Week 14: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

For this final week in class, I got to listen to a few episode of the radio version of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I had always been aware that this was a famous story that existed, and I knew quite a lot of people who were fans of it growing up. After this week, I finally understand why kids in my class were always joking about “42” being the meaning of life. I do have to admit that I did not get a chance to finish all the episodes, but what I did listen to left me intrigued and eager to hear more. The performances in the radio version are really entertaining, and it was fun to hear how the
actors delivered the lines in that classic style of dry, British humor.

I certainly found it interesting and somewhat humorous that the story begins with Arthur Dent fighting to protect his home from demolition. If he walks away from it, he knows it will be torn down to make way for a new roadway. However, little does he realize that in a matter of minutes, the Earth itself would be destroyed as part of the development of a space roadway. This irony and morbid humor let me know exactly what sort of tone to expect from this story, and it is something that I do not seem to come across all that often in American literature. Another joke I found really great was the explanation that dolphins are actually the most intelligent beings on the planet, and that they were trying to warn humans about their upcoming doom for a long time. This comparison of intelligence felt oddly realistic, as it seems that humans are still not fully able to understand the depth at which some animals communicate.

Right now, the state of the world seems extremely uncertain. We do not know what is going to happen in the next few months in regards to the Corona virus, so I could certainly see that to some people it may feel like the world is ending. I think it would be interesting to find out how people interpret stories like this during times of crisis. Does reading about the world ending feel different, scarier even, right now? Personally, after being in quarantine and watching depressing stories on the news for this long, this humorous and fun adventure story was a welcomed reprieve from all that is going on around us. I am excited to continuing listening!