Loathing In Las Vegas Sparknotes

In the novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson, the protagonist Raoul Duke and his attorney Dr. Gonzo embark on a drug fueled journey to Las Vegas in search for the american dream. The story follows their trip to Sin city to cover a Mint 400 motorcycle race, yet when they arrive the coverage backfires as they realize they can’t see the race because of all the dry dust the motorcycles are turning up. The prominent themes that Thompson includes throughout the part satire, part memoir, part commentary book are all about lost hope and the relentless search for individual freedom within oneself. The novel is written in a way that feels very chaotic and disjointed to mirror the wide variety of drugs Duke and Gonzo are taking throughout

His own gonzo journalism style which incorporates a hybrid stream of consciousness, satire, and surrealism was truly ahead of its time when the story was published in 1971. This includes absurdly long and drawn out sentences such as, “so you’re down on the main floor playing blackjack, and the stakes are getting high when suddenly you chance to look up, and there, right smack above your head is a half naked fourteen year old girl being chased through the air by a snarling wolverine, which suddenly locked in a death battle with two silver-painted Polacks who come swinging down from opposite balconies and meet in mid-air on the wolverines neck…” (Thompson 46) The writing style mirrors the chaos and excess of the 60s, it provides a sense of disorientation and confusion which addresses the era as well as Duke and Gonzos crazy drug bender. Thompson establishes his highly unconventional approach to journalism that includes some fiction and personal narrative into the overall story. This approach made a sizable impact upon the journalism world and inspired a whole new generation of writers to take a different approach to their work that creates a more personal and subjective approach to writing. Essentially, Thompson redefined what journalism can be and the power that it can hold on the people reading

Both characters Duke and Gonzo are in search of something that is elusive, out of their grasp, and something they can’t actually define. There is an element of nostalgia for the mid 1960s that is presented by Duke as he says, “San Francisco in the middle sixties was a very special time and place to be a part of. Maybe it meant something… it seems entirely reasonable to think that now and then the energy of a whole generation comes to a head in a long fine flash… there was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right and that we were winning”(67-68) Perhaps Duke is just chasing that feeling again as he is certain it will bring them great happiness and fulfillment once they come upon it. In their drug frenzied journey, they are sure that in the majestic city of Las Vegas that they will find this elusive dream. Yet, as the story proceeds Duke discovers that the American dream is nothing but a mirage and a figment of the imagination. This leads to significant self destruction, disillusionment, and simply a tremendous amount of