Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas Analysis

Fear and Loathing: Exploring the Escapist American Dream Hunter S. Thompson is known for his erratic style and controversial writing on many aspects of the American society. In his novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Thompson explores escapism- both external and internal- which was growing in popularity headed into the drug movement of the 1970’s. The youth were restless and bored, and the generation gap was causing a lot of young Americans to feel disconnected with their country’s view of a successful and meaningful existence. The youth wanted something different- they wanted something more- more fun, more adventurous, more exciting than the average life of school, work, and providing for a family in a big city. Fear and Loathing in Las
The feeling that the main characters in the story are somewhat deranged and not of the typical American society is quickly manifested with lines like “...the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car” (Thompson 3) and “Very soon, I knew, we would both be completely twisted. But there was no going back, and no time to rest” (Thompson 3). Thompson frequently covers the wild drug trips and the profound internal change that heavy drugs have on the minds of both Duke and the attorney. His intriguing writing style also adds to the understanding of a mind on drugs. Thompson often uses ellipses and hyphens, which makes the words feel like a big continuous thought and makes the accounts seem more real and personal. It is, essentially, the internal rant of the main character Duke- but all of the words have meaning. He covers the mind of a man on drugs so thoroughly to explore the idea of internal escapism- the use of drugs to alter what one experiences as reality. The line, “Jesus! Did I say that? Or just think it? Was I talking? Did they hear me?” (Thompson 5), shows that Duke is lost in his own mind. He has escaped the realm of rational thinking and has formed his own new,
The point being made is that sometimes where you are at in life is complicated and stressful. Hometowns with families and expectations can bear heavy on a rebellious youthful soul, and packing up and getting out- hitting the open road- was a dream that many young Americans had, and one that many of the members of counter-culture actually tried. The sense that a lot of these movements really had no direction is pushed in the novel as well, like when Duke fantasizes about giving the keys to their convertible to a young hitchhiker. “...then use the credit card to zap off on a jet to some place like Miami and rent another huge fireapple-red convertible… and then trade the car off for a boat. Keep moving.” (Thompson 17). This quote really shows the idea that, for a lot of the youth, it did not matter where they were going or how they were going to get there- it was all about getting out, changing the scenery, never staying still. It encompasses the counter-culture’s dream to avoid a stagnant life, and pushes the theme that they wanted something different- they wanted change- change in location, in politics, in industrialization, in what is seen as success and what is seen as failure, in just about all the significant aspects of the external society they lived