested, but hearsay on the subject implies debasement of the source of his fortune. Success in this world is generally linked to illegality, and pleasure to danger. The drunken excess is symptomatic of a decaying society losing control, indulged in pursuing pleasure for the sake of pleasure. The worst of all the consequences of this irresponsibility is the murder of Myrtle, after a whole day of drinking, lust, and negligent driving. The accident illustrates how drunkenness leads to confused morals, careless decisions, and fatal consequences. Fitzgerald’s drunkenness is real and symbolic. It captures the 1920s but it also warns a finger. Drinking in The Great Gatsby isn’t just an activity it’s a symptom of a greater social disease: seeking pleasure for the sake of it.