A small worn teal suitcase with an unraveling yarn strand trailing over a violet star-speckled cloth.

Original artwork, not a still

So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish  ·  1984

Douglas Adams

A man can’t cross a hundred thousand light years, mostly in other people’s baggage compartments, without beginning to fray a little, and Arthur had frayed a lot.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

A comic understatement about wear and tear: crossing a huge distance, mostly stowed in other people's luggage holds, would fray anyone, and Arthur is described as very frayed. The fraying is both literal-sounding and a joke about exhaustion.

Context reviewed

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