The Great Red Shark is the huge Chevy convertible Duke and Gonzo rent for their trip to Vegas, and it symbolizes America and the American Dream in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The car is a classic American automobile and an icon of American culture. Duke’s understanding of the American Dream is inherently capitalist and involves hard work, both of which are represented in the Chevy. The automotive industry is a large part of America’s capitalist society, and the Chevy, when compared to the luxury of the Cadillac Duke and Gonzo later drive, is built for muscle and work.
This deeply American car makes Duke and Gonzo appear more American just by sitting in it, which is sure to help them find the American Dream, they believe. Duke tries to explain as much to the hitchhiker. “That’s why we rented this car,” Duke says. “It is the only way to do it. Can you grasp that?” Duke and Gonzo drive the car around the Las Vegas Strip for about forty-eight hours, abusing it and running it up curbs and sidewalks, and after Gonzo deserts Duke in the wake of their massive hotel bill, Duke jumps in the Shark and races back towards L.A. Duke is ultimately forced to abandon the car (it is way too conspicuous and he is a felon) but for the time that he drives it, the Chevy easily takes the abuse Duke hands it. The Great Red Shark thus also represents the resilience and hard work associated with achieving the American Dream, though this too paints a depressing picture considering the car’s fate.
The Great Red Shark Quotes in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
The sporting editors had also given me $300 in cash, most of which was already spent on extremely dangerous drugs. The trunk of the car looked like a mobile police narcotics lab. We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers . . . and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.
The Great Red Shark Symbol Timeline in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
