The Role of Absurdity Literature Absurdity is something that is completely illogical, unreal or just ridiculous. In Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy there are many examples of absurdity throughout the book. The Absurdities in this novel are very iconic and well known. Most absurd books are seen as irrelavant or just a fun read, but books like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy may have a meaning that they are trying to convey and absurdity is just one way an author can keep a reader's attention. The first example of absurdity in The HGttG has to do with the main theme of the novel, exploration. Exploring is a crucial part of the book, however the way the main characters explore is very absurd. The ship that the main characters use to travel around the galaxy is powered by improbability. This seems very very illogical, but the idea is that the drive can take you anywhere anytime with infinite possibilities: "it passes through every conceivable point in every conceivable universe almost simultaneously; "(Adams 89). This idea is very imaginative, but in real life very absurd. The concept Adams conveys is , although the idea is absurd, it …show more content…
Adams seems to think the world worries about small details like this too often. The world would be more productive and filled with less hate if everyone worried less. In the novel Adams talks about the president of the universe being only a title. The president Zaphod has no real power and is only a figurehead, but his title sounds so important. “The President in particular is very much a figurehead—he wields no real power whatsoever. …His job is not to wield power but to draw attention away from it” (Adams 32). The book implies that the president's job is only to draw attention away from the real problems. The president in the book has two heads and is very flamboyant this is very absurd but does the job of serving as a