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Response to Hunter S. Thompsons Ferar and Loathing in Las Vegas

Decent Essays

Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a travelogue of sorts, due to the blurred lines between fiction and non-fiction, which deeply explores the status of the American Dream during the early 70’s, specifically 1971. Thompson states this purpose within the first three chapters of the book in the line, “Because I want you to know that we’re on our way to Las Vegas to find the American Dream.” (F&L pg 6) Although Thompson states in the beginning of the book that, “Our trip was different. It was a classic affirmation of everything right and true and decent in the national character. It was a gross, physical salute to the fantastic possibilities of life in this country…” by the end of the book he comes to the conclusion …show more content…

Las Vegas represents the exaggerated and most extreme trends in American society, such as instant gratification, hypocrisy, greed, excess, and the belief that you need to be lucky to go from nothing to something, while New York represents the ideals of moving up in society, charm, and opportunity.
#2:
“Allow me to introduce myself…I’m a man of wealth and taste. Sympathy? Not for me. No mercy for a criminal freak in Las Vegas. This place is like the army: the shark ethic prevails-eat the wounded. In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity.” (F&L pg 72)
In Horatio Alger’s American Dream, there is a clear hero character, who succeeds through bravery and honest ethics. On the other hand, in Thompson’s work, the people have this “shark ethic” of feeding on the wounded or the poor, in which everyone is guilty. Instead of working hard in order to move up in society, people resort to stealing, and taking advantage of the people below them. Even our protagonist, Duke, has flawed ethics himself and is more of an anti-hero than a hero.
#3:
“Especially here in our own country—in this doomstruck era of Nixon. We are all wired into a survival trip now. No more of the speed that fueled the 60's. That was the fatal flaw in Tim Leary's trip. He crashed around America selling

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