Week Fourteen: Speculative Satire - Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (# 6 points)

 

A huge joke on a cosmic scale! 

I think if I define Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in one sentence, it seems like this can be said. The book is full of humor and jokes. The author is expressing his ingenious imagination regardless of any form and authority. In this book, things like the logical rationale and the probability of the story are not important. Unlike hard Science Fiction, which elaborately unfolds a story based on scientific theory, the charm of this book lies in the writer’s imagination and humor. As we can see from the setting that the Earth is a supercomputer designed by a super-intelligent race, the book shows the adventure of countless unique people and events between space and Earth, and prehistoric times and 5.6 trillion years later. 

 

Even the most entertaining jokes can get tired after hours of listening. To keep laughing and induce fun, we need a narrative device that will arouse the readers’ curiosity and tension. And that’s exactly what this book has, not just a list of jokes. 

 

I feel like the writer didn’t pursue giving some touching feelings to the reader. So the stories start with humor and end with humor, and I think this style of telling the story gives some relaxing feelings although the stories are talking about life and space. This builds his own way to deliver a message and his perspective of seeing the universe.

 

The other thing that I love about this book is the characters. They are not the one who overcomes or achieves something special, but they’re so attractive because they are reflecting the life of us in reality. Arthur Dent, who suddenly became the protagonist of the cosmic adventure, is a timid character with no ambition, no special abilities, or a sense of adventure for a new world. Even in a situation where he is responsible for the existence of the universe, he longs for a cup of warm tea. Not a hero often appearing in science fiction novels, he is an ordinary person like us who lives everyday life on this planet Earth. And this is why I enjoyed this book and had a humorous adventure with him.