The Hitchhiker

In America, the most well-known image of Death is the Grim Reaper, a skeleton wearing long black robes and carrying a soul-reaping scythe. With “The Hitchhiker,” Fletcher creates an alternative version of Death in the play’s titular character. Although he shares the Grim Reaper’s fundamental motivations, the hitchhiker is his physical opposite, a rumpled-looking businessman in a suit. The hitchhiker’s ordinary appearance belies his true nature, but it also hints at the fact that dying is not necessarily a bad thing but simply an inevitable fate that every human must reckon with.

Adams first crosses paths with the hitchhiker on the Brooklyn Bridge at the moment of his death, and the two begin a tense cat-and-mouse game across America. The play’s living characters cannot see the hitchhiker. He appears only to Adams, the only character who has a score to settle with Death.

Both Adams and the hitchhiker know that Adams will eventually lose their game at the moment when Adams accepts his death. Although the hitchhiker invokes fear in Adams, Fletcher’s emphasis on his calm demeanor and ordinary appearance suggests that he is not an evil character. Rather, he is just fulfilling his duty. Just as it’s normal for humans to fear Death, it’s natural for Death to come and collect when the time comes.