A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Summary and Analysis

Douglas Adams (1952-2001) was an English author, humorist, and screenwriter best known for creating the comedy science-fiction book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He began his career writing comedy sketches for radio and television, including the popular series Doctor Who.

The inspiration for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy came to Adams while he was backpacking around Europe in 1971. While he was lying drunk in a field in Innsbruck, Austria, he had the idea for a book to help travelers "navigate the galaxy" just as he was using a book (The Hitchhiker's Guide to Europe) to travel Europe. This idea eventually turned into a successful BBC radio comedy series in 1978, which later expanded into a series of five books, a television series, a feature film, and more.

The book starts with a man named Arthur Dent, whose house is about to be demolished so that the city can build a bypass where his home currently is. Arthur gets in front of the bulldozer they brought to ensure the safety of his home, where he stays all day. This section sets up our story.

Later, one of Arthur's friends, Ford Prefect, arrives and tells Arthur that he wants to speak with him at the nearest bar. The book tells us about Ford, who is an alien that looks like a human who came to Earth to research for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which, in this story, is a very popular book among the various alien species. The only things we know about Ford so far are that he is always on the lookout for a green flying saucer and likes getting drunk. This section shows us the theme of aliens, which is a common theme in science-fiction.

Ford manages to convince the boss of the bulldozer operators to spare Arthur's house, and he and Arthur go to the bar, where he orders six pints of beer, three for himself and three for Arthur. He orders Arthur to drink up. The book then tells us of the many uses of a towel on interstellar journeys, and then we find out that the world is about to end. Arthur sees the bulldozers destroy his house and runs off towards it. At the same time, a fleet of space bulldozers appear to demolish Earth to make room for an interstellar expressway. The irony in this section is that the same thing that happened to Arthur happens to the rest of the world (unless it doesn't, the book is very unclear on if the Earth is actually bulldozed yet or not). We are now in the rising action of the book, with the conflict being the impending demolition of Earth. The towel mentioned is an example of comic relief.

In this section, we find out about the President of the Galaxy, Zaphod Beeblebrox and a secret project that he is unveiling called the Heart of Gold, a new warp drive system that made the interstellar expressways unnecessary. This is ironic because it was unveiled just after Earth was destroyed to make an interstellar expressway.

Later, Arthur and Ford are on the flagship of the Vogon Constructor Fleet, which has just demolished Earth. Ford tells Arthur that he is an editor for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and gives him a copy of the book. We also find out about the Vogons and the captain of the Vogon fleet, who does not like hitchhikers. This section continues the theme of aliens and describes some of the various species of aliens to the readers.

In this section, Ford and Arthur are found and submitted to Vogon poetry torture, a form of torture that involved a Vogon reading them poetry which was so awful that it physically hurts them. They try to praise the Vogon leader's poetry to escape being thrown into outer space, but fail to change his mind, and they get ejected only to be picked up by the Heart of Gold, which Zaphod had stolen. This section is ironic because poetry is supposed to make people happy, but the Vogons use it to torture people.

Later, we find that Zaphod and his friend, Trillian, who is a human that Arthur used to know, discover Arthur and Ford's presence on their ship and ask a very depressed robot to bring them to the command center. They discuss the Improbability Warp Drive on the ship and how it's related to your telephone number, and the improbability of the ship picking up Arthur and Ford (no, but seriously, this section makes no sense at all). This section introduces the theme of advanced futuristic technology, which is another common theme in science-fiction.

In this section, we find out that Arthur and Zaphod had met before, at a party where Zaphod had coaxed Trillian away from Arthur in London a few months before the events of the book. We also find out that Zaphod is Ford's second cousin. Later, they make it to a planet Zaphod thinks is the legendary planet Magrathea, which attained its legendary status because it is was the wealthiest planet in the universe since the residents' business was in creating custom planets for clients. It is thought to be just a legend, but Zaphod believes that this is the real Magrathea. The book then tells us about how the rest of the crew can't reconcile Zaphod's crazy actions, even though he is very logical at times. They think he might be insane. This is a foreshadowing to when we will find out that Zaphod actually does have brain problems.

Later, when the ship arrives at the planet, we find out that this is actually Magrathea, and the ship is attacked by an automatic defense system that fires missiles at them, which turn into a flowerpot and a sperm whale when Arthur uses the Improbability Drive on the ship. This whole book makes no sense at all please, I don't wanna read this anymore; I can feel my brain degrading and I will have a mental breakdown soon at this rate (this is comedic relief, by the way. not really). Anyway, the ship arrives on the planet, where the squad finds some tunnels, which they proceed to enter, leaving Arthur and the depressed robot to guard the entrance. In the tunnels, we find out that someone, SOMEONE, with the initials Z.B. has mutilated Zaphod's brain (hmm, I wonder who that could be) which is why it wasn't working properly.

In the next section, Arthur runs into one of the residents of Magrathea, who tells him a bit about the planet, and how their five million-year-old computer systems have been running the entire time (how?), waiting to revive the Magratheans when the galaxy would be wealthy enough to purchase custom planets once more. He bids Arthur to come with him, and Arthur does so (why does he trust this guy?). This section introduces the theme of advanced ancient civilizations, which is another common theme in science fiction. It also tells us about dolphins and mice, further driving me to conclude that the author was either high or drunk while writing this absolute dumpster fire of a book.

In this section, the Magrathean that Arthur met, Slartibartfast, leads him to the core of Magrathea's planet construction operation, where he sees them constructing an exact replica of Earth. Slartibartfast tells Arthur that he helped design the original Earth, and that it was commissioned by a race of hyperdimensional mouse creatures that had designed it as a supercomputer to calculate the meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything. They had been using this supercomputer to run tests on the humans, which is ironic because on Earth, the humans thought that they were running tests on the mice in labs. Unfortunately, the Earth had been destroyed five minutes before the answer would have been produced, so another one had to be created, which the Magratheans were doing at that moment. This section continues the themes of advanced space technology and different alien species, and the theme of the origin of life on Earth. This is, in essence, the climax of the story because, while the rest of the galaxy did not find its reason for existing, Arthur found the Earth's reason. It's kind of ironic that he did after the planet was destroyed, and that the planet's whole purpose is to find the purpose of existence.

Later, Zaphod and the rest of the crew awake on a catalog of planets the Magratheans have for sale after being knocked out by some sleeping gas. Zaphod reveals that he had mutilated his own brain to forget something that the previous President of the Galaxy had told him about the Heart of Gold. The previous President had told him to steal it after it was completed, and also told him some secret information about the ship. To prevent his thoughts being discovered by some sci-fi brain scanning machines, Zaphod had mutilated his brain to make sure those thoughts were never discovered. This section continues the theme of fictional alien technology (he talks about some space freighters and teleportation devices, etc.)

After Slartibartfast tells Arthur what really happened on Earth, he takes the Earthman to see the mice. Arthur and Slartibartfast arrive in a room where the rest of the crew are eating some exotic space food. The mice inform Arthur that they need his brain to be able to find the Ultimate Question, which the Earth was supposed to calculate before it was destroyed. After a struggle, Arthur and the rest of the crew escape from the clutches of the mice, as they run off back to their own universe with ideas on how to provide a convincing Ultimate Question to the Ultimate Answer, which was 42. This section continues the theme of life in outer space, showing us what kind of food these space creatures eat and how they conduct their business. The Ultimate Answer/Ultimate Question is just a way to drive the story, or provide context for happened before in it.

Later, the crew escape from some self-proclaimed "enlightened liberal cops" who die of suffocation because the computers in their space suits that kept them alive on Magrathea's surface exploded. They manage to get back to the Heart of Gold and find out that the depressed robot tried to make friends with the computer on the space cops' ship and it "committed suicide" because of this. Finally, the crew takes off on the Heart of Gold and heads towards a space restaurant. This final section winds up the theme of futuristic technology that was prevalent throughout the book. Finally, it's over and I can slowly regain my sanity.

Some say that The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is supposed to satirize modern society, with its emphasis on bureaucracy, dependence on technology, and politics. These are some aspects of the book and show how ridiculous our society might look to someone not accustomed to it. The planet Magrathea symbolizes the greed of large corporations that makes the rest of the society suffer, and the Heart of Gold represents everyday randomness that happens in our lives.