Comparing The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is a unique piece of literature that captures the absurdity through the use of humor. Douglas Adams’ use of absurdity sheds a light on the broader human emotions using ridiculousness and silliness. He uses the incongruity theory of humor. For instance, when something violates our mental patterns and expectations we mix humor and irrational events to bring laughter. Although it is certain both the book and the movie contrast in many ways, they both share the theme of absurdity where very few things end up fulfilling our expectations. The theme is apparent in the book through the dialogues between the characters and the events that occur from the time Arthur is on Earth to the suicide of the computer Marvin

In the book, there are moments where Adams writes these preposterous moments that are very entertaining but he also incorporates moments that have an implicit meaning and further elaborates on the theme Adams is trying to bring about. For instance, after all, Arthur Dent, a human, from Earth, has been through from his home planet being demolished, to being hitchhiked to outer space and facing an alien planet, he still manages to remember his tea. “Arthur…felt he was missing something important. Suddenly he realized what it was. “Is there any tea on this spaceship?” He asked.” (Douglas 16) This line explicitly illustrates Adams use of laughable moments while still generating the main theme and ideas he wants the readers to grasp from Arthur’s experience. Anyone might be more alert and frightened by the events happening around them whereas Arthur’s priorities are nonsensical. Despite all the events unfolding in front of him, the most important thing for him at the moment is tea. Another really entertaining yet huge part of the theme is when Arthur and the rest of the crew tried to enter Magrathea, the sperm whale created from one of the missiles fired at the Heart of Gold spaceship. The whale has about a minute to question his existence and discover the existential life before he falls to the ground leaving a hole and whale remains in Magrathea. As Adams mentions “this poor innocent creature had very little time to come to terms with its identity as a whale before it, then had to come to terms with it not being a whale anymore.” (Douglas 18). The whale illustrates Adams use of absurdity throughout the story since the whale is not only created suddenly by the infinite probability drive is falling to its death as it is discovering its existence. In the movie, we not only see the craziness of the story through the dialogue between the characters but also