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
“You can’t leave me alone in this snake pit!” Gonzo cries. “This room is in my name.” Duke continues to pack and Gonzo quickly agrees to call Lucy and sort everything out. “Hi Lucy,” Gonzo says. “Yeah, it’s me. I got your message…” He tells her that he “taught [Duke] a lesson he’ll never forget” in the desert, but Duke had cashed a bad check at the hotel and used her as a reference. The police are looking for both of them, and it’s not safe to call the hotel again. “O MY GOD!” Gonzo yells suddenly. “THEY”RE KICKING THE DOOR DOWN!” Gonzo throws the phone down and thrashes about, making excessive noise. “You’ll never catch Lucy” he yells. “No! No! Don’t put that thing on me!” Gonzo slams the phone down on the cradle, hanging up. “Well,” he says. “That’s that.”
Gonzo’s excuse to Lucy, of course, involves violence. Gonzo tells Lucy he “taught [Duke] a lesson he’ll never forget,” suggesting that he physically beat him so badly that Duke will always remember it. Lucy accepts this story easily enough, which again speaks to how commonplace violence is in the society of the book. This is the last time Duke and Gonzo hear from Lucy, which emphasizes the fact that Gonzo did in fact use her and then thoughtlessly discard her.
Themes
“Where’s the opium?” Gonzo asks. Duke hands him the drug bag, which is nearly empty. “As your attorney,” Gonzo says, “I advise you not to worry.” He tells Duke to take “hit” from a small bottle in his shaving kit. “Adrenochrome,” he says. “You won’t need much.” Duke has heard of this drug—it “makes pure mescaline seem like ginger beer.” He dips the head of match into the bottle and licks it. “Where’d you get this?” Duke asks. Adrenochrome isn’t the kind of thing you can just buy. It comes from “the adrenaline glands from a living human body.” Gonzo tells him he got it as payment from a client, a “Satanism freak” that didn’t have any cash.
The addition of adrenochrome means that Duke and Gonzo’s drug binge is officially out of control. The fact that they have the drug implies that someone had to die for them to use it, which is in keeping with Thompson’s overarching theme of violence as meaningless brutality and even entertainment. While Thompson is being satirical here, adrenochrome does exist, but it is not known to have any psychedelic properties.
Themes
The adrenochrome hits Duke almost immediately, and he can he can “feel [his] eyeballs swelling, about to pop out of the sockets.” Gonzo begins to back away. “Goddamn it,” he says. “You took too much.” He assures Duke that the rush won’t last long, and that he will have to “just ride the bastard out.” Gonzo turns back to the television and continues watching the news. Images of “Nixon’s face fill the screen,” but Duke can’t make out what he is saying. “Just stay relaxed,” Gonzo says again. Duke looks back to the television where Nixon is repeating “sacrifice…sacrifice…sacrifice.”
Duke has only taken the smallest drop of the drug, yet it is still too much—not even he can handle the pure essence of human emotion that adrenochrome supposedly contains. The news image of Nixon again calls attention to the violence and corruption of the Vietnam War. The image of Nixon repeating the word “sacrifice” reflects the violence of the government and their willingness to kill innocent people, which Duke is paradoxically calmed by—presumably because he is so used to it.
Themes
