Life in the 1920s

Tea Time for Gatsby

In a thoughtful, thorough, one-page essay, answer the following question. Be sure to use the One Page Essay Rubric when drafting and revising.

Was it a good idea for Nick to host the tea party?

You can answer this question one of two ways:

1. While it appears that Nick should host the tea party, he actually makes a mistake by doing so.
2. While it appears that Nick should not host the tea party, he actually made a good choice by doing so.

You will be using Rubric 3.0 for this one, so be sure to keep it handy while editing.

Arnold Rothstein and the 1920s

From Wikipedia: Arnold Rothstein (January 17, 1882 – November 6, 1928), nicknamed "the Brain", was a Jewish-American racketeer, businessman and gambler who became a kingpin of the Jewish mob in New York. Rothstein was widely reputed to have organized corruption in professional athletics, conspiring in the fixing of the 1919 World Series.

According to crime writer Leo Katcher, Rothstein "transformed organized crime from a thuggish activity by hoodlums into a big business, run like a corporation, with himself at the top." According to Rich Cohen, Rothstein was the person who first realized that Prohibition was a business opportunity, a means to enormous wealth, who "understood the truths of early century capitalism (giving people what they want) and came to dominate them.” His notoriety inspired several fictional characters based on his life, portrayed in contemporary and later short stories, novels, musicals and films.

Rothstein failed to pay a large debt resulting from a fixed poker game and was murdered in 1928.

In the novel The Great Gatsby, Meyer Wolfsheim is a Jewish friend and mentor of Gatsby's, described as a gambler who fixed the World Series. Wolfsheim appears only twice in the novel and is a clear allusion to Arnold Rothstein.

Here is a clip from Boardwalk Empire.

Here is Eight Men Out. Check out minute 27.