How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Ah... ! What's happening? it thought. Er, excuse me, who am I? Hello? Why am I here? What's my purpose in life? What do I mean by who am I? (18.22-26)
We had to include the whale (oh, poor, sweet whale), this beautiful, intelligent creature who absurdly gets created from a nuclear missile and then pointlessly crashes into a planet. What makes this absurdity especially poignant is how smart the whale seems, how friendly (even trying to make friends with the ground), and how sincere he is about trying to find the meaning of his life. And it doesn't go so well for him.
Quote #8
Many many millions of years ago a race of hyperintelligent pandimensional beings (whose physical manifestation in their own pandimensional universe is not dissimilar to our own) got so fed up with the constant bickering about the meaning of life which used to interrupt their favorite pastime of Brockian Ultra Cricket (a curious game which involved suddenly hitting people for no readily apparent reason and then running away) that they decided to sit down and solve their problems once and for all. (25.1-2)
This is like an onion: each layer is absurd and it gets more absurd with each layer. First, hyperintelligent pandimensional beings just happen to look like us; second, their favorite game involves hitting people for no reason (so hyperintelligent); and finally, their interest in finding an answer to why we're here is just so their game doesn't get interrupted. While each layer is absurd, notice how Adams uses parenthetical asides to drive home each bit of weirdness.
Quote #9
"Alright," said Deep Thought. "The Answer to the Great Question..."
"Yes...!"
"Of Life, the Universe and Everything..." said Deep Thought.
"Yes...!"
"Is..." said Deep Thought, and paused.
"Yes...!"
"Is..."
"Yes...!!!...?"
"Forty-two," said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm. (27.48-56)
Reading Hitchhiker's Guide is like taking a course in disappointment: long set-up, with a disappointing anti-climax. The centerpiece of this learning experience is probably the long, drawn-out moment, when Deep Thought finally tells the answer that it has taken 7.5 million years to figure out. If you ever write a paper with this many ellipses ("…"), your teacher will probably fail you; but Adams uses a ridiculous amount of ellipses and repetition to make sure we feel the pause before the final, absurd let-down.