(INITIAL NOTE: In continuing with the theme of posting my non-fiction writing on here, I am sharing a paper I wrote on Hunter S. Thompson. I am planning on writing another draft of this after I graduate, however, until then, I WANT FEEDBACK! Once again, excuse formatting errors, I just copied and pasted from Word)
As a writer, Hunter S. Thompson would become a figure throughout his career that actively strived for a change within society. His career would begin with an approach that Thompson himself said was influenced by various writers. After a highly productive first ten years, Thompson would recluse himself away on his land in Colorado and various experiences, ranging from social to political to personal, would slowly silence him. In 2005 Thompson’s depression reached a point where he took his own life with a self inflicted gunshot wound, and with only one abstract poem found at the scene of his death, no one besides Thompson will ever know the full truth. While speculation has ranged from medical, to political, to personal reasons, I believe the reason goes much deeper and was a result of a loss of faith Thompson had in America and humanity in general, including himself.
Many experiences occurring during Thompson’s early life in Kentucky would form the foundation for much of this dissatisfaction to be built up off of. Due to being born into a lower middle class family, he was unable to buy himself out of the trouble many of his friends could. Somewhat of a hellion, Thompson was known throughout his lifetime to enjoy drinking beer, smoking cigarettes and pot while visiting with friends. Once when the group he normally endulged with in high school was caught, Thompson was the only one who was barred from the high school graduation ceremony[1]. Singling him out due to monetary reasons was one of the first instances where Thompson felt that the way of life here was rigged, in that it was based upon hypocrisies and double standards, causing him to question many of the associated values[2]. Thompson’s interest in literature would lead him to find many authors at the time who felt a similar dissatisfaction with the American way of life.
Among these influences, Soren Kierkegaard’s ideas were one of the most foundational to Thompson. His supreme distrust for the capitalistic social structure of that was emerging in Denmark in his lifetime reflected heavily in Thompson’s writing. In his personal diary, his thoughts would range from “wanting to shoot myself” for being the life and soul of a party[3] to cynicism about the fact that “man almost never avails himself to his freedoms, freedom of thought for instance; instead he demands freedom of speech”[4]. Kierkegaard felt much this were symptoms of what was wrong with his surroundings, the increasing difficulty “to ‘become who you are’”[5].
Kierkegaard’s seminal work, Fear & Trembling, would go onto influence Thompson to the point he would reference it in the name of his most influential work, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. He would also be influenced by Kierkegaard’s use of a pseudonym, referencing himself as Johannes de silentio. Here, through the voice of silentio, he would question the biblical story of Abraham and Issiac by raising various ethical issues surrounding this. The questioning of the social structure at the time can be seen as parallel with Thompson’s questioning of the political structures of his time.
Thompson recognized this general motif of disgust with the capitalistic system that he had found in Kierkegaard in many of the contemporary American authors he identified with. Possibly the biggest contemporary influence on Thompson was F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose novel The Great Gatsby would drive Thompson to become a writer himself. He would use his typewriter to retype the entire novel repeatedly, in what has been described as Thompson’s attempt to learn the music of Fitzgerald and the flow of how he typed[6]. While Thompson felt Fitzgerald had called the double standard within our culture to task, he also felt he had not gone far enough, influencing Thompson to take the battle to the next level within his writing.
Many authors would influence Thompson, ranging from more contemporary novelists like Jack Kerouac and Henry Miller, to more classical American authors like Mark Twain[7]. The realistic, and oftentimes vulgar and taboo style Miller would take with Tropic of Cancer was an obviously influential on the subjective approach Thompson would take in his reporting. Another key work by Miller, The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, would echo many feeling Thompson had about what has become of American. Miller speaks of a world in the making that fills him with dread, “suited for monomaniacs obsessed with the idea of progress—but a false progress, a progress which stinks. It is a world cluttered with useless objects which men and women, in order to be exploited and degraded, are taught to regard as useful”[8].
Thompson’s first major success was Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga, published in 1966. Here he took the role of a photo journalist, covering the Hells Angels motorcycle gang, primarily the Oakland chapter headed by Sonny Barger. Thompson quickly found the media hype surrounding the Angels to be just that, media hype. What was referenced as evidence regarding the Hells Angels in the media was based off a document that had come to be called the Lynch report[9]. It is now commonly agreed that this was a questionable piece of evidence involving many facts that have since been discovered to be fudged for various political reasons[10]. In reality, the Angels were to Thompson “urban outlaws with a rural ethic…their image of themselves derives mainly from Celluloid, from the Western movies and two-fisted TV shows that have taught them most of what they know about the society they live in”[11].
This disenchantment regarding the treatment of the Hell’s Angels serves as a reflection of Kierkegaard’s views on the media. Thompson quoted Kierkegaard in this work as having felt, even during the time he lived, that the daily press was an institution that would grow more and more out of control[12]. Thompson saw a great truth revealed to him by the lack of objectivity in the Lynch report. This would lead Thompson himself to reflect this with a more subjective approach to covering the Angels, never shading away from letting his own opinion spill out into the report. This subjective approach to reporting would come to define Thompson’s style for the rest of his life.
The infamous two-day party thrown by Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, where the Hell’s Angels were the guests of honor, occurred at the height of the San Francisco acid boom. He would describe the mood of the party as fuelled by “very little marijuana, but plenty of LSD, which was then legal”[13]. Here Thompson would meet many influential personalities within the acid wave of 1960’s California, including Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady & Kesey himself[14]. Thompson’s tapes of his report of the whole Hell’s Angels group involved in an orgy with one woman, reportedly Cassady’s last wife, would go on to heavily influence Tom Wolfe in his groundbreaking book about the Merry Pranksters, The Electric Koolade Acid Test[15].
The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved, written in 1967 and published in 1970, was the report that Ralph Steadman is quoted as saying was the birth of Gonzo journalism[16]. The approach here would become so subjective that they would never cover the race, because “even from using our super-status seats and using 12-power glasses, there was no way to see what really happened”[17]. Instead Thompson told of his experiences in the crowd, never shying away from letting his opinion of events he was reporting be known. Steadman drew sketches of the events, letting his own subjective voice become heard as well, depicting many of the patrons as monstrous and offending as possible[18]. This partnership and approach would come to last until Thompson’s death in 2005.
Thompson’s first wife described this as a very important era within his life on many levels[19]. From a social standpoint, it is here that Thompson became intertwined in the San Francisco acid wave and the following of psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane. His involvement with this scene would give Thompson a momentary resurgence of faith in the American dream. From a political standpoint, in his journey to the democratic convention in Chicago, Thompson’s belief would be crushed, though he would be drawn to involve himself in the process when he was among those attacked with force by officers for merely protesting at the 1968 Democratic Convention. This event would have such an effect on Thompson, his first wife described it as being one of two times that she had ever witnessed him cry.
Though his dissatisfaction with the status quo would return after these experiences, all hope in the American dream had not yet been lost by Thompson. He would attempt to change the system by putting himself in a position of power, running for Sherriff in his new and last place of residence, Woody Creek, Colorado[20]. This period of his life would be one where Thompson for once seemed to have everything together emotionally, and was focused on a clear goal. Aspen, which was a haven for “drop out intellectuals” at the time, gave Thompson the support he needed and confidence that he was not alone in his thoughts[21]. Thompson would eventually loose the election by a narrow margin.
After the loss he would return west to cover a buggy race just outside of Las Vegas for Rolling Stone magazine, a partnership that would define the remainder of his career. The work that would come out of the race, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, would come to be Thompson’s magnum opus. On the surface it is a multiple day drug binge by Thompson’s alter ego, Raoul Duke and his attorney Dr. Gonzo, the alter ego of Oscar Zeta Acosta. In the midst of this drug crazed madness, there are many moments where the true purpose of the novel shines through: Thompson’s desire to rediscover the American dream.
The exert of the book Thompson was most particular about preserving the mood of in the movie adaptation was an interior monologue by Duke, speaking of the high water mark left from the acid wave of the 1960’s[22]. The monologue illustrates a central thesis of Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas: how little of a lasting effect the 1960’s had on our culture in the aspects Thompson felt most passionate about. He would call Tim Leary & Ken Kesey and both of their groups to task for failing to even look into the future with both of their movements to publicize LSD[23]. He would also speak of a revelation that Las Vegas was the city that was the death of the American dream, or at least where it had gotten twisted and rotted away[24]. In the film adaptation Terry Gilliam would depict Duke, played by Johnny Depp, typing the monologue out in a hotel room as a series of corresponding visuals would illustrate many of the horrifying instances that had occurred since the 1960’s and in effect killing off the wave of hope that had built those few years in California[25]. The fallout he would later declare as “coming down on us at a pretty consistent rate since Sitting Bull’s time”[26].
Even after the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, all hope was not lost for Thompson in the political process. He was once again enlisted by Rolling Stone, this time for a series of articles as their correspondent for the 1972 presidential campaign. The incumbent, Richard Millhouse Nixon, was for Thompson a representation of “that dark, venal, and incurably violent side of the American character almost every other country in the world has learned to fear and despise”[27]. For a few months during the primaries as Thompson’s support of George McGovern grew, public distrust of all the other candidates shrunk away and McGovern easily won the nomination, despite his rebellion against party leaders. Thompson’s faith would soon shrink away as Michael Eagleton, a senator from Missouri and a traditional Democratic Party man, was named the vice-presidential nominee. It would eventually be revealed that Eagleton had suffered from depression he treated with shock therapy in the past, essentially winning the election for Nixon.
This would be “a mean, cold-blooded bummer” that Thompson was not ready for, and arguably never recovered from[28]. In the eyes of many critics nothing he would write after this would ever reach the success he had achieved during this period. Most of his life was spent from this point on in Woody Creek, Colorado, living as a recluse. Many who were close with him felt he had locked himself away in Colorado to avoid the caricature that had been created about him in the media and a comic strip[29].
It would take something really significant for Thompson to want to write about something other than football at the end of his life, and the September 11 terrorist attacks for Thompson was very significant[30]. Thompson would place the blame on men like George W. Bush and predicts nearly everything that will happen as a result of these attacks, from the wars on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan to the clamping down on freedom through the Patriot ACT[31]. Shortly after George W. Bush’s second inauguration Thompson took his own life and everything from a loss of hope as a result of Bush’s reelection to health concerns have been theorized as reasons[32]. While no one will ever fully be able to grasp and walk away with the reason why Thompson killed himself, if the loss of hope after Bush’s reelection was involved, it was just a symptom of what Thompson had lost faith in, the freedom of the American dream and the individual.
The final note written by Thompson illustrates this loss of faith in society, and in himself as part of this social structure. This note was given to his second wife on Valentine’s Day, a matter of days before his suicide. In it he writes
No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun – for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax – This won’t hurt[33].
This final note echoes the accusations of Kenneth Rexroth’s memorial to Dylan Thomas Thou Shalt Not Kill. It was society as a whole, me, you as well as Thompson and Thomas themselves, who are guilty.
You killed Him! You killed him.
In your God damned Brooks Brothers suit,
You son of a bitch[34].
Works Cited
BBC News – Entertainment – Thompson ‘suicide note’ published. 8 Sept. 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/entertainment/2F4227508.stm.
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas. Dir. Terry Gilliam. Perf. Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro. Universal Picture, 1998.
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. Dir. Alex Gibney. Perf. Johnny Depp and Tom Wolfe. Magnolia Pictures, 2008.
Kierkegaard, Soren. Fear and Trembling. Tans. Alastair Hannay. New York: Penguin Books, 1971.
Kierkegaard, Soren. The Diary of Soren Kierkegaard. New York: Citadel, 1998.
Miller, Henry. The Air-Conditioned Nightmare. New York: New Directions Books, 1970.
Rexroth, Kenneth. “Thou Shalt Not Kill: A Memorial for Dylan Thomas”. The Portable Beat Reader. Ed. Ann Charters. New York: Penguin Books, 1992. 233-241.
“Soren Kierkegaard." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 29 Nov 2009. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kierkegaard.
Thompson, Hunter S. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and other American stories. New York: The Modern Library, 1996.
Thompson, Hunter S. Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972. New York: Warner Books, 1973.
Thompson, Hunter S. Gonzo Papers, Vol 1: The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time. New York: Summit Books, 1979. Simon & Schuster, 2003.
Thompson, Hunter S. Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga. New York: Ballantine Books, 1995.
Works Referenced
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995.
Kerouac, Jack. On The Road. New York: Penguin Books, 1991.
Miller, Henry. The Tropic of Cancer. New York: Groove Pres, 1961.
[1] Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. Dir. Alex Gibney. Perf. Johnny Depp and Tom Wolfe. Magnolia Pictures, 2008.
[2] Gonzo: The Life & Work
[3] Kierkegaard, Soren. The Diary of Soren Kierkegaard. New York: Citadel, 1998. I
[4] The Diary of Kierkegaard, XIII
[5] “Soren Kierkegaard." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 29 Nov 2009. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kierkegaard. 2
[6] Gonzo: The Life & Work
[7] Gonzo: The Life and Work.
[8] Miller, Henry. The Air-Conditioned Nightmare. New York: New Directions Books, 1970. 24.
[9] Thompson, Hunter S. Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga. New York: Ballantine Books, 1995. 21-32.
[10] Hell’s Angels, 23.
[11] Hell’s Angels, 260.
[12] Hell’s Angels, 21.
[13] Hell’s Angels, 229.
[14] Hell’s Angels, 226-262.
[15] Gonzo: The Life & Work
[16] Gonzo: The Life & Work
[17] Thompson, Hunter S. Gonzo Papers, Vol 1: The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time. New York: Summit Books, 1979. Simon & Schuster, 2003.
[18] Gonzo Papers.
[19] Gonzo: The Life & Work
[20] Gonzo: The Life & Work
[21] Gonzo: The Life & Work
[22] Gonzo: The Life & Work
[23] Thompson, Hunter S. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and other American stories. New York: The Modern Library, 1996. 178-180
[24] Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas(Thompson), 180.
[25] Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas. Dir. Terry Gilliam. Perf. Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro. Universal Picture, 1998.
[26] Thompson, Hunter S. Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972. New York: Warner Books, 1973. 394.
[27] Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972, 416
[28] Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972, 417
[29] Gonzo: The Life & Work
[30] Gonzo: The Life & Work
[31] Gonzo: The Life & Work
[32] Gonzo: The Life & Work
[33] BBC News – Entertainment – Thompson ‘suicide note’ published. 8 Sept. 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/entertainment/2F4227508.stm.
[34] Rexroth, Kenneth. “Thou Shalt Not Kill: A Memorial for Dylan Thomas”. The Portable Beat Reader. Ed. Ann Charters. New York: Penguin Books, 1992. 233-241.
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