42: The Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything: Existentialism in the Hitchhikers Guide
In a world without meaning, what are we to do? Aliens, humans, existential robots, and pan-galactic beings, all ask some version of the above question in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and none of them is ever provided an answer except for “42”. Although there is no ultimate answer to the purpose of life, these creatures all react differently in the face of nothingness. While some choose to bemoan their unfortunate position, others conquer this emptiness with defiance to explore their own possibilities, which models Sartre's claim that "human beings exist first and then their essence is defined" (3). This paper illustrates the following pursuit, …show more content…
As the sole human survivor flung into a senseless alien universe, Arthur must come to terms that the planet he once defined himself by is inconsequential: “There was no way his imagination could feel the impact of the whole Earth having gone, it was too big. “He thought of all the people he had been close to. No reaction. [….] McDonald's, he thought. There is no longer any such thing as a McDonald's hamburger. He passed out. When he came round a second later he found he was sobbing” (53). Here, Adams uses indirect satire to ridicule humankind's ridiculous attempts at imposing meaning on an indecipherable universe. McDonald’s in relation to the earth’s much bigger phenomenon’s serve as an analogy to human beings and their planet being minuscule and insignificant in relation to the vast universe governed by improbability. As Arthur is faced with defamiliarization, he initially struggles to actuate his own individual meaning in the face of ambiguous everyday life. However, in attempting to understand Ford Prefect’s perspective that is different from his own, he learns to construct meaning, no matter how ludicrous and outrageously comical - exemplified as he compliments the ‘metaphysical imagery’ and ‘interesting rhythmic devices’ in the Vogon’s Poetry, and later gets air-locked from the Vogon’s fleet. Sartre's existentialist philosophy similarly attempts to define meaning when trying to face the implications of a universe without purpose. “We are thrown into existence first without a predetermined nature and only later do we construct our nature or essence through our actions” (3). Arthur decides to approach his absurd situation from a creative perspective of reinventing his own existence. With Ford as his companion, Arthur, whom after having a series of
In a world without meaning, what are we to do? Aliens, humans, existential robots, and pan-galactic beings, all ask some version of the above question in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and none of them is ever provided an answer except for “42”. Although there is no ultimate answer to the purpose of life, these creatures all react differently in the face of nothingness. While some choose to bemoan their unfortunate position, others conquer this emptiness with defiance to explore their own possibilities, which models Sartre's claim that "human beings exist first and then their essence is defined" (3). This paper illustrates the following pursuit, …show more content…
As the sole human survivor flung into a senseless alien universe, Arthur must come to terms that the planet he once defined himself by is inconsequential: “There was no way his imagination could feel the impact of the whole Earth having gone, it was too big. “He thought of all the people he had been close to. No reaction. [….] McDonald's, he thought. There is no longer any such thing as a McDonald's hamburger. He passed out. When he came round a second later he found he was sobbing” (53). Here, Adams uses indirect satire to ridicule humankind's ridiculous attempts at imposing meaning on an indecipherable universe. McDonald’s in relation to the earth’s much bigger phenomenon’s serve as an analogy to human beings and their planet being minuscule and insignificant in relation to the vast universe governed by improbability. As Arthur is faced with defamiliarization, he initially struggles to actuate his own individual meaning in the face of ambiguous everyday life. However, in attempting to understand Ford Prefect’s perspective that is different from his own, he learns to construct meaning, no matter how ludicrous and outrageously comical - exemplified as he compliments the ‘metaphysical imagery’ and ‘interesting rhythmic devices’ in the Vogon’s Poetry, and later gets air-locked from the Vogon’s fleet. Sartre's existentialist philosophy similarly attempts to define meaning when trying to face the implications of a universe without purpose. “We are thrown into existence first without a predetermined nature and only later do we construct our nature or essence through our actions” (3). Arthur decides to approach his absurd situation from a creative perspective of reinventing his own existence. With Ford as his companion, Arthur, whom after having a series of