New and Revised

The use of motifs in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and how the motifs are connected to the creation of humor in the radio play

“And what has happened to the Earth?” The character Arthur asks Ford after he had come to rescue him from it. ”It’s been disintegrate! (…) It just boiled away into space.” “Look. I’m a bit upset about that.” Arthur responds.
Fords reaction to the end of the earth is typical in the “Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy”. By the use of the same frequently upcoming motifs in the basis for the creation of humor in the book is set. The characters in the story are put into unrealistic to unnormal situations, which we could not see ourselves in. The near to death situations, Marvin’s depression and the references to the world are examples of often used motifs in the book. The way the characters react to these situations seems very unfamiliar to us. This makes the science fiction radio play amusing.

Frequently upcoming motifs of the “Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” are the near to death situations. The way the character’s deal with the situation creates humor. The editors of the book often used understatements in their dialogues in which the characters sometimes show panic, but never fear. That Ford and Arthur survive every near to death situation they were in, make jokes about them, understate them and forget about them only seconds later seems funny to us and creates humor.

Additionally in the dialogues the world is always portrayed as something very unimportant, which has no real impact on the universe.
“I wonder if Columbus had this trouble”- “Who?”-“Sorry,just an esoteric Earth reference. He discovered a continent which went on to cause a bit of trouble!”
The importance of the earth is always understated. When it is mentioned in the dialogue it is always portrayed as something that is not very harmful and really does not matter… This stands in great contrast to our picture of the earth, since we live on it and we picture it as very important and very powerful. That in the story it is the opposite and has no power, gets taken over so easily and has no control over the universe seems amusing to us.

Also the depressed computer Marvin is used frequently. The answers he gives create humor since his miserable and unhappy mood is portrayed through everything he is saying.
“But that sunset. I’ve never seen anything like it in my wildest dreams… the two suns… it was like mountains of fire boiling into space.”-“I’ve seen it. It’s rubbish”
There is a strong contrast of mood between what he and the others (like in the example Arthur) are saying. This strong contrast portrays his funny behavior even more and contributes to the humor of the story.

As a conclusion the frequently upcoming situations in which the characters almost die, Marvin shows his depression and the earth is portrayed as something very unimportant, create humor in the radio play, since they seem very unrealistic to us. Additionally the characters react to dangerous situations with understatements, which again does not seem like a regular reaction to the readers and creates humor.