Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Satirical Techniques

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The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Essay Examine some of the targets of satire in The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy and assess the effectiveness of Adam’s satirical technique’s in question or condemning these targets. Douglas Adams’ ability to target various things such as human nature, science fiction and politics is very effective in creating the satire found in the novel ‘The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’. Adams uses satirical techniques such as ridicule to show the arrogance that humans possess, creating humour that is easy to relate. Science fiction is another target of Adams comedy, using the satirical technique of parody to create unorthodox humour, shown through the personalities of robots and computers. Adams uses the character of Zaphod to create satire, by mocking the ability of politicians, and ridiculing the political systems that are seen in a majority of countries around the world. Adams uses many different comedic elements such as ridicule and parody to target various different things, creating effective satire, as well as an extremely humorous novel. Douglas Adams takes the arrogance and selfishness shown in various human faults and uses many comedic techniques to create satire. The main comedic element used is ridicule, creating characters that possess personalities that are heavily influenced with arrogance, selfishness and Eurocentric natures. Adams is constantly mocking the human state. This is shown through the character Zaphod and his impression of Arthur Dent, the last of the male human race. “’Yeah,’ said Zaphod, with a sudden evil grin, ‘you’d just have to program it to say What? and I don’t understand and Where’s the tea? – who’d know the difference?’ ‘What?’ cried Arthur, backing away still further. ‘See what I mean’ said Zaphod…” (Adams 1979, p. 150). This excerpt shows the selfish nature of the character Zaphod.
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