The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

This extract is from the book “The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” written by  modern writer Adam Douglas. It is a preface to the whole story. It says that there is a little blue planet in the Galaxy, which orbits a small sun. This planet is inhabited by primitive creatures called people. People were very unhappy and tried to solve their problems in many ways. But nothing helped as they chose the wrong direction. So they kept on being greedy and didn’t want to change anything in their attitude towards others. What is more, they hated it when someone pointed out their flaws. For example, Jesus Christ was executed for it. Nevertheless, one day some girl got to realize how to change the world. But her plans were ruined because the catastrophe occured.

In this extract the author scoffs at consumer society. People were unhappy because their thoughts were concentrated only on obtaining more money. They were sure that money could buy them everything even true friendship, love, respect and what not. Nevertheless, they felt that something was wrong. People were blind but didn’t want anyone to show them the truth.

Obtaining money shouldn’t be a priority, it leads to degradation and decay of people’s souls, it kills personality. And one’s personality doesn’t have to be in stagnation, it should constantly develop. It’s of a great necessity to be open-minded and ready for changes. Moral values have to occupy a more important place in people’s lives than wealth. People should be helpful, tolerant, generous towards others: it will make them happier.

It is a 3d-person narration, a kind of summary itself, which gives an ironical, critical portrayal of society. The prevailing mood of the extract is sarcastic. The author’s critical attitude towards the sun, the earth and its inhabitants is apparent: one comes across so many epithets with negative connotation, such as uncharted backwaters, unfashionable end, small unregarded sun, utterly insignificant little planet, amazingly primitive life forms. He has created a metaphor, a symbol for consumerism – digital watches. Irony can be found almost in every sentence: the author describes people as wholly insignificant, stupid creatures. The beginning of the extract resembles a bit the beginning of a tale because of the inversion, which is used in the first two sentences.

So this extract gives us some food for thought, as it portrays an modern society. I’m sure that many people recognize their own flaws while reading it. That’s why it’s high time we changed something in our lives. Certainly, Adam Douglas is far from being the first person who tackles this issues but people still seem to be unwilling to open their eyes and face the truth.