I Chortled

It only makes sense to do a blog entry on when I laughed aloud while reading Douglas Adams's hilarious book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. This actually may turn into one of the hardest blog entries for me to write due to the numerous occasions I have laughed out loud (lol'd for the hip and happening out there) while reading Adams's book. I really do love British humor, the subtleness and dryness really makes for much more hilarious jokes than the typical "HUEHUEHUE IM SO FUNNY" humor that us Americans somehow adore. My favorite moment has to come on the last page of chapter sixteen, right before the missile attack on the Heart of Gold. The way Adams narrates the scene, his matter-of-fact tone, the very blunt foreshadowing, the logos of the straight facts he gives makes an otherwise dramatic scene very comedic. Adams almost narrates like a computer, dissecting the implications and effects his narration give on the reader; he states "In order that some mystery should still be preserved, no revelation will yet be made concerning whose upper arm sustains the bruise" (82). The author completely pulls the air out of a life or death moment, then uses his hyperbolic diction to try to get the reader nervous for who will get a bruised arm (intentionally, of course). This matter-of-fact tone and diction coupled with the utter randomness of the event serve to make the scene even more funny. The book tells of the "sudden demise of a bowl of petunias and an innocent sperm whale" (82). Adams narrates many situations like this; talking about complete random and insane events like everyday occurrences and it makes him a very, very funny writer. Actually, when I read this page I was at the summer camp I work at, the campers I was looking after looked at me like a crazy person; even after I tried to explain to the children what happened, I read the passage and even explained all the humor and how it works (like any good english teacher would), but they never understood how I found it funny. Oh well, I guess only amazing people can enjoy amazing British comedy.