Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
American Culture and Counterculture
The American Dream
Drugs and American Society
News and Journalism
Violence
Summary
Analysis
The Mint 400 is scheduled to start at nine in the morning, and Duke and Gonzo spend all night out in the casinos. By seven, the bar at the Mint Gun Club opens to accommodate the large crowd that has begun to gather, and they all file in and begin drinking. The crowd is rowdy and excited. “In some circles,” Duke notes, “the ‘Mint 400’ is a far, far better thing than the Super Bowl, the Kentucky Derby and the Lower Oakland Roller Derby all rolled into one.”
Duke’s explanation of the Mint 400 as a big deal again implies that he is a serious journalist, and the Mint is a serious event. Yet Duke is constantly drunk and high on drugs and doesn’t take the event very seriously, which puts journalism in a very unflattering light. Thompson is openly critical of journalism, and this is a prime example.
Themes
A drunk reporter from Life yells loudly at the bartender for a drink. He sways back and forth, “losing his grip on the bar,” and slowly falls to his knees. “This is a magic moment in sport!” he yells with “definite authority.” A woman begins to “claw feverishly” at the Life man, but he pays little attention to her. Duke turns away, disgusted. “We are, after all, the absolute cream of the national sporting press,” Duke says. The Mint 400 is a “very special assignment,” and “when it comes to things like this, you don’t fool around.”
The correspondent from Life is the only other journalist in the book beside Duke, and he doesn’t put journalists in a flattering light either. Even Duke thinks his behavior is distasteful and bad for the profession, which is really saying something. Still, the Life man is so secure in his “authority” that he claims it even when he is behaving so badly.
Themes
Just as the race is about to start, Duke realizes they are “dangerously disorganized.” The first ten bikes line up at the starting point and rocket off into the dust, but there are nearly two hundred bikes in the race, and they each line up, ten at a time, every couple of minutes. Soon, there is little visibility and Duke realizes that “’covering this race’ in any conventional press-sense is absurd.” There is a “press Bronco” supplied by the Ford Motor Company to drive reporters around the track, but even that is little help.
When the journalists are “dangerously disorganized,” Thompson implies that the press as a whole is likewise disorganized. Here, the press chases the race but can see nothing, which makes their reporting suspect. In this way, Thompson implies that objective truth isn’t always clear or even useful.
Themes
Duke takes a ride in the “press Bronco” and doesn’t see anyone, except for “two dune-buggies full of what looks like retired petty officers from San Diego.” Their buggies are decorated with American flags and eagles, and one has a machine-gun mounted near the passenger side. “Where is the damn thing?” a man asks Duke. “Beats me,” he answers. “We’re just good patriotic Americans like yourselves.” He explains to the men that he is with the sporting press. “We’re friendlies—hired geeks.” He tells the men that if they are looking to chase someone, the “skunk from CBS” who is “responsible for The Selling of the Pentagon” is just ahead in a black jeep. “Hot damn!” the men yell as they drive away.
The dune-buggies represent those in American society who are proud nationalists—they are also part of the establishment that Duke, and Thompson by extension, are resisting. The men appear militarized and unreasonable. The Selling of the Pentagon was a 1971 documentary that uncovered Pro-Vietnam government propaganda that was particularly damning for the government, and as such, the men in the buggies want to hunt down the journalist responsible.
Themes
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Duke decides it is time “get grounded—to ponder this rotten assignment and figure out how to cope with it.” Lacerda, who “insists on Total Coverage,” gets back into the “press Bronco,” but Duke goes back into the bar. He begins to “drink heavily, think heavily, and make many heavy notes…”
Lacerda is perhaps the only journalist who takes their job seriously. He acts as a foil to Duke, highlighting Duke’s absolute disregard for professionalism. Duke, however, is still dedicated in his own “Gonzo” way, which is reflected in his “heavy” drinking and notetaking.
Themes
