How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"But the plans were on display..."
"On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them."
"That's the display department."
"With a flashlight."
"Ah, well the lights had probably gone."
"So had the stairs."
"But look, you found the notice didn't you?"
"Yes," said Arthur, "yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard.'" (1.33-40)
We used to think that politics at its best was a dialogue where everyone was free to speak, but after reading this back-and-forth between Arthur and Prosser we might want to change our ideas: politics is at its best when people speak (check) and listen to each other (no check). Notice how this dialogue lets us see how Prosser will say anything to make his department look like the reasonable member in this disagreement; he does this by redefining the phrase "on display."
Quote #2
Human beings are great adaptors, and by lunchtime life in the environs of Arthur's house had settled into a steady routine. It was Arthur's accepted role to lie squelching in the mud making occasional demands to see his lawyer, his mother, or a good book; it was Mr. Prosser's accepted role to tackle Arthur with the occasional new ploy such as the For the Public Good talk, the March of Progress talk, the They Knocked My House Down Once You Know, Never Looked Back talk and various other cajoleries and threats; and it was the bulldozer drivers' accepted role to sit around drinking coffee and experimenting with union regulations to see how they could turn the situation to their financial advantage. (1.68)
This situation might still be going on if Earth hadn't been destroyed by the Vogons. While the bulldozer drivers might selfishly be thinking about turning this situation to their benefit, notice how Prosser's arguments are all presented as not self-centered: it's all about how knocking down Arthur's house will be good for everyone. Yet, as we see in other moments, Prosser is mostly worried about his own situation here, and he also has a selfish interest in doing this job. It probably doesn't look good if you fail to knock down a house, right? Arthur isn't even making any arguments: while his lawyer might be helpful, his other requests—"his mother, or a good book"—are clearly just to pass the time.
Quote #3
He was far from certain about this—his mind seemed to be full of noise, horses, smoke, and the stench of blood. This always happened when he felt miserable and put upon, and he had never been able to explain it to himself. In a high dimension of which we know nothing the mighty Khan bellowed with rage, but Mr. Prosser only trembled slightly and whimpered. He began to fell little pricks of water behind the eyelids. Bureaucratic cock-ups, angry men lying in the mud, indecipherable strangers handing out inexplicable humiliations and an unidentified army of horsemen laughing at him in his head—what a day. (1.155)
Here's a nice comparison between two political systems: Prosser is a bureaucratic man who, we might say, lives and dies by the bureaucratic regulation. But his great, great, great, very great ancestor had a totally different political way of dealing with his problems: the great Genghis Khan would burn down and kill anyone in his way. As much as we laugh at Prosser, we might be glad that he's not a Khan.