Great White Shark Hunt

Hunter S. Thompson, named to be the creator of gonzo journalism, created the book “The Great White Shark Hunt” by compiling his past works of news articles, journal entries, letters to the editors, and personal works to inform readers about the seventies and eighties. In a specific article “The “Hashbury” is the Capital of the Hippies,” published in the New York Times Magazine on May 14, 1967 Thompson showed his experiences of what Height Ashbury was like, and told his predictions about what would happen when the 100,000 new hippies came into the city. Thompson’s purpose was to inform readers about what was happening in Height Ashbury, with specific details, imagery of the city, and information of the city. In doing so he informs that the hippie …show more content…
He was trying to inform people what is really going on in the city of Haight Ashbury. To do this he creates a vivid image of what the city is like with the art, the people, and especially the drug culture of the area. He uses his personal experiences to describe what it is like for people who have never been to the city, and really wants to emphasize what is happening. This information of what is happening to the city gives the reader a visual of what the city is like at that current time.
He also uses the city’s collect emotions to describe what is happening in Haight Ashbury. He especially shows the worry of the city officials by saying, “There is a widespread concern, at least for San Francisco, about the danger of so many people using so much LSD.” This shows people the problem that drugs are being used so recreationally and dangerously that they must express their concern. Logically this draws the attention of people who know drugs, like LSD, are bad, and creates the concern for what is going on. This being said not all were worried about this issue as they were the ones using the …show more content…
He states that the problem at hand is not as bad as it seemed, and the hippies had been targeted for ““personal and official” prejudice,” (389) to show his audience the situation is not as terrible as it seemed. Though he did not go into specific details about why it was not as bad, he adequately shows that the city is not opposed to having so many people, no matter who they are, come to the city. The mass audience of his article could include prospective hippies looking for a place to go, so they might have just learned about the next big thing for their culture. Thompson didn’t know that after this article was written, the summer following, would be known as the summer of