My thoughts on Hunter S.Thompson

Some of my thoughts on Hunter S.Thompson

Kentucky Derby Analysis:

Hunter S. Thompson’s feature focuses not on the story, but on Thompson’s ability (or inability) to get his story.

Though there is some reporting on the Derby, this consists of a single paragraph.

Thompson emphasises the short nature of the race and gains all his information on the Derby from a rerun on television.

He even admits that his assignment does not interest him as much as the chance to observe, and does not mention the Derby until the middle of the second sentence.

As Thompson says however, nobody cares.

His features are intensely descriptive and feature his encounters with others. Thompson always paints himself as never in the wrong.

Even when describing an unfortunate dinner party, Thompson tries to make his illustrator Steadman the villain. However, Thompson does give Steadman’s side of the argument.

Thompson isn’t afraid of revealing the deception he uses to find a story, nor is he ashamed about carrying Mace.

Thompson paints his surroundings in the worst possible light.

In one monologue to his illustrator, he describes the Kentucky Derby before they visit it “The aisles will be slick with vomit; people falling down and grabbing on your legs to keep from being stopped”.

A simple assignment to cover a race becomes an epic trip. Everywhere Thompson goes turns into a miniature hell. It is possible that, as with his novel Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, he may have been on hallucinogenic drugs.

At the very end of the piece, Thompson describes himself in the third person as “the journalist”. He relates the localised chaos around him to the political chaos in the world.

An example of this is his mentioning of the murders at Kent State in the sentence before the description of Steadman and Thompson.

Many of Thompson’s sentences are long and chaotic, like a staggering addict.

The piece is laced with (inventive) profanity. At the end, Thompson calls his illustrator a “pigfucker”. Elsewhere in the piece, he uses the words “pissing” and “bastard”.

This is unusual for a feature article.