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
When Duke and Gonzo get back to their room, the light on the phone is blinking, and Duke calls the front desk to retrieve the message. “Ah yes,” the clerk says. Duke does indeed have two messages; one from the National District Attorneys’ Association welcoming him to Las Vegas, and one from Lucy, who wants Duke to call her at the Americana, room 1600. “Holy shit!” exclaims Duke and hangs up the phone.
The welcome message from the National District Attorneys’ Association again underscores the ridiculousness of Duke and Gonzo’s attendance of the conference. They have been doing drugs for two days straight and probably shouldn’t be this close to so many police officers.
Themes
Gonzo is in the bathroom “doing the Big Spit, again,” and Duke goes on the balcony for some fresh air. Gonzo appears, wiping vomit from his face. “This goddamn mescaline,” he says. “Why the fuck can’t they make it a little less pure?” Duke turns to him. “Lucy called,” he says. “What?” Gonzo asks as the phone rings.
Gonzo spends most of the book “doing the Big Spit,” which doesn’t make drugs look like a particularly good time. Gonzo is constantly sick because the drugs are so strong—they aren’t fun anymore, but Duke and Gonzo keep taking them anyway.
Themes
Duke answers the phone. “Hello, Mister Duke. I’m sorry we were cut off a moment ago…” says the clerk. “What?” yells Duke. “We’re watching the goddamn news! What the fuck are you interrupting me for?” The clerk is silent. “What do you want?” Duke asks again. “There’s a war on, man! People are being killed!” The clerk is confused. “Killed?” he asks. “In Vietnam!” Duke screams. “On the goddamn television!” The clerk suddenly understands. Yes, he says, the war is “terrible,” but Lucy “sounded very disturbed” when she called. Duke is silent. “I thought you should know this,” the clerk says.
This passage is also highly ironic. Duke implies that he is disturbed or bothered by the violence in Vietnam depicted on the evening news, yet he is perfectly comfortable with the violent acts he and Gonzo commit. In this way, the abject violence in Vietnam makes their own violence seem less by comparison, and thereby completely acceptable and commonplace within society.
Themes
“Look,” Duke says, “you want to be gentle with that woman if she ever calls again.” The clerk agrees. After all, he understands “the nature of [Duke’s] work” and is “happy to cooperate with the police.” Duke tells the clerk to send ice and hangs up the phone. He turns to Gonzo, who laughs. “[Lucy] is looking for you,” Gonzo says. To get rid of her, Gonzo told her that he and Duke were headed out to the desert “for a showdown,” and she should go to the Americana and wait to see which one of them returns. “I guess she figures you won,” Gonzo says. “That phone message wasn’t for me, was it?”
The desk clerk assumes that Duke and Gonzo are police officers because they are associated with the District Attorneys’ conference. Ironically, the clerk suspects that something is wrong with Lucy and that perhaps she has been mistreated, but because he believes Duke and Gonzo to be cops, he is willing to look the other way. This implies that law enforcement, the authority-figure of the establishment, is violent and corrupt as well.
Themes
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Duke immediately begins to put his shoes on and get his bags together. “Jesus, you’re not leaving?” Gonzo asks. “You’re goddamn right, I’m leaving,” Duke answers. His mind suddenly flashes to an image of a courtroom where Lucy has just taken the stand. “Yessir,” she says to the court, “those two men over there in the dock are the ones who gave me the LSD and took me to the hotel…” This can’t happen, Duke thinks. “No jury would doubt her testimony, especially when it came stuttering out through a fog of tears and obscene acid flashbacks.”
Obviously, Duke doesn’t want to be held responsible for Gonzo’s rape of Lucy. Duke’s image of the courtroom reflects his unconscious guilt, which implies that Duke knows their treatment of Lucy is illegal and immoral. While Duke arguably feels badly, he still participates easily enough and is therefore complicit.
Themes
