How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Calm down, get a grip now ... oh! this is an interesting sensation, what is it? It's a sort of ... yawning, tingling sensation in my ... my ... well I suppose I'd better start finding names for things if I want to make any headway in what for the sake of what I shall call an argument I shall call the world, so let's call it my stomach. (18.27)
Oh, poor, sweet whale, trying to explore this new universe in the short time it has. We might contrast this whale to Arthur (which should make Arthur feel better about his body image issues): whereas Arthur at least knows some things about himself and the world around him, the whale is a total blank slate who has to come up with names not just for the things around him ("the world") but for himself as well ("my stomach"). We'll miss you, whale. But the ground won't.
Quote #8
"You know nothing of future time," pronounced Deep Thought, "and yet in my teeming circuitry I can navigate the infinite delta streams of future probability and see that there must one day come a computer whose merest operational parameters I am not worthy to calculate, but which it will be my fate eventually to design." (25.29)
This is Deep Thought when he's asked the question of life, the universe, and everything. He comes off kind of like a pompous jerk here, doesn't he? What's also curious about Deep Thought, besides how much he loves his own voice, is how he's just about the only character to think about the future and how things in the future may be different.
Quote #9
"No," said Arthur, "I mean why have you been doing it?"
"Oh, I see," said Frankie. "Well, eventually just habit I think, to be brutally honest. And this is more or less the point—we're sick to the teeth with the whole thing, and the prospect of doing it all over again on account of those whinnet-ridden Vogons quite frankly gives me the screaming heebie-jeebies, you know what I mean?" (31.55-6)
Why go exploring? Curiosity? Adventure? Fame? Fortune? How about habit? Notice that Adams uses really casual dialogue here: phrases like "sick to the teeth" and "screaming heebie-jeebies." All that casual language drives home the point that these mice are not serious explorers. But then again, who is a serious explorer in this book?