74 pages • 2 hours read
Douglas AdamsThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1979A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Introduction and Chapters 1-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Introduction Summary
The author describes Earth as “an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea” (5). The author continues to say that the book that will follow is “the story of [a] terrible, stupid catastrophe and some of its consequences,” as well as the story of a “wholly remarkable book,” The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (5).
Chapter 1 Summary
The book begins as Arthur Dent wakes up, nursing a hangover and wondering why he overindulged at the pub the night before. He feels troubled by something but cannot quite remember what the problem is. He notices a couple of yellow bulldozers outside the window of his ordinary house on the outskirts of an ordinary village in England. When he finally makes the connection—the bulldozers have come to raze his house in order to construct a bypass—he runs out into the yard and sprawls in the mud in front of the bulldozers, trying to save his home.
Mr. L. Prosser, an emissary from the local council, reminds Arthur that he should have known about the plans all along and made the necessary preparations. Arthur retorts that the plans were only available “in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet” in the bathroom of an unlit basement of the local planning office (10). Prosser is unimpressed, insisting that the bypass needs to be built but without specifying any reason for it.
Arthur’s friend, Ford Prefect, shows up and wants to take Arthur to the pub. Ford, unbeknownst to Arthur, is not actually an Earthling: He is from Betelgeuse and has been stranded on Earth for the past fifteen years, posing as an out-of-work actor. Prefect convinces Mr. L. Prosser to stand in for Arthur and put himself in the mud in front of the bulldozers, so that Prefect can take Arthur to the pub for some drinks and a talk. While Arthur is not convinced that he can trust Prosser, he gives in to Ford’s persuasion, who suggests that they can “’trust him [Prosser] to the end of the Earth’” which, disconcertingly to Arthur, is “’[a]bout twelve minutes away’” according to Ford (16).
Chapter 2 Summary
The chapter begins by comparing the Encyclopedia Galactica’s entry on alcohol, “a colorless volatile liquid formed by the fermentation of sugars” (17), with the entry from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Its entry waxes poetic on the intoxicating—even literally mind-blowing—impact of the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, which, when consumed, feels “like having your brains smashed out with a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick” (17). Needless to say, the unnamed narrator tells the reader, Hitchhiker’s sells considerably more copies than the Encyclopedia.
Ford orders six pints, and Arthur questions the reasonableness of drinking so much at lunchtime. Ford orders him to drink quickly, telling him that the world is going to end. Arthur complains that it must be Thursday.
Chapter 3 Summary
High above in the ionosphere, several enormous yellow spaceships are hovering, while most people on Earth are blissfully unaware. Ford Prefect, however, has picked up the ships’ signal with his “Sub-Etha Sens-O-Matic”; this, along with several more extraterrestrial items—including The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, for whom Prefect is a reporter—are tucked away in Prefect’s carryall. At the bottom is one of Ford’s most prized possessions, “a largish bath towel from Marks and Spencer” (21). As The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy notes, the towel “has great practical value”; it goes on to espouse its many uses, including “wet[ting] it for hand-to-hand combat,” using it as a distress beacon, or drying off (21).
Ford is disappointed that Arthur does not have a towel with him, while Arthur remains skeptical of Ford’s claims that the world is about to end. They hear some loud noises outside the bar, and Ford assures Arthur that this is not yet the end of the world, only his house being knocked down. Arthur runs out of the pub in distress, as Ford tips the barkeep handsomely. The barkeep, tuned in to Ford Prefect’s “subliminal signal” of distress, begins to believe his extraordinary declaration about the end of the world (22-23). The bartender immediately calls for “’[l]ast orders, please’” (23).
Ford rushes to Arthur, trying to pull him away from the wreckage of the house and get him to notice the “huge yellow somethings” hovering ominously in the sky (24). Ford is dismayed to learn that the intergalactic signal he picked up the night before came from the Vogons. He is comforted only by the fact that he has his towel.
Finally, the Vogon ships try to communicate with the Earth, claiming that due to “the building of a hyperspatial express route through your star system [. . . ] your planet is one of those scheduled for demolition’” (25-26). The voice of Prostenic Vogon Jeltz goes on to scold the Earthlings for their ensuing panic claiming that “’All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display in your local planning department [. . .] for fifty of your Earth years’” (26). The Vogons proceed with the demolition.
Chapter 4 Summary
Meanwhile, Zaphod Beeblebrox, President of the Imperial Galactic Government, is traveling across the waters of Damogran to christen the newly-built—and amazingly outfitted—ship, the Heart of Gold. Beeblebrox adores the attention of the media and public. He makes his entrance in high style, floating onto the stage sitting on a sofa encased in a bubble. With his two heads and three arms, Beeblebrox is not only handsome in a roguish way but also unforgettably unusual. His casual girlfriend, Trillian, is the only one in the waiting crowd who is unimpressed by his theatrics—she has grown tired of these exploits long ago.
When Beeblebrox takes the stage, he makes a stunning announcement. He approaches the Heart of Gold, expressing his admiration for its splendor: “’That [ship] is so amazingly amazing I think I’d like to steal it’” (32). He launches a “Parolyso-Matic bomb” and takes the ship, Trillian in tow (32).
Chapter 5 Summary
The narrative returns to the Vogon ship, where the narrator explains that the Vogons are a highly unevolved species, who obliterated most of the resources on their home planet before becoming bureaucratic emissaries of the Galactic Civil Service. The narrator also relays the rather important point that the Vogons, and in particular Prostenic Vogon Jeltz, despise hitchhikers.
Arthur and Ford, meanwhile, are in the bowels of the ship, picked up by the Dentrassis, who cook for the Vogons and love to annoy them. Both are surprised by the poor condition of the ship once the lights are on, though Ford explains that “’this is a working ship’” (37). Ford hands Arthur The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, an electronic book, so that Arthur can learn a little about the Vogons. The entry ends with an ominous warning: “’On no account allow a Vogon to read poetry to you’” (38).
Ford explains to Arthur that they have been rescued just in time, as Arthur’s Earth has been demolished. Ford seems unaware that Arthur might be upset by this fact and cautions him not to panic—the advice extolled on the electronic book’s cover. Suddenly, the loudspeakers come to life, and Arthur hears rough howling noises emerge. Ford shoves a small yellow fish in his ear, and Arthur begins to decipher the Vogon message being relayed.
Chapter 6 Summary
The Vogon captain is telling his hitchhiking passengers that they will be quickly caught and brought to him. He will first read them some of his poetry before putting them out of the airlock. Ford, in the interim, has Arthur read about the Babel fish—the amazing little creature that he has stuck in Arthur’s ear, allowing him to understand the Vogon language.
Arthur’s mind drifts back to what has happened. He is still in shock over Earth’s destruction and moved by the loss of certain things, including Humphrey Bogart movies and McDonald’s. He asks Ford for the Guide again, wanting to see the entry for Earth. It is surprisingly brief: “’Harmless’” (44). Arthur is upset by the brevity and dismissive tone of the entry. Ford shrugs and says that, after his fifteen years of research, he has recommended the entry be updated to “’Mostly harmless.’” They hear footsteps echoing through the hallway. The Vogons have found them.
Chapter 7 Summary
Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz insists on reading his poetry—widely known as “the third worst in the Universe” (45)—to his interlopers. They are “strapped in” to “Poetry Appreciation chairs” (45) for their enjoyment. The poetry is excruciating for both Arthur and Ford, who scream and groan in pain. However, when the Vogon asks them to compliment his poetry, Arthur surprises Ford by saying, “’Actually I quite liked it’” (46). Ford realizes that if they flatter the Vogon enough, perhaps they will avoid being forcibly ejected from the airlock. Their plan fails.
They are taken to their fate by a junior guard, who appears to enjoy shouting at them. Ford tries to gain his sympathy by suggesting that the drudgery of his job divorces him from the more gratifying experiences—like culture and art—the world has to offer. While the guard thinks about this for a moment, he decides that job security is more appealing and that he likes shouting at people. He shoves Arthur and Ford into the outer airlock. Arthur laments that all that will be left of Earth are the words “mostly harmless” from The Hitchhiker’s Guide. The hatch opens, and the men are ejected into outer space.
Chapters 1-7 Analysis
In the introduction, Adams previews what the book will be about as well as introducing his absurdist humor, which nearly always conceals an underlying philosophical point. The fact that the inhabitants of Earth—itself located in “the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy” (5)—are largely unhappy, reveals the author’s satirical bent: The insignificance of this “backwater” lolling about in its “unfashionable” region serves to foreshadow not only the insignificance of the planet but also the triviality of said human unhappiness in the face of annihilation. The narrator notes that most of the solutions to this unhappiness are connected to money, “which is odd because on the whole it wasn’t the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy” (5), thereby critiquing capitalist consumption and the existential emptiness it leaves behind. He also hints, as the Earth is casually destroyed to make way for a bypass, that life is inherently pointless.
In the grand scheme of things, the relative happiness of a minor species within the larger galaxy might be inconsequential, but Adams’s characters certainly do not see it that way. Arthur Dent feels concern about the destruction of his personal residence, while also grasping its unimportance given that the entire Earth is about to be destroyed. Adams creates a clash between the quotidian—the looming destruction of Arthur Dent’s unremarkable house—and the galactic, the complete annihilation of the Earth, to put things firmly in perspective. While Arthur’s world extends only to the microcosm of a small house “which more or less exactly failed to please the eye” (7), Ford Prefect’s world extends to the macrocosm of the entire universe. Nevertheless, this universe looks an awful lot like the one Arthur is forced to leave behind. The yellow bulldozers that threaten to destroy Arthur’s home are mirrored in the “huge yellow somethings [. . .] screaming through the sky” (24) which turn out to be the ships of the Vogons, emissaries of the Galactic Civil Service, who have come to vaporize the Earth because it is in the pathway of a planned intergalactic expressway. Thus, the Earth itself becomes as insignificant as Arthur’s personal property: Nothing is sacred under the control of faceless bureaucracy.
Bureaucracy is an important thematic element in the novel on both a small and large scale, with special satirical emphasis placed on its absurdity and inefficiency. When Arthur hears that the plans for his house’s destruction have long been in the local planning office, Arthur points out that they were “in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard’” (10), emphasizing the inaccessibility and obscure nature of bureaucracy’s inner workings. A similar situation occurs with the Galactic Civil Service and their Vogon emissaries. When the Vogons inform the Earthlings that the plans for the hyperspatial highway have been available for fifty years in Alpha Centauri, the Vogons insist that it does not matter that Alpha Centauri is unreachable via Earth’s technology, insisting that it is the Earthlings’ fault “if [they] can’t be bothered to take an interest in local affairs” (26). The bureaucratic forces that rule deliberately keep the locals uninformed so that the machinery of industry and so-called progress can rumble ever forward.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy also contains a meta-fictive version of itself, Ford Prefect’s electronic copy of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. This e-book provides information that emphasizes the absurdity of the universe—describing items such as the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster and allowing the author to devolve into wild tangents—while also revealing the anti-authoritarian streak in the novel. In its first extended mention, The Guide is compared to the rather staid Encyclopedia Galactica, whose definition of alcohol is just that—a dry, direct definition. The Guide, on the other hand, details the delights of the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, even going so far as to provide a (ridiculously complicated) recipe. The institutional version of the truth, as represented by the Encyclopedia, is undermined by the irreverent tone of The Guide. In this way, The Guide within The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy reflects one of the novel’s key themes, The Absurdity of Modern Bureaucracy.
Adams also critiques authority in the form of leadership. In describing Zaphod Beeblebrox’s role as President of the Imperial Galactic Government, the narrator remarks, “Only six people in the Galaxy knew that the job of the Galactic President was not to wield power but to attract attention away from it” (29). The narrator also adds, “Zaphod Beeblebrox was amazingly good at his job” (29). This critique suggests that real power operates behind the scenes, out of the public eye, while the populace remains in thrall to the antics of charismatic leaders. Thus, the shadowy web of true power can operate unseen, unchallenged, and immune to the will of the people, with democracy merely a fiction to assuage the uninformed masses. Ironically, however, although Beeblebrox’s theft of the Heart of Gold might at first appear to be a mere publicity stunt, it turns out to attract the attention of those in actual power.
Finally, Arthur and Ford face an uncertain fate by the end of these chapters. Arthur muses on what he feels as the last surviving Earthling. Once more, a wider tragedy is embodied and experienced in the form of a smaller one: Instead of reacting emotionally to the loss of the entire earth, Arthur experiences direct emotion only when recalling the loss of his own homeland: “England no longer existed. He’d got that—somehow he’d got it,” while the loss of America is something “He couldn’t grasp” (43). Furthermore, in reflecting upon the loss of “Bogart movies” and “McDonald’s” (43)—some of the cultural capitalist hallmarks of the “American century”—Arthur alludes to the consumerism of the era, reflecting once more the domination of widespread capitalist ventures such as Hollywood and fast food and the homogenization of the modern era.
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