How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
And then, one Thursday, nearly two thousand years after one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change, one girl sitting on her own in a small cafe in Rickmansworth suddenly realized what it was that had been going wrong all this time, and she finally knew how the world could be made a good and happy place. This time it was right, it would work, and no one would have to get nailed to anything. (Introduction.6)
Hitchhiker's Guide opens up with the promise of an idea that will make everyone happy and good. Of course, the next line tells us that this idea will be lost forever. We probably shouldn't be too surprised by that since history shows us that sadness and meanness seem to be the usual way things go. Still, this opening does remind us that happiness is something that a lot of people want (for some reason).
Quote #2
"Ah. It's been demolished."
"Has it," said Arthur levelly.
"Yes. It just boiled away into space."
"Look," said Arthur, "I'm a bit upset about that."
Ford frowned to himself and seemed to roll the thought around his mind.
"Yes, I can understand that," he said at last. (5.85-90)
Arthur will eventually cry about the whole losing-his-whole-family-and-everything-he's-ever-known thing. But it is interesting to watch him try to deal with the incredible sadness of this event—and to see how Adams keeps this from being a tragedy. For instance, here, both Arthur and Ford discuss the destruction of Earth in a pretty calm and understated way. Instead of crying and hugging each other (the usual response to having a planet blow up), they're just calmly saying, "I'm a bit upset," and "I can understand that."
Quote #3
Visions of it swam sickeningly through his nauseated mind. There was no way his imagination could feel the impact of the whole Earth having gone, it was too big. He prodded his feelings by thinking that his parents and his sister had gone. No reaction. He thought of all the people he had been close to. No reaction. Then he thought of a complete stranger he had been standing behind in the queue at the supermarket before and felt a sudden stab—the supermarket was gone, everything in it was gone. (6.29)
Arthur does have to deal with the sadness of losing Earth, and it's not a totally funny sequence. (Now losing Mars would be hilarious.) It is a little funny when Arthur first gets sad about his supermarket, Bogart films, and McDonald's, rather than his family, friends, and other people. But at the same time, this sort of shock seems understandable. So if you squint, this section could either be (1) an example of turning sadness into comedy or (2) a reasonable response to an absurd situation.