Fear And Lothing In Las Vegas Essay

After crossing the first threshold there are many tests, allies, and enemies that occur. On the way to Los Vegas Thompson and his attorney pick up a hitchhiker, and scare the living hell out of him. Then each member of the duo takes a large piece of sunshine acid. They only have a half-hour to get to the hotel in Vegas. If they?re late they will be ?tripping? very hard when they register under a phony name, while attempting to commit fraud, on a head full of acid.

Now is the time in the story that relates to the approach to the inmost cave of the mythic journey. Thompson arrives in the hotel and waits in line to sign in and get their suite. By now Thompson is hallucinating vividly. He has a very hard time communicating with the woman at the counter, luckily his attorney bails him out of the situation. The woman explains that their room is not ready so they wait at the bar. At the bar the LSD begins to take effect on the two men. Thompson begins to have very strange and powerful hallucinations. For the rest of the night Thompson is really screwed up. In the morning the motorcycle race begins and Thompson is in attendance. After only a few minutes he leaves. Thompson then goes on a rampage of lavish drug use.

The next day Thompson calls his Attorney who disappeared the night before. Thompson then leaves his hotel without paying his bill. He goes out and rents a new car, and checks into a different hotel under another phony name. Thompson has received new orders to cover a police officer convention in Vegas. After meeting up with his attorney and attending the police convention, both men return to their suite. Thompson then ingests a very dangerous drug called Adrenacrome. Adrenacrome is an extract from a living person?s adrenal gland. Thompson begins to feel and act very strange, then he blacks out. Because he is faced with the possibility of death, this is the ordeal stage of the mythic journey.

When Hunter awakens he is wrapped in an American flag, wearing hip waders, with a tape recorder strapped to his chest, and a long plastic dinosaur tail attached to his behind. The room that was nearly spotless when he last remembered had been trashed. There was food smeared on walls, and the floor was flooded with a foot of water. In order, to remember what had happened he began listening to what had been recording on the radio strapped to his chest. After listening to the crazy things that had happened to him, Thompson feels lucky to be alive. Being alive is a huge reward to Hunter; he very well could have overdosed on the powerful, dangerous drug.

After fleeing the trashed hotel, Thompson is pulled over by a Police Officer while on his way back to L.A. The Cop lets him go even though he admitted to drinking and driving. Hunter narrowly escapes after the perverted Cop asks him for a kiss. On the Road back from the mythic journey, Hunter S. Thompson has been resurrected and is given another chance.

Once Thompson is on the road again he begins to think about all of the things he has learned from his journey. Realizing that he has gained valuable knowledge about himself and life in general. In the mythic journey this would be the return to the Ordinary world.

As you can see the story of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas follows the mythic journey pattern. It seems that all humans enjoy stories that follow the mythic pattern, making it a very important part of our everyday life.