University of the People

ENGL 1102-01 English Composition 2

Unit 5 Written Assignment

Anonymous student

July 20, 2022

I will analyse the story by Hunter s. Thompson “Fear and Loathing”, who in this
narrative demonstrates a different way of covering and narrating a journalistic
event. This type of journalism is called Gonzo Journalism, as it differs from the
traditional way of covering events, here facts are considered less significant than
perceived truth (Your Dictionary, n.d). Furthermore, in this kind of journalism, it
is quite hard for the writer to be impartial because it is necessary for him/her to
get deeply involved in the subject and in most cases be part of the event (The
Merriam-Webster Dictionary, n.d).

Thompson in this story brings a classic demonstration of this kind of journalism,

where one can clearly in the narrative as the author does not care about being
impartial. This fact is pointed out by Famighetti (2007) as the author points out
that in this kind of journalism it is hard for the journalist to be an impartial
transmitter of the situation, especially in chaotic situations.

There are many moments in the story that the author take part in, for instance
when he mentions “Make no mistake about it: We are at war now - with
somebody –and we will stay at war with that mysterious Enemy for the rest of
our lives” (Thompson, 2001, para 6). Thompson uses the knowledge he has in
this style to narrate the story based on his personal experience with the 9-11
event, including his frustration with the lack of information, as he puts it “We are
going to punish somebody for this attack, but just who or what will be blown to
smithereens for it is hard to say” Thompson (2001, para 9).

Finally, I can say that I liked the enthusiasm and perspectives of this kind of
journalism, however, people tend to rely more on investigations based on
science rather than just personal opinions. In the event I discussion, Thompson
estimated the loss of 20.000 lives in 99 minutes, however, the Scientific
American Unlimited results show that tens of thousands of citizens got ill and
others died as a result of the event.

References

Famigheti, M. (2007). Gonzo: Hunter S. Thompson. Aperture, (187), 84-85.

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Gonzo. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary.

Thompson, H. S. (2001). Fear and Loathing in America.

Scientific American Unlimited. (2021) Health effects of 9/11 still plague responders and
survivors.