Hunter Thompson/Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

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A 7 page analysis of Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which is quasi-autobiographical, as Thompson gives himself and his lawyer, Oscar Acosta, the pseudonyms of Raoul Duke (a Doctor of Journalism) and Dr. Gonzo, who is described as being a 300-pound Samoan. A central premise of this trip to Las Vegas is that tourism can be used as a means for addressing the concept of the American Dream. A surface reading of Thompson's satirical novel tends to see it as celebratory of the 1960's drug culture; however, closer examination of this novel reveals it as a scathing critique of American culture and specifically the American dream, and also a denunciation of the drug culture of the 1960s. No additional sources cited.