Index Literary devices to convey absurdity The use of gallows humor Satire and mockery of modern times The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction parody novel by Douglas Adams. It can be classified as an absurd story in which the protagonist searches for meaning in life. During this character's journey, he faces multiple obstacles that are totally absurd events that defy all logic. This novel is particularly notable for its distinctive writing style. It is most notable for its use of multiple literary devices, gallows humor, and satire to emphasize the absurdity of the novel, which is really what makes it unique. Adams shines a light on the ridiculousness and stupidity of things we generally consider normal. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Literary Devices to Convey Absurdity Many times throughout the novel, Douglas Adams uses literary devices to amplify the absurdity of his narrative. For example, the narrator uses the personification of a bowl of petunias when telling the story of two missiles targeting the Heart of Gold that are transformed into a sperm whale and a bowl of petunias using the Infinite Improbability Drive. During its fall to its doom, the petunia bowl, given human characteristics, has time to think "Oh no, not again" before reaching its crushed end. This is a good example of the use of absurdity through personification. Adams also draws a parallel between the destruction of Arthur Dent's house and the destruction of Earth by the Vogons. In both cases, the house and the Earth are destroyed to make way for a ring road, and both leaders of the destructions, M. Prosser and Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz, use the same argument: Arthur and the inhabitants of the Earth should have known about these plans since they were on display. There is a great sense of absurdity in the fact that the city council's reasons for suddenly demolishing Arthur's house are the same as the Vorgons' reasons for destroying the Earth. This absurdity alludes to Adam's worldview and society's general stupidity and bureaucratic nonsense. Finally, the narrator also uses foreshadowing, which consists of giving an advance hint about what will happen later in the story. For example, in chapter sixteen, the narrator notes that stress is a serious problem after Arthur says "The suspense is killing me." So, to avoid too much suspense, the narrator reveals some things to the reader beforehand. There is absurdity behind Adams revealing plot twists that seem far-fetched to the reader considering the reader is unable to make sense of these revelations since they are so far away in the story's timeline. Adam probably used this literary device to create suspense and generate the need to see how the story develops. In short, the use of literary devices such as personification, parallelism, and foreshadowing really emphasizes the absurdity of the climax and overall plot of The Novel of Douglas Adams. The Use of Gallows Humor The tone Adams employs throughout his fictional story is that of gallows humor. By definition, dark humor is making fun of a hopeless, disastrous, or terrifying situation. The narrator makes sure that every life-threatening situation Arthur Dent ends up in is resolved in a bizarre, dark, dry, humorous and ridiculous way. Adams uses this type of humor especially when a character knows something terrible is about to happen and notthere is nothing to be done about it. For example, a good use of gallows humor would be when Arthur and Ford are captured by the prostetnic Vogon Jeltz while hiding from him. Ford humorously says, "If we're unlucky, the captain might seriously threaten to read us some of his poems [before launching us into space]..." Adams decides to make fun of a life-threatening situation knowing that the reader will ask himself a question absurdity that would normally have no place in circumstances like these. Another good use of gallows humor is when Arthur begins to realize that the Earth is now destroyed and everything he has known is lost. Instead of mourning the loss of his loved ones, he is shocked that there are no more supermarkets. “There was no way his imagination could perceive the impact of the entire Earth disappearing, it was too great. He stimulated his feelings by thinking that his parents and sister were gone. No reaction. He thought of all the people he had been close to. No reaction. Then he thought of a complete stranger behind whom he had previously stood in line at the supermarket and felt a sudden pang: the supermarket had disappeared, everything in it had disappeared. Nelson's Column was gone! Nelson's Column was gone and there would be no shouting, because there was no one left to shout. From then on Nelson's Column existed only in his mind. England existed only in his mind – his mind, stuck here in this steel-clad, damp, smelly spaceship. A wave of claustrophobia hit him.” In a serious and hopeless situation, Arthur jokes that he misses his local supermarket more than his family members. Finally, Adams also uses gallows humor when Arthur meets Slartibartfast and they both leave in his airmobile. The old man says to Arthur: “Follow me or you will be 'late'. And by 'late' I mean 'dead'. In conclusion, Adams uses a lot of dark humor to make the most of dire situations. It really highlights the absurdity of this novel as every line is completely absurd. While the book in question may not make everyone laugh, the completely "outside the box" questions and use of gallows humor are what's truly entertaining. Satire and mockery of modern times From time to time, Douglas Adams uses satire to expose and criticize the stupidity and corruption of modern society with humor, irony and exaggeration. He often makes jokes about social and moral problems. For example, he used satire at the beginning of the novel as a tool to share his point of view about Earth and humans. “Orbiting this, at a distance of some ninety-eight million miles, is an utterly unremarkable little blue-green planet, whose ape-descended life forms are so startlingly primitive that they still think digital clocks are a 'pretty nice idea. Most of the people who lived there were unhappy much of the time. Many solutions have been suggested for this problem, but most of these largely involved the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is strange because overall it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy. In this passage the author begins by using derision and humor to communicate his negative opinion on the topic. Then he continues to satirize the weakness and defects of humans such as greed, pessimism and insatiability and condemns society to be gargantuan and rapacious. Later in the novel, as explained before, Arthur is worried that his house will be destroyed due to the construction of a bypass. However, this issue becomes irrelevant when the entire Earth is more or less destroyed.