Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy And The Seven Deadly Sins

In Douglas Adams's novel, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect traverse an imperfect galaxy plagued by a lack of individuality. In The Seven Deadly Sins Today, Henry Fairlie ventures that this galactic epidemic correlates to the transmission of immorality throughout the world. Douglas Adams utilizes satire and characterization to demonstrate how the human condition is flawed. Furthermore, Henry Fairlie calls upon the archetypal seven deadly sins to criticize human banality. Collectively, Adams's wittiness and Fairlie's bitterness encourage the reader to exercise one's identity. First, Douglas Adams satirizes modern society to delineate the blemishes that chafe the face of humankind. Next, characterization indicates that every person battles against their fait accompli; however, some fight with more ferocity than others. Lastly, Henry Fairlie rancorously acknowledges the seven deadly sins to portray the world's sinful commonalities. Ultimately, the authors of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Seven Deadly Sins Today accentuate a person's obligation to rise from the stereotypical to the atypical.

Douglas Adams satirizes contemporary culture to expose humanity's greed and glumness. In the beginning of the novel, Adams omnisciently describes the major problem afflicting planet Earth:

This planet has--or rather had--a problem, which was this: most of the people

living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were

suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the

movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it

wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy. (1)

This statement reveals that the author deeply worries about the "unhappy" condition of the human psyche. He outright blames the dissolution of depression on "the movements of small green pieces of paper," also known as money. Essentially, Adams conveys that people are too worried about their financial status and forget to enjoy life to its fullest. Money becomes a shackle and enslaves the people of planet Earth with one of the seven deadly sins: greed. The internet dictionary of Princeton University defines greed as "excessive desire to acquire or possess more than one needs or deserves" ( ). Henry Fairlie agrees with this definition and offers an eloquent sentiment: "The be-all and end-all of life should not be to get rich, but to enrich the world" (26). However, Fairlie's plea is unheard due to the deafening materialism of modern society. It is a sad fact, but a fact nonetheless, that those who want "to enrich" are less abundant than those who want "to get rich." This phenomenon occurs because wealth is more easily attainable than enrichment. Wealth requires one lucky day at the New York Stock Exchange or the acquisition of an emerging franchise. Enrichment requires an acute mind and patience because social change often takes generations to root in the minds of people. The solution to both Adams' and Fairlie's sinful society rests in patience. People should not try to perform a lifetime of actions in a fraction of their lifetime.

Adams then reveals the twisted prototype for the space-age hero through the character traits of Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect. Arthur was born and raised on Earth, and he is the book's hero. Despite his role as the hero, Arthur's main function in the novel is that of an reluctant observer. He is the one to ask questions, to bring out facts that the other characters are already familiar with. Arthur portrays his own timidity when he jokes, "Like a military academy [...] bits of me keep passing out" (Adams 49). In this quote, Douglas implies that Arthur Dent is weak and could never hold his own in "a military academy." At heart, the flawed condition of planet Earth births Arthur Dent's reluctance and pessimism and contorts the image of the futuristic hero. But the heroism that Arthurs lacks, Ford Prefect extracts. Ford is a researcher for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the person responsible for saving Arthur Dent's life. In the face of his name's suggestion, Ford prefect is less than perfect. First, he is a hitchhiker, which our society defines as a poor vagrant without a place to call home. Also, he is a heavy drinker who spends most of his time in vehicles. The dastardly decision to F.U.I. (fly under the influence) correlates to the exploitation of the seven deadly sins, specifically gluttony. By means of Princeton University, gluttony is "habitual eating and drinking to excess" ( ). Henry Fairlie expands on Princeton's interpretation and states, "gluttony is the source of all our infirmities, and the fountain of all our diseases" (51). Literally, Fairlie suggests that "gluttony" causes obesity, a modern malady plaguing many people. Figuratively, the aformentioned "[infirmity]" refers to being an average human being. In theory, "gluttony" eats away at individuality. Now one might assume that it is better to be a completely temperate anti-glutton: this is incorrect. The seven deadly sins serve to divert people from both poles: gluttony and radical temperance. An elucidation for both Dent's and Prefects imperfect heroism and Fairlie's community commonalities is moderation. Fundamentally, people should both indulge and divulge gluttony in order