I recognized this immediately as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by the drawings from Gonzo. I think the book was an attempt to place the radical activism and drug culture of the 1960s into the context of what was the mainstream American experience at the time. It explores the idea that this time was a turning point in hippie and drug culture in America, when the countercultural movement no longer had momentum and its innocence and optimism of the late 1960s turned to cynicism. People were no longer happy and care-free because of drugs, but harsh and viewed as scary and horrifying indivuduals.

I think that we should remember the times during which this book was written. The world was a very different place than it is today. First of all, many new drugs (including LSD) were still legal. Many important scholars, artists, musicians, etc. were experimenting with this new cultural phenomenon. In many ways Hunter S Thompson was chronicaling this culture from an insiders perspective. The disjointed and confusing narrative is very symbolic of a nation undergoing a severe culture shock, or maybe it is just the rantings of a confused madman with a head full od LSD.

John Killough Wangel

First off, i feel like theres a deeper story that might be understood with either more background information or another reading/excerpt. As for this reading, it seems to be just another addicts description of the "high life." The narrator talks about the drugs, his adventures while hes on them, and other abstract ideas that pop into his head. This article seems to be the epitomy of the theory that drugs enlighten those who are on them. Towards the end of the reading the narrator says "Our energy would simply prevail." (pg. 68) which suggests that acid can provide an subconcious edge to those who take it. In the end, i couldn't read much further into the article.

Kristen Cone

I agree with Jessica about the "air of nonchalance" about the LSD. The narrator doesn't seem to care about the consequences of taking the drug, or the fact that it is illegal. This is especially pertinent as seen by his statement "I stopped by the Good Doctor's house with an idea of asking him...what sort of advice he might have for a neighbor with a healthy curiosity about LSD" (63). He refers to his curiosity as "healthy," a word not usually used in the description of recreational drugs. The story about the man sucking LSD off the narrator's shirt in the bathroom is interesting too, because it shows how far people were willing to go to obtain the drug. Overall though, it will be easier to piece together what seems like hazy rants after I get more background on this subject, which I am not familiar with.

So i really have no idea what this is trying to say, nor am i familiar with this topic (is this a movie?). Reading this I was really confused. It sounds like this guy was on drugs while he was writing it. I thought the imagery of the part about the one guy sucking the LSD off the authors red sleeve was great. I could really see it happening right in front of my own eyes, like I was the young stock broker that walked in and saw that happening. The things he talked about seemed jumbled to me and in no particular order. Just kind of jumping around from one thought to another. I'm really looking forward to this presentation so I can understand this topic better.

Ok, so without a summary of the excerpt I'll be stumbling through the analysis a little blindly. From what I could tell from the talk of drugs, bizzare animations, and talk about Las Vegas, I'm going to take a stab and say this was "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". If not, it doesn't really matter because these types of movies or books aren't really concerned so much about plot as say abstract thinking and bizzare characters who are the most "normal" ones while the rest of white wash society are the weird ones. Think along the lines of anything by Chuch Palahniuk like "Fight Club". The self-destructive insurance claims agent from "Fight Club sounds a lot like this crazy LSD making doctor. It's all about how the crazy people aren't really crazy, they've just reached a higher state of mind that the rest of us average joe's just can't comprehend.

The passage carries a certain air of nonchalance about the use of psychedelic drugs. This is a controversial position to take by today’s standards, but it is effective in developing the culture of the tumultuous era in which the novel is set. The artwork is as entertaining as the odd quotes that arise from hallucinations. “In my mind I was right back there in the doctor’s garden. Not on the surface, but underneath- poking up through the finely cultivated earth like some kind of mutant mushroom.” (pg 65-66) The author is using imagery to share the experience of LSD with the audience. The end of the excerpt leaves me with the impression that the author knew looking back that his generation was changing the world, and on history he states “it seems entirely reasonable to think that every now and then the energy of a whole generation comes to a head in a long fine flash, for reasons that nobody really understands at the time- and which never explain, in retrospect, what actually happened.” (pg 67) I’m not really sure what to make of this quote but it will be interesting to see how the spirit of it is transformed.