Response to "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved"

“The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved” by Hunter S. Thompson is an interestingly worded and put together short story.  There are many details that the author spends so much time on describing, but then never finishes or explains these thoughts.  Also, it was the longest story we have read so far from The 50 Funniest American Writers according to Andy Borowitz, and the simple point of it is to show the irony of the narrator and Ralph Steadman becoming the people they were searching to portray at the Kentucky Derby.

The details that were left unanswered may not have been fully pertinent to the story, but nonetheless, left me curious.  First, the narrator spends time describing his failed attempts to get press passes, but then, all of a sudden, he has passes! It is never really explained how these are obtained.  Also, the narrator tells other people that he works for Playboy as a photographer.  It is told, though, that the tag on his bag was merely given to him and that it is not who he actually works for.  However, who is it that he works for?  These two details may not have been all that relevant to the story, but still, irked me in a way that left me thinking and wanting to know the answers (and wondering if somehow I missed these details!).

The last item about “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved” that I found intriguing is some of the word choices.  The language was used in such a way that makes a point as to how the narrator, Steadman, and others at the Kentucky Derby were acting.  I sometimes found the word choices Thompson used as slightly offensive.  One thing that shocked me was how soon this language was used (as in, the second page of the story).  The contextual meaning of the words he uses, especially in today’s society, and maybe even more so in the 1970s, can be offensive; this is in particular response to a word in the story that can have a negative connotation towards those that identify as being homosexual.  This word was just used freely and in a way that I do not agree is appropriate, nor should be used at all.  Another area in the story that surprised me was the last paragraph, particularly the last few sentences.  Personally, I get uncomfortable when people say these words, even in a joking matter, as we as society should be more mature and less offensive when we speak; these words though, were still uncomfortable just reading, despite when used in this drunk, joking, morally corrupt sense that the story exposes.