Joseph Heller's Catch 22 Essay

Heller provides a satirical depiction of military bureaucracy and authoritarianism through the many antics of a B-25 bombardier, Yossarian. When Catch-22 was first released, its reviews were polarizing. Some critics praised its raunchy humor and depiction of war, in all of its gruesome detail. Others loathed its seemingly nonsensical plot structure and repetitiveness. Heller, born in 1923, was part of the “G.I. Generation” and served during World War II in the Army Air Corps as a bombardier. He flew sixty missions, but one drastically affected Heller. In a flight to Avignon, after dropping his bombs, his pilot went into a large climb but nearly stalled the plane’s engines. In order to stop

Often times Catch-22 is characterized by a very loose grip on reality. The line between what is apparent and what is real is continually indistinguishable, even to readers. One aspect that contributes greatly to this effect is the distortion of justice and the military technicalities. In the military world created by Heller, what is written on paper is what is true, even if it can be defied by reality. Throughout much of the book, Yossarian is found complaining that there is a “dead man”(24) in his tent. When the concept of the dead man is first introduced, the readers are led to believe that there is an actual dead soldier sitting in Yossarian’s tent, which the military refuses to remove. However, later clarification shows that is not the case at all, but rather, after setting his luggage down, the soldier was killed in the air before he even got the chance to sign in. The grim irony of the situation is that according to the appearance based logic of the military, it is as if the man was never there at all, and his things can therefore not be processed. Another example of such distorted reality is found in McWatt’s

The comedy that Catch-22 brings is ironic in itself, think how can you get humor out of war which entails pain and suffering, that beats me how Heller does it but by whatever means used Heller creates a complete package of humor and real life occurrences which is a great fete in itself. "Though it's comic formula riddle, Heller's novel expresses the apparently inescapable human predicament." (Colmer 213)

It stated that he “had decided to live forever or die in the attempt, and his only mission each time he went up was to come down alive” (pg. 38 Catch 22) It shows how a man’s overconfidence led him believing he could do the impossible and “live forever” and that he would be praised in dying in the attempt. When it says how “that might be the answer- to act boastfully about something we ought to be ashamed of. That’s the trick that never seems to fail” (pg. 149 Catch22), saying how men feign ignorance and let themselves believe that it is okay to act shamefully. He says to another “you have no respect for excessive authority or obsolete traditions. You’re dangerous and depraved, and you ought to be taken outside and shot” (pg. 309 Catch 22) which shows how he doesn’t have self- discipline and was overconfident in his skills. In the book Catch 22 it states how “morale was deteriorating” (pg415 Catch 22) and how their pride overclouded their judgement when it is stated how “it doesn’t make a damned difference who wins the war to someone’s who’s dead” (Pg. 123 Catch 22.) Men are showed to enjoy being able to manipulate other’s emotions and shows how one of his characters felt less inferior when “he studied her features to see if she was going to cry and he saw that she wasn’t. He noticed it with disappointment.” (I don’t love you anymore Pg. 5) It is stated how when “’Yossarian came close to a blush of pride’” and how he stated “it’s traveled that far?” (Closing time pg. 353) when others praised him having something going on with one of the nurses and that he feels more masculine when it is publicized. It stated how “it’s that pride of possession,” and how the character said “you eye mine too, don’t you?” (Pg. 357 Closing Time) which shows how men fight over their possessions to make them feel more overpowered. A man states how “you are doing business with the man who devised…

Near the end of the novel the soldiers or enlisted men begin to realize a need to value life or even a mere sense of safety. This realization is something that Heller had been satirizing throughout the novel by pointing out that the enlisted men were risking their lives everyday without question for an unstable ad unjust system. How could you have extreme urge to defend your country, if you know first hand the detestable things that are done behind the scenes? It also makes it worse that Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn represent the country to many of the men .The Plot of Catch - 22 is understand what Heller meant with his use of satire and how that was significant to the book and the understanding of Yosarrian’s evolution. Heller also has themes within the novel that display different emotions; some of them are Confusion, sanity, hope and pity. Heller as do many other authors wants the reader to also feel those emotions just as the characters. Yosarrian (The main character of the story) has that affect on readers. The main reason he has that affect is because he is the character from the novel that most can relate to and because seems to be the only one to object authority at times.

 Joseph Heller's narration, dialogue, and characterization in Catch-22 all create a unique perspective of war and our society's bureaucracy. The satire, sarcasm, irony, and general absurdity of the novel provide a view of the irrationality of man's behavior. The horror that is portrayed in Catch-22 is intensified by the humorous way in which it is portrayed. Distortion and exaggeration highlight the characters and scenario while magnifying the confusion. Parallel structure and repetition serve to reinforce the novel's themes.

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller takes place on an Air Force base in Pianosa, Italy and tells the story of a squadron and their experiences during World War II. This story is told mainly through the viewpoint of Captain John Yossarian, and gives us details into the daily lives of Air Force pilots in an active warzone. Catch 22 is now considered as one of the greatest works of all time thanks to its unique criticism of war, contribution to the English language, and peculiar writing style that is reflective of the chaos of war and of the symptoms of PTSD. While most great novels give kudos to the extraordinary feats and glories from war, Catch 22 takes a unique stance as it depicts the other side.

In the year 1961, Joseph Heller wrote a book that would become a literary classic. That book was called “Catch 22”. Catch 22 is the tail of a bombardier named Yossarian during WW2. In the novel Yossarian struggles to deal with the overwhelming amount of danger in his life, while simultaneously attempting to overcoming the absurdity of the military bureaucracy that he constantly bickers with. The setting of the novel is primarily set on the small island of Pianosa off the coast Italy. Additionally some of the novel took place in Rome when Yossarian and the other men were on leave. Yossarian spends most of the the novel just trying to survive so that he could eventually go home and finally be out of danger.

Vonnegut utilizes the fire bombing and destruction of Dresden during World War II to exemplify this theme. Hundreds of thousands of people died, including the lives of thousands of innocent people, by this useless act of violence. Throughout the novel, Billy is reminded of the horror of the Dresden bombing. This destruction also affected Billy who wasn’t functionally as he would normally before the war. The war substantially disrupted Billy’s own existence.

Many people see the law of Catch-22 as for every choice you make, there will end up being an opposite reaction to that, or a double-edged sword. However, in Joseph Heller’s historical fiction, Catch-22, Yossarian is presented with several ways to define a Catch-22. He’s not sure how the war will turn out for him and he tries to avoid it all costs. Yossarian is a soldier in the Air Force in the second half of World War II, he started the war out looking to win for his country, however, one traumatic experience changes his view.

After reading Catch-22 I cannot help but to admire the way Heller wrote a story that leaves you in suspense of what could happen next, and how he coordinated a complex story so that the end of each chapter leaves you questioning what you just read and what you assume is to come. The Oxford Companion to English Literature calls Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 a “comic, satirical, surreal, apocalyptic” novel. The Oxford Companion to English Literature is right about Catch-22 being a comic, satirical novel. Heller writes these comic scenes that have underlying satirical meanings. Catch-22 is a novel that keeps you in so much suspense that you have to read it to the end, because having only one piece of the puzzle does not satisfy your curiosity, even

Similarly, Heller’s use of humor to alter a reader's emotions drastically, distracts readers from his original point. While reading Catch-22 one goes through a wide spectrum of emotions, and those emotions can change in a matter of seconds. One example of this is when Nately’s whore finds out about Nately’s death. Her angry reaction is understandable, but Heller stretches this out for quite a while. The grieving woman is transformed through the dark humor that Heller uses so liberally, her character is revised into a maniac, set on killing Yossarian.

“Tick, Tick, Tick…BOOM!” One of the most lethal and disastrous bombs our world obtains, corruption. A fist of an orange and blood-red flame punches its way out of the shell, smoke and varicolored fire rushing out, while the corpses of innocent lives, lay on the cold-stone ground helplessly, paying the insolent price of conformity. For every tick of the bomb, a defenseless and innocent life is sacrificed. There is only a transient amount of time we have to defuse the bomb, until it explodes, obliterating society as whole. In Catch 22, Joseph Heller unveils the idea of corruption in war and military systems and how one must never conform to flawed ideas and rules because if we are against any type of moral, idea, or rule, and we sit back, observing the issue, nothing in this world will ever change, allowing corruption to consume us, bit by bit, just like a bomb.

A staple of American literature for more than 50 years, Catch-22 has received both praise and criticism. A common criticism of the novel is it is “repetitious and essentially formless” (Merrill). Robert Merrill explains these criticisms and refutes them by expanding upon Heller’s logic in creating this inconsistent chronology and goes onto make further arguments regarding Yossarian’s morality. Merrill’s explanation of Heller’s structural chaos as an intentional act is accurate. Throughout the novel, events such as Snowden’s death and Yossarian’s time in the hospital are repeated multiple times. This repetition serves to convey Heller’s darkening tone as the novel progresses. For example, Snowden’s death is described differently each of the three times it is mentioned. The first time, Heller keeps the

Joseph Heller demonstrates masterful storytelling and characterization throughout his widely popular satirization of World War Two, Catch-22. The means in which he conveys his commentary is through his characters. Each character personifies a different attribute, both positive, but specifically negative, of the military-industrial machine that is the United States. Because the near-entirety of the story takes place on the secluded Italian island of Pianosa, the characters are rarely seen in battle. Nearly every interaction related to war is between allied soldiers on Pianosa, so Heller creates many personalities among the soldiers exemplify the intricacies, and ignorances, of the military. While the main character we follow is John Yossarian,