Arthur Dent is an anti-hero Englishman who manages to save himself—and his companions—through sheer dumb luck. He has an awkward knack for speaking uncomfortable truths, as well as a naïve talent for stumbling into strange situations. Why Ford Prefect, his friend from Betelgeuse, chooses to rescue Arthur from the destruction of Earth remains a mystery, though Arthur’s harmless charm and ironic good humor are quite disarming. Besides, it could simply be his destiny to accompany Ford on his exploits throughout the galaxy—or it could be mere coincidence. The author, with deliberate intention, does not make this distinction clear.

Arthur is initially described as a rather anxious, if ordinary, young man: “He was about thirty [. . .], tall, dark-haired and never quite at ease with himself. The thing that used to worry him was the fact that people always used to ask him what he was looking so worried about” (7). He appears to be content with his life, living in an unremarkable house outside London, but his life is upended when his house is slated to be demolished to make way for a bypass. It is further thrown into chaos by the inconvenient coincidence that Earth itself is slated to be demolished to make way for an interstellar highway.