Alright, let's not beat around the bush, shall we? I own the entire series (the increasingly inaccurately named trilogy of five), the Dirk Gently series, The Salmon of Doubt and Neil Gaiman's Don't Panic, The Guide to the Guide. I named my second car Arthur because it was a boring little car but I wanted it to have crazy adventures. I know about and participate in Towel Day on May 25 (when Adams fans honor him by carrying their trusty towel). I'm like one of those Twilight people... but with good literature. Douglas Adams is one third of the reason I chose British Literature over American. I find his writing inspirational, thought-provoking, and hilarious. Thus, I don't have many bad things to say about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Now that I've finished gushing, on to the text. One of my favorite things about the book is the Guide entries. For instance, the entry on towels (too long to quote) makes some very interesting points as to the utility of a simple towel such as using it, "to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth" (27). Despite whether or not the River of Moth exists (or any other location mentioned), the best part about the Guide is that it doesn't lie. You can use a towel to do all those things, but who would have thought to, had it not been for this book? Also, having a towel is therapeutic for a non-hitchhiker as it implies having other essential items like "a toothbrush, washcloth, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet-weather gear, space suit, etc." (27). While this list is obviously exaggerated, it points out the naivete of those non-group members who aren't in on the joke.
One of my all-time favorite quotes is about the Vogon ships arriving to destroy Earth: "The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't" (33). This quote, in my opinion, sums up Douglas Adams. He describes wonderfully, all sorts of details. But he describes them in much the same way that everyone else doesn't. His turn of phrase not only makes us laugh because of its absurdity, but also because it makes us think. Few people use negative correlations in metaphor because it goes against the initial idea. Yet somehow, though we cannot see the Vogon ships, we know exactly how they are hanging in the sky because we know how bricks don't. It works, but in a way that is so absurd, it's thought-provoking.
I also found Mr. Prosser, a character about whom I had almost completely forgotten, to be rather funny this time around. We learn that Mr. Prosser is a distant but direct descendant of Genghis Kahn. "Mr. Prosser's mouth opened and closed a couple of times while his mind was for a moment filled with inexplicable but terribly attractive visions of Arthur Dent's house being consumed with fire and Arthur himself running screaming from the blazing ruin with at least three hefty spears protruding from his back. Mr. Prosser was often bothered with visions like these and they made him feel very nervous" (9). The constant references to barbaric scenes and urges were hilarious when paired with the man having them- a stuttering, balding man working for the government. The juxtaposition of Genghis Kahn and "stooge" in the same body is really funny, especially since the "stooge" is the guy in charge and Genghis Kahn is an involuntary, unwanted area of his consciousness. It also makes the reader feel "in" on the joke that this poor man, victim of the joke, is left out.
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