Hitchhiker's Cliff Notes

THE CHALLENGE: Create a teaching aid for the prologue and first chapter of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

SYNOPSIS

The planet Earth orbits largely unnoticed in the backwaters of the Western Spiral arm of the galaxy. The dominant life forms are primitive ape-descended people who thrive on being mean to one another, making their race an unhappy one. Their existential turmoil lasted for several thousand years until, one Thursday, a young woman figured out the secret to human happiness. Unfortunately, she and her discovery were lost when the tiny planet was destroyed to make way for a hyperspace bypass.

For Arthur Dent, the last Thursday on Earth was also the day his small cottage was scheduled for demolition. His friend, Ford Prefect, finds Arthur negotiating with city workers by lying in front of the nearest bulldozer. Unlike Arthur, Ford is an alien, so he knows about the Earth’s impending destruction. Ford convinces a city worker to take Arthur’s place on the ground so that Arthur and he could have a drink at the local pub.

CLASS DISCUSSION

The author describes our ape-descended race as “so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.” What primitive characteristics still exist within modern human beings?

Mr. Prosser is descended from Genghis Khan, yet due to generations of racial mixing, the only noticeable characteristics in Prosser are “a pronounced stoutness about the tum and a predilection for little fur hats.” How has your ancestry helped to shape you as a person?

Ford Prefect is researching Earth for the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. What facts about Planet Earth would you want included in the Guide?