English Literature

Short Story Analysis: The Hitchhiker by Roald Dahl

Submitted By: Satyam Jain

Submitted To: Ms. Sukanya Mukherjee
UID: SM0121067

National Law University and Judicial Academy, Assam

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction

2. Research Methodology
2.1. Plot
2.2. Setting
2.3. Characters
2.4. Point of View
2.5. Writing Style

3. Content
3.1. Summary
3.2. Characters
3.2.1. Narrator
3.2.2. Hitchhiker
3.2.3. Cop

4. Freytag’s Pyramid
4.1. Exposition
4.2. Inciting Incident
4.3. Rising Action
4.4. Climax
4.5. Falling Action
4.6. Resolution

5. Conclusion
INTRODUCTION
Fiction has always been one of the most loved genres of the reading public around the globe.
For the same reason, folk tales have been spreading through the word of mouth since time
immemorial. These folk tales are usually short and interesting stories that, more often than not,
aim at imparting some moral message in a humorous way. These tales belong to the short story
genre; short stories are the intriguing works of fiction that are limited by length. Other than
folk tales, numerous legends, mythical tales, fables and anecdotes have been a part of nearly
every culture; these come within the ambit of short story genre. As far as the origin and history
of short stories is concerned, it is probably older than the language itself; the early humans,
before they could communicate by the way of language, used to storytell through gestures.
Indian literature has had one of the most popular short story collections: Panchtantra. Short
stories, in the form we know today, appeared for the first time in 19th century and this genre
started attracting a huge reading public in the 20th century with the advent of stories like Luigi
Pirandello, Franz Kafka, Jorge Luis Borges, Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, etc. Short stories rose as
a genre of literary work that made use of only a few characters to quickly build up an engaging
plot, the backstory of which is hardly explained unlike in novels; nor are the characters of a
short story properly developed. One such short story is The Hitchhiker by the English writer,
Roald Dahl that I shall be analysing and discussing in this particular project of mine. Akin to
the other works of his, The Hitchhiker is full of open-ended humour and is a delight to read.
As the name suggests, the short story is about a hitchhiker and includes literary elements that
are characteristic Dahl-ite, i.e., relevant in dimensions more than one. A detailed analysis about
the plot, setting, characters, literary characteristics is provided further in the project.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

 Plot: The story revolves around the narrator trying to find out what his passenger, i.e.,
the hitchhiker does for a living. While doing so, he makes weird guesses, which creates
the reader to giggle. Dahl further intrigues the reader by plotting an interesting incident
during the ride, which ends on quite an unexpected and interesting note.
 Setting: Setting of the story is in the narrator’s luxurious BMW car on the road to
London, wherein, whole of the story unfolds. The time bracket of the story can be traced
back to the early 1970s albeit there being no direct mention of the year.
  Characters: The Hitchhiker is a short story mentioning just three characters; the
narrator, the hitchhiker and the policeman referred to as the ‘copper’ in the text. The
narrator is a well-off writer driving a luxurious car in the opening scene of the story
when he is stopped by the second character of the story, the hitchhiker who
mysteriously acts in a weird manner since the moment he enters the narrator’s car. Their
car is stopped by a snobbish policeman who is referred to as the ‘copper’ in the text.
 Point Of View: The story is written in the first-person point of view by the narrator
who gives a lift to the hitchhiker.
 Writing Style: The story is written in a narrative style where the narrator describes his
own experience with a hitchhiker whom he has mixed emotions for.

CONTENT

 Summary: The story commences with the narrator driving down the highway in his
luxurious BMW car that had quite a powerful engine. He suddenly sees a man thumbing
a lift, which reminded him of the old days when he used to hate the drivers who never
stopped for the hitchhikers; he stops his car. The hitchhiker refers to the narrator as the
‘Governor’ while he describes him as a ‘huge human rat’. After he jumps in, the narrator
begins to question him about the purpose of his visit to London and what he does for a
living, all of which the hitchhiker did not seem to like. The narrator then goes on to
make guesses about the hitchhiker’s profession; he asked him if he bets on horse races
or works the betting machines or plays piano; the hitchhiker calls each of these as ‘silly’
and ‘not requiring enough skill’. The narrator is weirdly impressed by the length,
flexibility and swiftness of his fingers after he stylishly lights a cigar. The hitchhiker
seemed to enjoy the powerful car and so, wanted the narrator to push it further; they
touched 120 miles per hour in no time when a cop chased them down. The snobbish
policeman noted down the details of the narrator to book him under over-speeding.
While they were again heading towards London, the hitchhiker started to bring out stuff
that belonged to the narrator, like his leather belt, wallet, ring, gold chain, etc., which
he had taken out without him even noticing. This is when it is revealed that the
hitchhiker is actually a pickpocket had also stolen the books in which the copper noted
the narrator’s details down. The two of them then drive down to the narrator’s house to
burn the books in a bonfire.
  Characters: Since the hitchhiker is a short story, it does not have a lot of characters,
nor are these properly developed. The characters of the story are:
o Narrator: The story, being written in a first person perspective, has the
protagonist as the narrator himself who is a well off writer. He owns a luxurious
BMW car that he is specifically proud of, but at the same time, he is rooted to
his basics and tries to help the needy. Being a writer, he is quite curious to know
stuff that makes him appear nosy at times, also, he was very easily instigated by
his passenger to push his car to 120 miles per hour. The narrator has also got an
eye for nuances; he very keenly notices the way his passenger looks and
behaves, he is also impressed by how his fingers move so quickly.
o Hitchhiker: Professionally a pickpocket, the narrator’s passenger always spoke
in a mockingly funny voice about other professions; at the same time, he was
watchful of his word. He thought of his profession as one that was hard and
required skill and so, did not like the terminology ‘pickpocket’; instead, he
called himself a ‘fingersmith’. He was quite proud of his long, swift and skilled
fingers.
o Cop : The snobbish policeman spoke in a mockingly rude manner after he had
stopped the narrator’s car. Other than being unnecessarily insolent, the cop
resembled just any other cop in the way he looked or behaved.

FREYTAG’S PYRAMID

Being developed by Gustav Freytag in the mid nineteenth century, Freytag’s pyramid is one of
the oldest dramatic structures that bases upon itself a number of classical texts. Writers have
been using this structure to produce epic literary texts since time immemorial without realising
that it is called ‘Freytag’s Pyramid’. An ideal text following this structure has six major phases,
Exposition or Introduction; Inciting or Interesting Incident; Rising Action or Movement;
Climax; Falling Action or Movement; Resolution or Catastrophe or Denouement. Ideally, the
exposition, inciting incident and rising action ought to be in the first half of the text while the
‘climax’ or the major thrill to the reader ought to be in the middle of the text; which be followed
by the literal phase of falling action with a ‘resolution’ or ‘catastrophe’ in the end. Roald Dahl
has very appropriately followed the Freytag’s pyramid in his short story The Hitchhiker, which
is explained in detail in the text to follow.

 Exposition: Dahl draws the curtain by pen-picturising a scene where the narrator is
driving his luxurious BMW car on the highway to London. Albeit a short story, The
Hitchhiker contains within itself a plot building, wherein, the reader gets to know a bit
about the narrator, i.e., one of the characters of the story. Before the actual inciting
incidents take place, the writer provides the reader with a brief understanding of the
plot and the characters included. To further make the story intriguing, Dahl includes
funny bits in the very beginning that indicate towards the story ahead being another
work of the classic-Dahl genre. The engine configuration and the car design has been
explained in great detail in the first paragraph of the story, hinting towards the car
playing a major role in the plot ahead. Dahl uses a different style of speaking and some
wrongly spelt words while describing the hitchhiker, i.e., another character of the story;
he does this to build a shady image of the character, which prepares the reader for the
inciting incident and rising action in the later parts of the story. For the same purpose,
he portrays him as a bit rude and someone who easily gets irritated; the reader also
comes to know in the initial stages of the story that the hitchhiker is reluctant to answer
very basic questions about him poised by the narrator; this further strengthens the
reader’s dubious perspective towards the hitchhiker. After reading the first tenth of the
story, the reader gets a fair idea of what to expect ahead; also, the writer successfully
manages to keep the reader glued to the book and leaves him waiting for the inciting
incidents.
 Inciting Incident: After the writer prepares the reader about the basic plot of the story,
he throws in the most inciting incident of the story, that also lays the foundation for
rising action and an interesting climax ahead. The narrator begins to ask the hitchhiker
about his life and what he does for a living, which he does not seem to like. While in
 the car, the narrator repeatedly asks his passenger about his basic whereabouts but he
dodges the question every time. Dahl had already portrayed in the beginning that the
narrator has got an eye for nuances and is quite observant about the appearance and
behaviour of the people around him. He notices the long, sleek and swift fingers of his
passenger and is weirdly impressed by the utterly stylish way he lights his cigar; he
comes to a conclusion that the hitchhiker must be a brain surgeon or a piano player.
The writer makes the reader giggle by some funny guesses he makes about the
passenger’s profession and how he shuts him up. The hitchhiker starts doubting the
capability of the narrator’s car and constantly says, “These cars are never capable of
what the companies boast in advertisements.” The narrator, being proud of his car,
decides to show his passenger what his premium car is actually capable of; this lays
down a perfect foundation for the rising action ahead.
 Rising Action: After the narrator has failed to guess what his passenger does for a
living, Dahl picturises the passenger to be a bit pissed off and thus, he tries to divert the
conversation by challenging the potential of his car. The narrator is easily influenced
by his passenger’s call and steps hard on the accelerator to touch 120 miles per hour
despite the speed limit being 70 miles per hour. What happens next is the introduction
of the third character of the story; the copper. Dahl portrays him as a snobbish
policeman ticking all the checkboxes of a stereotyped cop; such portrayal is another
indicator towards the shady and interesting climax ahead. The element of ‘action’ in
the story is further elevated by the conversation between the copper and the two men in
the car; the policeman stops the car and notes down the name and address of the narrator
along with a clear threat to make him suffer a hefty jail time. In conversation with the
hitchhiker, the copper enquires about his profession, to which, he lies; this, yet again,
prepares the reader for the climax ahead being based on the revelation of the
hitchhiker’s profession. Meeting with the copper leaves the narrator petrified, observing
which, his passenger tried to console him; at this point, the reader is eagerly expecting
a climax that answers two major questions: ‘What does the hitchhiker do for a living?’
and ‘What consequences does the narrator face for over speeding?’. Dahl answers both
of these in the text ahead.
 Climax: Just at the right moment, Dahl makes the revelation that the reader has been
waiting for a long time. Hardly had the narrator come out of the panic that the copper
created when his passenger started pulling out different things belonging to him that he
 had ‘stolen’. Owing to his skilled and swift fingers, the hitchhiker pulled out the
narrator’s leather belt without him even noticing; here, the reader gets a hint of what
the hitchhiker might be doing for a living. Dahl confirms what the reader is thinking in
the next paragraph where he portrays the hitchhiker pulling out various other items that
belonged to the narrator and he had taken without him even noticing; these include his
shoe lace, wallet, gold chain, wrist watch, his wife’s gold ring. One of the two questions
that the reader was eager to know has been answered by the writer but he holds on to
the second answer to keep the reader glued to the story.
 Falling Action: The aftermath of the climax has within it the answer to the second
major question, i.e., ‘What consequences does the narrator have to face for breaking the
traffic laws?’ Dahl shows the hitchhiker consoling the narrator by saying that he knew
how the law worked and the worst he would have to face is some petty fine. After toying
with the narrator’s feelings for a while, the hitchhiker finally pulls out the two books in
which, the copper had noted down his name and address. This revelation is an utter
shock for the reader and marks the ending of climax although the reader is well versed
with the fact of the hitchhiker being a pickpocket. In the story ahead, Dahl gives the
concluding remarks in a witty and interesting manner.
 Resolution: In the final extract of the short story The Hitchhiker, the narrator and his
passenger have a final discussion on his profession and what he does for a living. The
reader gets a final giggle by the hitchhiker saying that he did not like the terminology
‘pickpocket’ and preferred to be called a ‘finger smith’; he further explains that when
a person has mastered some skill to its epitome, the suffix ‘smith’ is added to the
profession, for example, goldsmith, silversmith, etc. The writer ends the story on a
happy note and portrays the narrator and the hitchhiker driving down to the former’s
farmhouse and burning the two books while enjoying a bonfire.

CONCLUSION

BIBILIIOGRAPHY

1. Dahl, Roald; The Hitchhiker.

2. Glatch, Sean; The 5 Elements of Dramatic Structure: Understanding Freytag’s Pyramid.