Adams, Douglas, 1952-2001. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. New York :Harmony Books, 1980. Print.
Where it all began:
I was blessed with the task of composing the first blog for my group’s first book. There I was still grappling with this heavy load of new information and finding myself in charge of connecting it with our book, with the end goal of not making a complete fool of myself. Needless to say, I had worked myself up for no reason because it ended up not being as bad as I thought it would be. For our first book, we decided to read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Although, it was not on my original proposal list (Thanks Alex!) I chose this book because it was not something that I would usually gravitate towards. I was also intrigued by the idea of reading a book that experimented with the idea of surviving an apocalypse by hitchhiking your away around the universe.
Summary:
In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, we follow our main character, Arthur Dent, a regular guy who presumes that this day is the same as any other. Little does he know the Earth and all he has ever known will be destroyed, in order to make way for a galactic freeway. Coincidentally, the story starts out with Arthur waking up to find bulldozers have come to knock down his home in order to make way for a new bypass. Upon questioning the councilman, Mr. L. Prosser, Arthur learns that the council intentionally hid information from him in order to avoid any objections to their plans. He was able to find the plans on display in a dark cellar “in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard. (P.9)’ “ When he realizes that Mr. Prosser will not give up his fight, Arthur makes the split decision to lay in front of the bulldozers. Just at that exact moment Arthur’s friend, Ford Prefect, an alien who has posed as an out-of work-actor, and got stuck on the planet Earth while doing his research for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, appears with information of the world’s demise. Arthur must decide whether or not to trust his not so completely honest friend (I mean he did pretend to be a human for fifteen years) in hopes of surviving the end of the world .
It is right at the moment that the Earth is destroyed, that Ford and Arthur are able to hitchhike their way onto a spacecraft. But as Arthur’s luck would have it, the spacecraft belongs to the Vogon’s, “one of the most unpleasant races in the Galaxy- not actually evil, but bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious, and callous. (P. 52)” according to the Hitchhiker’s Guide. Which, coincidentally, is exactly the same traits that Mr. Prosser possessed, in the ways that he was just doing his job with no regard to the effects it had on others. It is not long before the hitchhikers are discovered, tortured by listening to the Vogon poetry, and then thrown off the ship to die. With the lung capacity of holding air for just thirty seconds, and the tiniest chance of being saved by a passing ship, the friends are saved just in time, in what seems to be yet another coincidence. The passenger on the infinite improbability drive, the Heart of Gold, is a young woman, named Trillian. Formerly known as Tricia McMillan on Earth, who Arthur had tried to pick up at a party back on Earth but was unsuccessful. The ship is also accompanied by Trillian’s boyfriend Zaphod Beeblebrox, president of the galaxy who is responsible for stealing this brand new ship and Marvin a depressed robot. The group continue their journey through space to find the legend planet Magrathea, and discover some things things about themselves along the way.
Reading for:
Before reading this book, I was having major anxiety that I was not going to be able to understand this particular genre. I had never actually read a science fiction book up to that point, so I was not sure what to expect. I think it goes without saying that I was a bit reluctant when I first started reading. Because of my reluctance, I believe that my reading for was for the genre of science fiction. I wanted to approach the text as if it were real and that I was the one experiencing it firsthand. In other words, I was focusing on the text mimetically.
After the first quarter of the book, my group members and I worked together to come up with a network of controlling ideas that we saw at play in the text. This was the first network of controlling values that we had ever created and I do not think we did too bad. Here is our original thoughts:
| Purpose: If you adapt to the changing world around you, you will survive. | Purpose: If you stick to your comfort zone, you stay true to yourself. |
| Context: If you are reluctant to adapt to the changing world, you will not survive. | Context: If you step out of your comfort zone, you may go against your values. |
Although this set of network of controlling ideas are still evident at the end of the text, they clearly needed a bit of work. Now looking back with the new knowledge that I have gained by finishing the book I am able to expand on them a bit. For instance, I noticed that many times throughout the book it was hinting at a deeper meaning of bureaucracy. In this way, the text takes on a didactic form in the way that it is written to teach or inform its readers in a fun way. In other words, the text is making a political statement about the ways in which bureaucracy is experienced everyday, but presents it with this idea of Earth being destroyed in order to make way for an intergalactical freeway. By using this information, I came up with a new set of controlling values that demonstrated this
| Purpose: If you use common sense when following procedures, instead of blindly following others’ plans, you can selflessly help others. | Purpose: If you follow through with the procedures given assigned to you, you will keep the peace with society. |
| Context: If you are overly concerned with following out with procedures, you will follow through no matter the consequences or the effects it has on others and cause mass destruction. | Context: If you use common sense when following procedures and go against them, you can disrupt the order of things and cause chaos. |
Some specific examples of this in the text are:
- When Mr. L. Prosser and his crew show up at Arthur’s house with bulldozers to demolish the house in order to make way for a new bypass. Mr. Prosser knows that he was given a task to perform and he is willing to see it through, no matter what effects it has on anyone else. Here is a value graph to demonstrate the intertextual play of the network of controlling values:
- The same thing goes for when the Vogon’s show up to Earth and announce that the planet will be demolished in order to make way for a galactic freeway.
Form and Genre:
In Alex’s blog, he talks about the process of close reading. According to Jane Gallop, “Close Reading pays attention to elements in the text which, although marginal, are nonetheless emphatic, prominent- elements in the text which out to be quietly subordinate to the main idea, but which textually call attention to themselves. (P.7)” In other words, close reading is reading what is in front of you instead of meaning behind the text (P. 7). Which sounds pretty easy right? (well, here is where I must interrupt and admit that it is not in fact easy. Those sneaky little projections will force their way through whenever they get the chance.) Some examples of treasures that you may find when close reading that Gallop gives are:
- Unusual Vocabulary
- Words that seems unnecessarily repeated
- Images or Metaphors
- What is in italics or parentheses
- Really long footnotes
This list can be found on page seven of her The Ethics of Reading: close encounters. I highly suggest taking a look at it. By using these examples as a guideline, you can pause and force yourself to slow down. You will no longer be reading for the act of getting done, but for noticing things that stand out that you may have missed before.
Now with this newfound technique, we were able to look at the text and discover the different forms that were evident. In his piece Counter Statement, Kenneth Burke supplies us with five features of form. Alex decided for his blog that he would focus on the minor or incidental form and the repetitive form. He chose to begin by reading for the synthetic and identify ways that tropes and figures of speech are creating meaning. He found that the main trope used throughout the book, is satire, or more specifically absurdities. Using my close reading skills, I found an example of this on page 38 where there is a half of a page footnote that stood out to me. As we are introduced in the text, we learn that Zaphod Beeblebrox is the president of the galaxy, but president does not mean what we traditionally think. In fact, the footnotes claims that the president’s job is too draw attention away from power, and that the Government and the president have no power whatsoever (P.38).
Alex’s blog had inspired me to continue scanning the book for other examples. Beginning on page 129, I found that Eddie, the computer system of the Heart of Gold, begins singing a song. It goes as follows:
“When you walk through the storm.
Hold your head up high
And don’t be afraid of the dark!
At the end of the storm
Is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of the lark
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart,
And you’ll never walk alone
You’ll never walk alone.”
I had never heard of this song, so I decided to Google it. Upon my search, I found that it is a musical show tune from the movie Carousel. According to Wikipedia,This song is used two times throughout the movie. The first time it is sung to the main character after she loses her husband Billy to suicide. The second time around, “The now invisible Billy, who has been granted the chance to return to Earth for one day in order to redeem himself, watches the ceremony and is able to silently motivate the unhappy Louise to join in the song.” The song is also sung at many football clubs around the world, as a sort of anthem. I also happened upon an article called How ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ Became a Global Anthem. According to Dave Lifton, the writer of this article, “ You’ll Never Walk Alone is a homily about overcoming adversity by facing it head-on with unwavering optimism.” This was interesting to me because the descriptions of how Eddie is singing the tune are opposite of optimistic (ie. wailed, crooned, whined.) I think this displays the ironic/satiric nature of the text in which Alex discussed in his post. Another example is how Eddie is singing this empowering tune but also adding pessimistic comments in between the lines of his song, such as on p. 130 “It’s been great knowing you guys, God bless…” As we progressing through the text, I am beginning to see this theme of coincidence. I think that Adams is trying to discuss this idea of living life taking chances vs. planning ahead. I believe the implementation of this song portrays the idea of being optimistic that in the end things will fall into place.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You%27ll_Never_Walk_Alone
http://diffuser.fm/youll-never-walk-alone-global-anthem/
The next form that Alex decided to focus on was the repetitive form, or the “consistent maintaining of a principle under new guises”, and identified three examples from the text.
- As I discussed earlier for my network of controlling values, we see the repetitive concept of victims vs. demolishers. The first time we are introduced to this principle is when we see that Arthur’s house is getting destroyed in order to make way for a bypass. We then experience the same idea in a different way when the Vogon’s show up to destroy Earth in order to make way for a galactic bypass. It is the same idea demonstrated in two different ways to prove the same point. Alex points out that the victims are the last to know, even though the demolishers have claimed to have posted the notice ahead of time. However, we see that the notices are posted in areas that are near inaccessible to the victims.
- The second example of the repetitive form that Alex identified is the idea of hitchhiking. It is a continuous theme throughout the book starting with the very first time Arthur and Ford hitchhike onto a Vogon’s ship to escape the demolition of Earth. It is not long before they are discovered and thrown out to die in space when by some coincidence, a spaceship passes by at that very moment and they are able to again hitchhike to safety.
- Which brings me to the final example that Alex provides: the idea of coincidence. There are so many coincidences in the book that I could not possibly list them all here. Besides the fact that the hitchhikers were saved seconds before death, there was also the coincidences that the Heart of Gold, in which they were saved, was being driven by a girl Arthur tried to pick up at a party years ago and Ford’s own cousin Zaphod.
Last but certainly not least, my other group member Nicole was able to find ways in which the conventional form is evident in the text. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction novel, so we have some genre conventions that we presume will be in the text. Examples of these conventions include advanced futuristic technologies, alien beings, time or space travel, and most times the end of the world. After completing the book, we can see that there are plenty of examples of all four of these elements in this text. For example, we know that Ford Prefect is an alien who is sent to Earth in order to update The Hitchhiker’s Guide (one of the futuristic technologies). He along with Arthur are thrusted into space when the Earth is demolished and thus begin their journey through space. Nicole also was able to identify that the recurring situation that presents itself in order for the science fiction genre to exist is man’s desire to explore the universe, or the unknown.
Intertextual Codes:
As we progressed further into the book, it was our group member Jordan’s turn to blog. This time around, our blog would read for the intertextual codes that are embedded in the text. Jordan focused on the symbolic code, which he found to be the most predominant in the text. The symbolic code “Generates unresolvable oppositions (what are called “antitheses”) that structure a given conflict, and ultimately reinforce dominant cultural codes (controlling values)” (website). One example of the antithesis that Jordan was able to find in the text is the opposition of chance, or better yet, coincidence versus the idea of predetermined paths or destiny. A specific example of this in the text is that against all odds, in the infinite vastness of space, facing implacable idiocy and evil, Arthur always is in the right place at the right time in order to be rescued. We see this when Arthur is ejected from the Vogon ship only to be rescued just seconds before they ran out of air. The insane coincidence is discussed by Trillian and Zaphod after they pick Arthur and Ford up in space:
“Anyway,” said Trillian, turning her back to the controls, “I didn’t pick them up.”
“What do you mean? Who picked them up then?” (Zaphod)
“The ship did.”
“Huh?”
“The ship did. All by itself.”
“Huh?”
“While we were in Improbability Drive.”
“But that’s incredible.”
“No Zaphod. Just very very improbable.”
(Douglas 90)
This interaction between Trillian and Zaphod demonstrates the conflict between what is coincidence and what is meant to happen. Trillian says it is “very, very improbable” and even turns away from the controls as if to say she had no control in the situation. It was pure coincidence. With the progression of technology, we see this trend of more and more people abandoning religion and accepting the idea that nothing is connected but coincidental. I believe that is the cultural code that this section and the whole book is making a comment on. As Jordan states, humans strive to believe that something is in control and that there is an order to things. Maybe there is some greater force at play that wants/needs Arthur and his comrades to update the HHGTTG and accomplish all that they do along the way. But maybe it is also just an improbable coincidence that Arthur and Ford got rescued again.
Jordan’s blog inspired me to analyze the Hermeneutic Code which also reinforces this cultural code. The Hermeneutic Code “proposes, maintains through numerous delays, and ultimately resolves enigmas (Website).” It is made up of ten parts but for my comment I decided to focus on just four of them: the proposal of the enigma, snare, jamming, and partial answer.
- Proposal of the enigma: or the dawning of the actual mystery. On P.167, we are introduced to two programmers (named Lunkwill and Fook) who ask Deep thought, the second greatest computer in the universe of time and space, what the answer is to the great question…
“O Deep thought computer,’ he said “the task we have designed you to perform is this. We want you to tell us…” he paused, “the answer!”
“The answer? Said deep thought. “The answer to what?”
“Life!” urged Fook.
“The Universe!” said Lunkwill
“Everything!” they said in chorus.
In this section, we as readers are introduced to this mysterious question. I believe that Douglas Adams used this specific question as a way to interpellate the reader into playing the role of the addressee. Most of us, at one point or another, has questioned the meaning of life. Why are we here? Why is life so short? What is our purpose? By posing a question such as this one, Adams is able to grab the reader’s attention and pull them into the text. The reader wonders along with the character what the answer could be.
- Snare: Deception or Evasion. It is then on P.170 that Majikthise and Vroomfondel, two philosophers, come barging into the room and interrupt our thinking of the answer. Both men are philosophers who are trying to put a stop to the computer answering the ultimate truth because they would be out of a job. By this intrusion, we are more motivated to read on and find the answer because it seems secretive now. When I read this part, I was thinking to myself, “No! No! Please don’t interrupt the computer! I need the answer!”
- Jamming: Failure to find an answer, triggering desire to know. After the build up of suspense of almost not receiving the answer. We are let down again when the computer admits how long it will take to come up with the answer. (P. 173)
“But the program will take me a little while to run.”
Fook glanced impatiently at his watch
“How long?” he said.
“Seven and a half million years.” said deep thought.
This section of the text, really drove the suspense home and threw its final grip around the reader. Now you are sucked in and desperate to read on to find the answer. I felt myself getting antsy and wanting to read more, as if this book truly had the answer.
- Partial answer: The day of the answer. The day we have all been waiting for which for me felt like I had waited the seven and a half million years. Only to find out the answer was not exactly what anyone expected. (P. 182)
“Forty-two!” yelled Loonquawl. “Is that all you’ve got to show for seven and a half million years’ work?”
“I checked it very thoroughly,” said the computer, “and that quite definitely is the answer. I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you’ve never actually known what the question is.”
Boom. Mind Blown! Now I know that as a reader I was sucked in for the long haul. I needed to read on the find what the question was now. I wracked my brain over it more than I would like to admit.
Rhetoric of Narrative:
For the last blog for our first book, Nicole analyzed the rhetoric of narrative, or the reader witnessing the interaction between the narrator and the addressee. She states that “as unique human beings we bring to the text our own dominant network of controlling values that may run counter to the ones my group and I found in THGTTG, as James Seitz argues ‘Readers who are unable, for whatever reasons, to assume the values of the implied author will find the text less satisfactory than they would otherwise’ (142).’ In other words, readers who can not step into the readerly role of the addressee and experience the text with this assumed set of controlling values, the reader will not have an enjoyable experience with the text. To enjoy a text, such as THGTTG, a reader must submit to the dominant controlling values and try to read the text for what it is, not what we want it to be.” In other words, readers who can not put their values and beliefs aside and dapple with the idea that life could be as improbable and meaningless as it seems in THGTTG, may be unknowingly resistant to the text.
In the end, My group members and I had come to agree with Nicole’s conclusion that the narrator may be a newer, more updated version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide. We believe then that the addressee must be a future hitchhiker who has found themselves in the same position as Arthur. There are a lot of moments in the text that could support that theory. For example, on page 3 it reads “But the story of this terrible, stupid Thursday, the story of its extraordinary consequences are inextricably intertwined with this remarkable book begins very simply. It begins with a house.” This line alone would imply that the content that follows is the Hitchhiker’s Guide’s personal account of the events. It also coincides with the fact that the story is narrated in the 3rd person omniscient point of view. Or as Nicole points out, on pages 19 and 20 in our updated guide there is a comparative entry discussing alcohol which ends with, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy sells rather better than the Encyclopedia Galactica” (20). Note the italics in the quote. The whole section is in italics while talking about the two books, except for the book’s titles. It seems that this is the new Guide talking about how it’s better than the other book.
In conclusion, I believe that in order to be interpellated by the text, you must be the addressee who believes that there is more to life, or that there is reasoning for our suffering. By having that curiosity, you are sucked into the text and flipping the pages to try and discover the answer. In a sense, you are Hitchhiking through life attempting to decipher the true meaning of it all.
In the end:
Reflecting on my progress during this course, I feel like an entirely different person. It is one of those things that is so hard to explain, you kind of just have to experience it for yourself. At the beginning of the semester, I struggled so, so hard with understanding this information. Embarrassingly enough to admit, it was not until the fourth book that something finally clicked for me. I literally had this “Ah-ha” moment and wrote one of the best blogs that I had all semester. It was then that everything we had learned up until that point started to make sense to me. I noticed a shift from reading for the experience of getting done, to slowing down and reading closely. I started finding myself trying to figure out the network of controlling values, something that was so foreign to me just a mere three months ago. Not even watching movies is the same experience for me anymore. I find that I cannot go back to the way I was before, this newfound information will not allow it, instead I must progress forward and sharpen my skills.
I believe that the course is set up in a way that is most beneficial to the students. The cycle of writing blogs for each book reinforced and built off of what we had already learned. This heavily aligns with the Writing Art’s core value one, “Writing Arts students will demonstrate understanding of a variety of genre conventions and exhibit rhetorical adaptability in applying those conventions.” For my group members and I to successfully complete our blogs we first had to understand the conventions that go along with writing a blog. For example, a blog is typically written in shorter paragraphs with a more casual tone. Often there are also images, GIFs, links, or memes embedded in the text. My group picked four books from four different genres, so we also had to understand the individualized conventions for each one. We demonstrated rhetorical adaptability when going from one book to the next. The readings that were assigned for the class really helped me understand and made my blogs more impactful. According to the Writing Art’s Core three, “Writing Arts students will demonstrate the ability to critically read complex and sophisticated texts in a variety of subjects. ” To say that the texts that we read were complex is an understatement, however, it really helped with reinforcing the importance of close reading. I found myself reading the texts about three times; the first was to get a quick idea of what it was about, then I read closely and highlighted things that stood out, and lastly, I went through and paraphrased what I just read.
As I have stated before, it took me the longest out of my whole group to begin to understand any of the information, but when I did it opened a whole new world of understanding. I had a total mind-blowing moment when I started to question things that were different and discovered meanings that I would have never realized otherwise. I believe that I owe it to the experience of working with the group because they motivated and aided me along the way.
I have also come to the realization of how much culture plays into our identity. In one of our discussions Dr. Kopp posed the question, “How much of our ‘identity’ is really made up of our culture?” This caused me to evaluate how many times I was doing the things because “that’s who I am”, or because that is what society tells me I should do. This act of reflection was crucial because it brought to my attention the ways in which I was projecting my values or beliefs onto the text. By discovering this difference, I was able to accept the texts as they were. I also found it easier to discover why I struggle with some texts more than others. This aligns heavily with Core Value two that states that “writing Arts students will understand theories of writing and reading and be able to apply them to their own writing.” Ever since experiencing this course, I have discovered a new understanding on why I write the things that I write. For instance, in my Creative Writing II class I was tasked with the assignment of writing a 2k story. I found myself using the codes and techniques to evaluate my work for my portfolio. This is a skill that I will use in my future writing and I am excited to see where it takes me.
Here are the direct links to my blogs from throughout this semester…
Blog 1- Grab your copy of The Hitchhiker’s guide and your towel. We have some galaxy hitchhiking to do. (Book 1: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)
Blog 2- Dept. of Speculation: Changing the way we look at fiction. (Book 4: Dept. of Speculation)
Blog 3- Annihilation: Area X the new Area 51 (Book 3: Annihilation)
Blog 4- Cat’s Cradle: Living by the foma. (Book 2: Cat’s Cradle)
- I have also commented on all the blogs from my other group members, which can be viewed throughout our website here.
Cover image source
How Writers Read 