Literature
anlisys “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” By Hunter S. Thompson
General
11. .
The
basic plot is that “Raoul Duke” and his attorney “Dr. Gonzo” go to Las Vegas to
cover a big motorcycle race with a suitcase filled with narcotics. What ensues
is a series of adventures in sin city with a narrator whose mind is gone.
22. .
The
theme of the story is about chasing the American dream. Hunter S. Thomposon often
gets philosophical is his doped out state thinking deaply about life, the law,
and society.
33..
The
authors tone is, irrational. Irrational almost isn’t the right word, because
his mind is just clearly working differently do to the drugs. He has an
interesting pacing, and jumps in different directions. “How long can we maintain?
I wondered. How long before one of us starts raving and jabbering at this boy?
What will he think then? This same lonely desert was the last known home of the
Manson family. Will he make that grim connection when my attorney starts
screaming about bats and huge manta rays coming down on the car? If so - well,
we’ll just have to cut his head off and bury him somewhere. Because it goes
without saying that we can’t turn him loose. He’ll report us at once to some
kind of outback nazi law enforcement agency, and they’ll run us down like dogs.
Jesus! Did I say that? Or just think it? Was I talking? Did they hear me? I
glanced over at my attorney, but he seemed oblivious” (page 5) “So I was not
entirely at ease drifting around the casinos on this Saturday night with a car
full of marijuana and head full of acid. We had several narrow escapes: at one
point I tried to drive the Great Red Shark into the laundry room of the
Landmark Hotel - but the door was too narrow, and the people inside seemed
dangerously excited.” (Page 20) “Where
indeed? No flowers in this town. Only carnivorous plants.” (Page 27)
44.. Simile:
“I got a good Vida Blue faitball grip on the fucker - and just as “Whit.
Rabbit” peaked Ilashed it into the tub like a cannonball.” (Page 28) Amplification: “Yeah, there’s no
choice. I wouldn’t dare go to sleep with you wandering around in this condition
- with a head full of acid and wanting to slice me up with that god - damn
knife.” (Page 29)
Foil: His attourney foils
him. As the both are extremely drugged up, they will go through different
experiences, and react to eachother, highlighting eachothers highness. Stream
of Conscious: “So I figured, well, just get this bugger back to Malibu, and
it’s mine. My risk - my gun: it made perfect sense. And if that Samoan pig
wanted to argue, if he wanted to come yelling around the house, give him a
taste of the bugger about midway up the femur. Indeed. 158 grains of half -
jacketed lead/alloy, traveling 1500 feet per second, equals about forty pounds
of Samoan hamburger, mixed up with bone splinters. Why not?” (Page 32)
Conflict: “So I figured,
well, just get this bugger back to Malibu, and it’s mine. My risk - my gun: it
made perfect sense. And if that Samoan pig wanted to argue, if he wanted to
come yelling around the house, give him a taste of the bugger about midway up
the femur. Indeed. 158 grains of half - jacketed lead/alloy, traveling 1500
feet per second, equals about forty pounds of Samoan hamburger, mixed up with
bone splinters. Why not?” (Page 33)
Personification: “The lead
story was a screaming blue headline across the top of the page” (Page 33)
Point of View: “I knew” (Page 1) First Person
Unreliable Narrator: “I
couldn’t remember. Lacerda? The name rang a bell, but I couldn’t concentrate.
Terrible things were happening all around us. Right next to me a huge reptile
was gnawing on a woman’s neck, the carpet was a blood - soaked sponge -
impossible to walk on it, no footing at all.”
Allusion: “No. But I told him we had a
Vincent Black Shadow. That scared the piss out of him.” (Page 13)
Imagery: “I couldn’t remember. Lacerda?
The name rang a bell, but I couldn’t concentrate. Terrible things were
happening all around us. Right next to me a huge reptile was gnawing on a
woman’s neck, the carpet was a blood - soaked sponge - impossible to walk on
it, no footing at all.” (Page 13)
Characterization:
11.. The
most direct characterization there is is when Raoul describes his attorney and
the boy they pick up. Most if not all characterization is indirect. Two examples
are unecsary because the entire book is indirect characterization. Its about
Raouls journey so his reactions and thought patterns are all indirect.
22.. Yes
the syntax and diction greatly effects the characterization. As the character
is on an ever changing regiment of narcotics, the syntax and diction, is ever
changing yet hyperbolic. He’s very meticulous in his descriptions and uses,
sometimes oddly specific words.
33.. The
protagonist is dynamic and round. He is volatile in nature, and ponders deaply
the phyisophical meaning of living in America. His mind constantly is jumping
in different directions and I would say wisdom is gained by the end of the
book. He makes revelations about life that change him.
44.. I
feel like a had met a person. Raoul is so unique and interesting and is
indirectly characterized so it felt like I got to know him as opposed to read
about him. “The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is
nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in
the depths of an ether binge. And I knew we’dget into that rotten stuff pretty
soon. Probably at the next gas station. We had sampled almost everything else,
and now - yes, it was time for a long snort of ether. And then do the next
hundred miles in a horrible, slobbering sort of spastic stupor. The only way to
keep alert on ether is to do up a lot of amyls - not all at once, but steadily,
just enough to maintain the focus at ninety miles an hour through Barstow.”
(Page 4)
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