Comparison

Brian Huynh

I agree with you about how the obvious similarity between these two books is the drugs that are being implemented on Thompson. In Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, like you said, almost every page was him either taking drugs, gathering more drugs, or his crazy altered reality and hallucinations due to the drugs. Also in The Rum Diary, instead of taking the hardcore drugs that are stereo typically labeled as the worse drugs, he takes heavy doses of rum. Another similarity that I think that these two books find in common is the moral and the theme of both. It may not seem like there are any moral or theme due to the wildness and craziness of the adventures that Thompson has but if you comprehend and analyze the story, you will discover that both of these books have similar morals and theme. The theme is discover what you really are behind all the smoke and figure out what you really believe in. In Fear and Loathing, the theme was to discover the American dream and in Rum Diary, the moral was to figure out your voice and doing what you think is right.

Comparison Post 1

The first thing you can tell between these books is the relevance of drugs in both novels. Both of the protagonists in the novels did drugs and alcohol along their adventure. In Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas it is shown throughout the novel and nearly every other page has a hit of mescaline or a line of heroin. In The Rum Diary it is, instead of hardcore drugs, massive amounts of alcohol and a couple drops of the “strongest drug known to man kind” (pg. 176). These massive amounts of alcohol also include the craziest rum I’ve ever heard: 460 proof rum. That’s insane! No wonder they called it The Rum Diary. Another similarity is that the protagonist always had a right hand man along side him doing the same things he did and that buddy ends up helping him achieve the goal he wanted to achieve in the first place (and often times that goal was the moral of the story). In Fear and Loathing he had his “attorney” and in The Rum Diary he had Sala. Another important factor in both novels was that both protagonists were journalists or writers. This is significant because the author got to portray his more personal and intellectual thoughts on the papers of the protagonists. This allowed for a nonsense book to start to dip into reality and start making some sense. Without it the books that we read would be meaningless and empty, just a story of some people off on an adventure doing drugs and stuff. 

The Rum Diary Post 4 Chapters 15-End

Brian Huynh

I believe that what you said about how Paul Kemp was trying to "find his voice" was a major theme to this book. I believe that this is the whole mission that Kemp was trying to complete throughout the whole book. Anyone could of gotten paid for doing what the newspaper company told him to do but he knew that the writing that he would of done was not writing that he would of meant. Just how you made the comparison to fog and smoke in mirrors is what the newspaper company did to the readers, is exactly what I would of said. What I think about the situation is that Kemp did the right thing. Not writing about the false topics and ideas that the newspaper company was the right idea because like I said earlier, this is not his voice and would of made him regret doing it. I believe that this adventure that he had ties in to all of his novels that he wrote as well. All of his novels are based on his real life adventures and situation and he isn't afraid to cover up anything he has done in the past. He takes in illegal drugs and writes about it. If that doesn't make for a great author then I don't know what is! I believe that since he writes so much with his voice is what really makes him unique. He provides us with a different perspective of life and doesn't cover anything up.

The Rum Diary Post 4 Chapters 15-End

In this section of the book I wanted to discuss and stress the event of Paul Kemp, aka Hunter S. Thompson in protagonist form, finding his “voice” as a writer. This moment I think is what the whole story was about, even though it wasn’t all too clear from beginning to end. What I think he meant by “finding his voice” was finding his style of writing. This voice was to write about the truth and fight for what he thinks is right, not for greed and writing with the intent of creating smoke and mirrors in front of the reader, or creating a façade to allure and channel the reader into different and biased thoughts. No. Although the drinking problem was a bad cover for a book, the story inside said that Kemp was an honest man and noticed what was right and wrong in the world and had an urge to tell everyone. This was of course kept inside of him because the newspaper chief told him to write about the good things of Puerto Rico, not the bad things in which Kemp wanted to write about so much. I still question why the newspaper chief didn’t let Kemp spill his guts with ink in the newspaper. He had plenty of articles he could have printed that would have caught the attention of the Puerto Ricans and allow them to take action in their community against the corporations. What do you think about this situation? What do you think about Kemp finding his voice and why is this important? 

The Rum Diary 11-15

Brian Huynh

I have noticed Kentaro, that your observation about how Hunter S. Thompson's novels has mostly a different perspective in life. In all the novels I have read by him was mostly just his altered vision in life influenced by drugs. I agree with you that his adventures in these places could of been without the influence of drugs but that is what makes it interesting. This is what makes Hunter S. Thompson so unique and such a good author. He supplies a different aspect of life that most people don't have any experience in which entertains his readers. Also, Puerto Rico is also a very currupt place like you said earlier which makes the adventure that he went through so much more intesting. Also, when Kemp went to jail and got bailed out I felt as if Sanderson actually cared about him which makes me wonder so much more about thisstory.

The Rum Diary Post 3 Ch. 11-15

I found out why they call this novel The Rum Diary. They call it this because… it has a lot of rum in it… obviously. Actually I wanted to point out that the crazy guy (Kemp’s roommate) actually made 460 proof rum. That’s insane! In fact, it was so crazily strong that just one swig from a bottle of that stuff made the alcoholic Kemp go cross eyed, get chased and nearly killed by natives, blow flames into a cop’s face, get thrown into jail, and get a court sentence for 4 years. Thank goodness one of the corporate people (Sanderson) paid the bail for him. So unfortunately since the way things work around Puerto Rico is pretty corrupt, Sanderson basically owns them now. This rum was so powerful that just after one swig, the next morning Kemp has the worst hangover in his life and swears, “I will never touch alcohol again” (Pg. 140). Of course, he doesn’t follow through with this vow. I don’t know if you’ve noticed Brian, but have you thought about the relevance of extreme alcohol and drug use throughout all of Hunter S. Thompson’s novels? I find it quite amusing and I wonder why he does it. All of his adventures could have been done (or at least the final product) without the use of any narcotics or alcoholic beverage. Then again, this is probably where Hunter would have referred to the old saying of: Its not where you’re going but the adventure or journey of getting there.

The Rum Diary Chapters 6-10

Brian Huynh

When this book talked about the American dream, it made me think back to our previous book, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and how he was talking about how he found the American dream. At this part of the book I feel as if the people that are reading the newspaper aren't getting what they deserve. People should have the right to know about what is actually going on around them and not be hid from the truth. So for the newspaper to be treating their people like this is unfair and unworthy of their time and reading. What I think Kemp will do is that he will realize that what the newspaper is doing is not right and that he will do the right thing and secretly issue a newspaper that has all the bad news that is actually true and the people will rebel. The people then will feel like they were mistreated and lie to and then all chaos will break loose. The newspaper team will then try to hunt down Kemp due to his "treason" of the company. I agree with you that the American dream is putting time and effort into a dream of yours and at the long run you will succeed and achieve this goal. Then that feel good smile and feeling you have when you finally achieve the goal is part of the American dream. The American dream that the chief is describing is the "cheaters" version of the American dream. Achieving wealth by doing what they are doing will not get you the happiness that the real American dream would give you at the end.

The Rum Diary Post 2 Ch. 6-10

One section of this story perked my ears a bit. It was when Kemp and the Head Chief of the newspaper have a meeting and talk about what to write about in their newspaper. The Chief says to write about the good things of Puerto Rico and Kemp wants to write about the truth like about the sugar plantations and such. It was when the Chief mentioned that it was the American dream. All speculations aside… this is not the American dream. It isn’t right to hide what’s going on in reality and putting on a façade for the rest of humanity. That’s not the way things should work. The American dream is about working hard for your money, working hard for your dreams, and getting a payoff in the equal lands of America fair and square. Not by cheap tricks, smoke and mirrors, and a fake cover for what’s really going on. Most importantly the newspapers are supposed to write about the faults of America so the rest of us can fix it. But this cant happen because the newspaper is funded by sponsors who want to hear what’s good about Puerto Rico and will cut their budget if they write anything otherwise. This leaves the people of Puerto Rico without a voice and the corporations with all the power in the land. The chief even went as far as to say, “nobody cares who lost. Nobody cares. The only thing people ever want to read is about who won. Who won the bowl, who won the races, who won the jackpot at the slot machine. You’re not sleeping your wide awake… This is the America Dream”. Brian tell me, what do you think about this moment in the book? What do you think about the corporations in the story and how they are treating the people. What do you predict will happen to the people of Puerto Rico and what do you think Kemp will do about it?

The Rum Diary Chapter 1-5

Brian Huynh

I agree with you about what you said about the newspaper article. What you said about how this newspaper article only wants to publish news that is good and make the public happy isn't news at all. News is information that the people need to know and also informs the society about events that usually aren't that happy. I made an comparison on how that if you watch the news today all you hear is news about rape, murders, house fires, etc. These are depressing topics that most people don't want to hear about. But this information is vital to the community so they are warned of these events. My feelings about the beginning of the book is that it is a nice different from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. This book actually has some realism from what I can tell so far and that how this guy isn't completely high and some sort of judgement. Also I agree with you how the start of this book you can tell that there is a sense of a "company" feel and greed. It is shown when it talks about the newspaper company that Paul Kemp was "thrown into" in the beginning of the book. This book doesn't provide any prior knowledge so as a reader you feel as if the book starts off in a place that feels like the protagonist is thrown into a situation that has no background information as a reader.