Explanation and Analysis of Key Quotes in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything
"The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is... forty-two," said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.
This iconic quote represents one of the novel's central ironies. The supercomputer Deep Thought's anticlimactic answer highlights Adams' satirical take on humanity's quest for meaning. The specificity of "forty-two" contrasted with the grandiosity of the question demonstrates how our greatest philosophical pursuits might yield absurdly simple, yet meaningless answers.
Bureaucratic Absurdity
"But Mr. Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months." "Oh yes, well as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn't exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them, had you? I mean, like actually telling anybody or anything." "But the plans were on display..." "On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them." "That's the display department." "With a flashlight." "Ah, well the lights had probably gone." "So had the stairs." "But look, you found the notice, didn't you?" "Yes," said Arthur, "yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'."
This exchange brilliantly satirizes bureaucratic inefficiency and intentional obfuscation. The escalating absurdity of the obstacles Arthur faced represents how institutions often create the illusion of transparency while actively preventing access to information.
