Blog 2

The novel continues in a very intersting way, and, although still much about drugs, the meaning is different. This is first seen when Raoul Duke and Mr. Gunzo get into an enormous fight (when Mr. Gunzo is extremely high on acid), ending in Mr. Gunzo imploring Duke to "throw thhat fuckin radio into the tub with me" (60). Duke accentuates the philosophical aspect of this situation by stating, "One of the things you learn, after years of dealing with drug people, is that everything is serious. You can turn your back on a person, but never turn your back on a drug" (56). The drugs seemingly consume Dr. Gunzo - the drug embodies him to the extent that his own subserivent becomes subservient to the drugs will.

 This subordination of ones' own volition with the drugs' will appear later as well, as Duke is reminiscing about his first LSD trip. He walks to visit an LSD doctor, who seems to be in the house, while "his woman [is] out in the garden, pruning carrots, or whatever." However, later, 10 years later, he "recognizes that sound for what is was: Like Ginsberg far gone in the Om, -- was trying to humm me off." There wasn't a lady out there, , "it was the good doctor himself - and his humming was a frantic attempt to block me out of his higher consciousness" (65). The LSD had literally made the doctor completely insane. 

 Many of these stories seem to alter between reality and fantasy. Many times this alteration happens because of the drugs, but other times Hunter S. Thompson does it to suggests the general American notion at the time of the writing of this novel. At one point, Thompson states, "It was settled, of course, but I needed a beer or three to seal the bargain and stupefy that one rebellious nerve end that kept vibrating negative" (80). In this scenario, Duke drinks alcohol to try to completely ignore the dissenting opinion of some tiny bit of his consciousness (which could be the right thing to do, but either way he is drinking to try to forget it). This could be a reflection of the counter-culture at the time because earlier, Thompson states that the American culture seemed to be distinguished by a "sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Evil... Our energy would simply prevail" (68). I believe that with this quote, Thompson is highlighting the omniscience that the American culture thought they had - not what they actually had.  

Something that I now have been even more intersted in researching for this project is literary criticism of the novel. In my last blog post, I spoke about the 'scandalous' aspects of the novel -- these are still present. Also, researching criticism on this novel just a little bit, I sensed an overarching consensus of many cricitcs that the book portryed American culture in very grotesque and ugly light (which I believe is true). What I still want to look for is other criticisms regarding other aspects, as well as opinions in favor of what Hunter S. Thompson was portraying.