Fear and Loathing and The American Dream

After reading "Fear and Loathing" I am still trying to figure out what Hunter Thompson is trying to say about the American Dream. It is a central issue in the book and it is the reason why Thompson and the Attorney go on their journey to Las Vegas in the first place, but as a reader I sometimes forgot this because their insane drug use and manic escapades overshadowed his attempt to find the American Dream.

In the end, I think Thompson is saying that the American Dream does not exist anymore. He never finds what he is looking for, and the journey ends as abruptly as it started. At the end of the book he does not really reflect on his failed journey to find the American Dream, but he casually moves on to his next adventure. On the surface, Thompson ends the book without getting any closer to understanding what the American Dream is and what this means for the future of America.

However, I started to ask myself what it meant that Hunter was unable to find the American Dream. If he made an attempt to find the American Dream in America, it really shouldn't be that hard to find it. The American Dream should be embedded in the lives in Americans, and the conversations that Thompson had with people about the American Dream make a powerful statement that I didn't think about when I was first reading. The conversation that I especially have in mind is when Thompson and the Attorney are ordering five tacos for a dollar and they ask the waitress if she knows where the American Dream is. Thompson is clearly making fun of them for misunderstanding his meaning, but I think there is much more going on than that. The fact that typical Americans do not know where the American Dream is or even what it is suggests that it simply does not exist. I think Thompson realized this. In the movie Gonzo, Thompson admits that his search for the American Dream is a wild goose chase because he knows that he will never find it. So, what does it mean that an American can't find the American Dream in America? Did the American Dream ever really exist in the first place?

My understanding of the American Dream is a colonial Benjamin Franklin-like figure's ability to pick himself or herself up by their bootstraps and change their class standing and their life. The famous story of Benjamin Franklin starting life as a poor and penniless boy who changes this life solely based on hard work and determination has motivated immigrants to move to America for centuries, but America doesn't work like this anymore. Professor Urrea said that Hunter Thompson was filled with rage throughout Fear and Loathing and I definitely agree with this; Thompson is enraged and disappointed in America for letting him down.

One of the scenes that intrigued me the most throughout the book was Thompson's conversation with Bruce about finding the American Dream. Bruce is surpised that Thompson found the American Dream and especially that he found it in Las Vegas. Thompson replies, " You remember that story the manager told us about the owner of this place? How he always wanted to run away and join the circus when he was a kid?" (191). Even though Thompson tells Bruce that he found the American Dream in this man who wanted to join the circus when he was young, I don't believe that Thompson believes that he actually found it. He is actually mocking the American Dream in this conversation. Bruce responds, "Yeah, I see what you mean . . . Now the bastard has his own circus, and a license to steal, too" (191). The man that Thompson and Bruce are referring to is clearly not the model for the American Dream, but I still haven't figured out the point that Thompson is trying to make here. Is he saying that only children have the courage to believe in the American Dream? What does Bruce mean that the man who wanted to join the circus has a "license to steal"?  Maybe Thompson himself is unsure about the existance and the future of the American Dream, and is, therefore, just as confused and troubled as his readers.