The Identification Of Dignity In Joseph Heller's Parody

One of the highest paying occupation in the United States and the rest of the world is a medical doctor. Many years of schooling and hard work is required to become one. Four years getting an undergraduate degree, four years in medical school, then around five years of residency training to be eligible for medical licensing. Yet incompetent doctors have been an issue for thousands of years. A Johns Hopkins study suggests that medical errors are the third leading cause of deaths.

This passage from the text could be interpreted a variety of different ways. Although the entire novel is written in a mostly satirical tone, Heller uses very sarcastic language in these few lines as he has Yossarian describe himself as “untouchable”, when he clearly is not, as he is both in the hospital multiple times in the novel and also in a war that he desperately wants to get out of. Also, the description of him as both real and fake characters and historical figures, stands out mainly due to the fact that most of these characters were considered to be outsiders that were forever trapped or doomed in their novels and eras of existence. Heller relies extremely heavily on allusions and symbolism in this quote to get his point across. Almost every single character in this passage is meant to symbolize a specific state of mind (and perhaps foreshadow) that Yossarian has throughout the novel.

Catch-22, by Joseph Heller, is a fictitious novel that depicts life on an American bomber squadron on Pianosa, an island off the coast of Italy, during the closing years of World War II. A bombardier by the name of Yossarian, the main character in the story, is joined by many others to create a comic drama unlike any other. But aside from the entertainment, Heller uses Catch-22 to satirize many aspects of everyday life that consist of hypocrisy, corruption, and insanity. From the laziness of policeman to the fake happiness brought about by money, the novel is painted with a great number of points targeted against the faults of modern society. However, along with these smaller targets, a majority of the Heller’s satire in the novel is

Flannery O’Conner argued that “[Distortion] is the only way to make people see”. This famous statement is initially contradictory and incongruous, but in Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 it is easy to see the truth of this paradox. The pages of Catch-22 are lined with distortion and each instance provides for a new kind of clarity. Catch-22 is simply a war story illustrated by ridiculous behavior and illogical arguments and told in a flatly satirical tone. Though the book never states outright that matters are funny, the reader is always aware of how outrageously bizarre the characters and situations are. Heller uses out of sequence narration, a confused distinction between appearance and reality, and the irrationally

It is frequently said that the novel Catch – 22 by Joseph Heller is about Heller’s opinion on war and lack of patriotism. Although it is understandable how one could grasp those concepts from the novel the main crux of the novel is for the reader to have noticed Heller’s use of satire within the characters. Also to be effected by Yosarrian’s evolution. Heller uses satire to portray his outlook on war but also other aspects in society. The other aspects are value of life, misuse of power, women and the inhuman bureaucracy of the military structure as a whole.

The most important and prevalent aspects of Heller's style are satire, sarcasm, and irony. Heller pokes fun at the faults of society. At the same time,

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)

Conversely, Hazel’s husband is handicapped with forty-seven pounds of birdshot strapped to his neck, and he is obedient to the government’s handicapped system. Vonnegut uses irony to demonstrate a dysfunctional Utopia in the society. In his story, Vonnegut uses irony to depict how easily a government can control its citizens, by assaulting their senses and individuality.

Without doubt, Edgar Allan Poe’s story is one of the author’s masterpiece. The story is an exhibit of artistic genius with various literary features well incorporated. Among them, irony, defined as, “A figure of speech which is a contradiction or incongruity between what is expected and what actually occurs”, is the most evident. Allan Poe demonstrates the use of various types of irony throughout the play, which he uses to pass the intended message to the audience.

However, to most successfully use the grotesque, especially in a humorous work such as Toole's, the author must present a norm from which to deviate, creating a more potent conflict between opposites. Michael Kline elaborates on this in his analysis of A Confederacy of Dunces: "...the grotesque cannot be absolute in order to produce humor. While it can be strange, it must also contrast with some attempted unity to which we compare its divergence" (284). Toole understands this rule of effective conflict, and he presents two disparate levels of grotesque in his A Confederacy of Dunces. A reader detects the incongruity that exists within Ignatius himself, while also identifying the more observable conflict between Ignatius and modern society.

Analyse the passage (John the Savage in the hospital); discern presentation of satire and how it is wrought.

Yet, even in evaluating how anger is emotionally imposed on the audience due to the absurdity of the proposal, it’s impossible to disregard the role of humor. There are obvious elements of humor throughout the proposal and amusement in the very nature of the proposal is expected. However, any sense of humor abruptly disappears at the heart of the critism. When the proposer begins stating “I can think of no one objection that will possibly be raised against this proposal” the humor stops and the voice of Swift, as well as sharp criticism, begins. Although humor may be an integral part of the proposal and certainly a partial indication of the use of Horatian satire, the fact that humor isn’t present throughout the whole proposal suggests that the use of hilarity is secondary. Rather, this contrast of humor and emotionally imposed irritation only helps to emphasize the role of anger. This is especially evident when one considers the irony that litters the humorous proposal.

The novel, rather than describing a complete lack of order, has characters trying to give meaning to events around them. This reinforces the theme of absurdity by strengthening the impact each instance of absurdity has on the novel. The film overlooks this through an overall lack of explanation, resulting in the overall theme of absurdity being collectively, less meaningful. By blatantly introducing absurdity, and attempting to understand the lack of reason, the novel provides a deeper understanding of the theme of absurdity than the film.

Some of the elements used comprise of the author’s use of binarisms, humor, metatelevision, as

Michael trailed his fingertips down Luke’s bare chest, the dim lighting casting long shadows across their bodies. The room was silent and Michael could hear Luke’s quiet intakes of breath with every touch, and the way his body tensed ever so slightly against the cold of Mikey’s fingertips. The pure look of concentration as on Luke’s face as he watched Mikey’s fingertips cascade down his body forced a smirk to bubble up onto Michael’s lips. “You should know by now that I don’t bite.” Michael teased, a smirk spreading across his face. Looking down and pointing to his collarbone, Luke raised his eyebrow. “You don’t, hmm? Because this kind of makes me believe you do…” He trailed off, watching Michael’s eyes fall upon the deep purple bruise which had resided there for the past few days. Michael grinned wickedly, leaning in