comment on theme

Though his trip is ostensibly professional, Thompson refers repeatedly throughout Fear and Loathing to his search for the "American Dream." Though this Dream is never fully defined, the reader is able to glean some of what Thompson means when he uses the term ironically. For instance, when he refers to the Circus-Circus as "the vortex of the American Dream," he says this sarcastically; by his description, the Circus-Circus seems more chaotic, and even frightening, than idyllic.