The Power Of Power In Catch 22 By Joseph Heller

In the words of Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale, USN, “integrity consists of knowing one’s situation through education and thus understanding the limit of your responsibility.” Stockdale, a former Vietnam P.O.W., writes the importance of integrity in “The World of Epictetus.” In September of 1965, Commander Stockdale ejected from his plane only to be captured by the Vietcong during the Vietnam War. In eight years of captivity, the Northern Vietnamese tortured and isolated Stockdale; and in that time, he observed the actions of his men. He witnessed honorable, high-ranking officers cave into their oppressors, while common soldiers refuted any luxuries offered. Stockdale did not solely witness actions, but integrity; how a man acts when

Through the whole story comes the theme of war as a terrible mistake mankind. It brings death, pain, blood, sweeping away in its path state and the nation. Its victims are simply people for whom the war is unnatural, but by the will of a handful of patients mentally and physically tyrants they are involved in the lethal effect called war. In human war erased all the social, there is only animal fear, causing the fight to preserve his life.

Ethics Theory for the Military Professional by Chaplin (COL) Samuel D. Maloney illustrates the complex ethical decision making process. Army Leaders are responsible for professionally, and ethically develop subordinates. Developing unethical subordinates in a zero defect Army is a leadership challenge. Goal-Oriented Aspirations, Rule-Oriented Obligations, and Situation-Oriented Decisions provide leaders an understanding of the ethical decision making process. The first step to Professionally developing subordinates is identifying, and providing input on all subordinate goals. Leaders are obligated to enforce rules and regulations. Understanding subordinate character provides leaders with the information to evaluate a soldier’s integrity. However,

Christopher R. Browning’s book, Ordinary Men, is a microhistory of the Holocaust that focuses in on the Reserve Police Battalion 101. The books main purpose is to persuade the reader how ordinary middle-aged men could become the professional killers leading to horrible massacres. In the preface to his book, Browning makes the following comment about the men of the Reserve Police Battalion 101, “Never before had I encountered the issue of choice so dramatically framed by the course of events” (Browning, xvi.). This statement helps label some of Browning’s finding in his book. Although the men were given a choice to opt out of the killings during the Holocaust, the overwhelming majority chose to follow orders and commit crimes against

In the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque depicts the effects of power and authority on the characters. Young school-going “men” are given no choice but to support their country by signing up to be on the front line. Pushed into war by the ones they trust most, these soldiers quickly learn the realities of the abysmal trenches and immediately begin to question the older generations that pressured them to enlist. Furthermore, these leaders who speak of patriotism are willing to sacrifice the lives men of lower social classes even when it is evident that the war cannot be won. In the novel, Remarque brings to light how the circumstances of war influence an individual to abuse their role of authority. Additionally, Remarque depicts an individual’s desire for power exposing that their hunger intensifies over time. As a result, the authoritative figures depict that once power is given to an individual, greed and misuse begin to control the person and sway their decisions. Remarque portrays the abuse of power that arises due to the appalling circumstances of the novel, uncovering their inhumane behavior.

The Holocaust can be seen as one of the most devastating genocide that occurred in history and that is well known in many places worldwide. One may assume that those who played a part in the acts done by the Nazis in Germany may have been mentally disturbed and/or sick, evil people. However, the novel Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher R. Browning provides another alternative to this statement. Browning provides the reader with the idea that anyone is capable of becoming a murderer, especially when the opportunity presents itself. In his book he attempts to prove this statement through multiple ideas and theories and also provides events which took place to analyze some of those ideas.

The main sources for this book consist of archival documents and court records of the Holocaust. The specific testimony, court records, investigation records, and prosecution documents of members of the Reserve Police Battalion 101 members are used as sources. In this book, Christopher Browning shows in minute detail the sequence of events and individual reactions that turn ordinary men into killers. His arguments make sense. He makes no unwarranted assumptions. The cause and effect statements made and arguments presented are logical and well developed. Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning accounts for the actions of the German Order Police (more specifically the actions of Reserve Police Battalion 101 in Poland) and the role they played in the Second World War during the Jewish Holocaust. Police Battalion 101 was composed of veterans from World War One and men too old to be

On his writing, Browning shows how “ordinary” men can change their beliefs and their common sense because of the influence of others. In this book, soldiers of the WWII were influenced by the government of Hitler. Browning called it "atrocity by policy” because the damage caused by soldiers wasn’t spontaneous but indeed planned methodically by the government, they had calculations and plans. In addition, Browning explains how members of the police battalion (a Nazi paramilitary formation) slowly started enjoying the idea of murder and torture innocent people. “As in combat, the horrors of the initial encounter eventually became routine” (Browning 1992, p. 161).

While these three points are extensively discussed and dissected, it is apparent that the key factor that makes us professionals is the ethical standard that we must hold every individual soldier, from the lowest private to the highest general, to. One of the major points that are missing is what happens when the ethical standard is breeched and how it is dealt with.

When Yossarian rebels against this system of injustice commanding over him, the narrator states that Milo is ashamed of Yossarian who is "jeopardizing his traditional rights of freedom and independence by daring to exercise them" (415). According to Milo, it is not fair to fight for your own justice as an American in the military. This statement is foolish and is exactly what Heller satirizes in the book; the fact that during war, the freedom and individuality of lower ranking officers are stripped away from them to satisfy the needs of higher ranking officers. Yossarian later discovers through Major Danby that Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn "can prepare as many official reports as they want and choose whichever ones they need on any given occasion," which is another example of the bureaucracy allowing men to cease liberties in order to incite more power for personal use (452). When continuing his discussion with Major Danby at the end of the book, Yossarian uses an analogy to indicate to the Major just what it is like being controlled by higher powers. After Danby wishes he was a cucumber or some kind of vegetable so he did not have to make important decisions, Yossarian states that if he was a "good one" then "they’d cut you off in your prime and slice you up for a salad" and if he was a "poor

In 1955, Joseph Heller wrote Catch-22. The story takes place on a small island in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Italy. As the story progresses, it follows the actions of a man named Yosarrian and his companions in his squadron. Many of the men begin with high rank and others are promoted throughout the novel. As these men come into power, one of Heller's themes is explicitly shown; as men achieve power, they become compelled to abuse it.

The arguments of Christopher Browning and Daniel John Goldhagen contrast greatly based on the underlining meaning of the Holocaust to ordinary Germans. Why did ordinary citizens participate in the process of mass murder? Christopher Browning examines the history of a battalion of the Order Police who participated in mass shootings and deportations. He debunks the idea that these ordinary men were simply coerced to kill but stops short of Goldhagen's simplistic thesis. Browning uncovers the fact that Major Trapp offered at one time to excuse anyone from the task of killing who was "not up to it." Despite this offer, most of the

Although Catch-22 is a novel that entirely takes place at war, the book uses comedy to emphasize the physical and emotional pain of war. The novel shows us how people are changed by war and how their focuses are changed through different experiences. Many of the people in the book are disgusted by their commanding officers and the conditions around them. Joseph Heller served in the war and witnessed crazy occurrences and met strange people like those in the book. By reading the novel, we can see that he strongly disliked war. There are many themes in the novel, two of the main themes are the greed for power and money.

As long as there has been war, those involved have managed to get their story out. This can be a method of coping with choices made or a way to deal with atrocities that have been witnessed. It can also be a means of telling the story of war for those that may have a keen interest in it. Regardless of the reason, a few themes have been a reoccurrence throughout. In ‘A Long Way Gone,’ ‘Slaughterhouse-Five,’ and ‘Novel without a Name,’ three narrators take the readers through their memories of war and destruction ending in survival and revelation. The common revelation of these stories is one of regret. Each of these books begins with the main character as an innocent, patriotic soldier or civilian and ends in either the loss of innocence and regret of choices only to be compensated with as a dire warning to those that may read it. These books are in fact antiwar stories meant not to detest patriotism or pride for one’s country or way of life, but to detest the conditions that lead to one being so simpleminded to kill another for it. The firebombing of Dresden, the mass execution of innocent civilians in Sierra Leone and a generation of people lost to the gruesome and outlandish way of life of communism and Marxism should be enough to convince anyone. These stories serve as another perspective for the not-so-easily convinced.

Combating in modern warfare does not simply mean killing the enemy. There are ethical rules and standards of behavior that soldiers must strictly follow because these rules are essential for defeating the enemy, winning "hearts and minds" of potential allies, and maintain the morale of the troops. These tasks have become especially challenging in the face of the proliferation of guerilla warfare that has been adopted by weaker military forces in the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries. In fighting insurgencies, abiding by the ethical standards of the Army behavior may be even harder than in fighting conventional battles. The ethical rules may sometimes put the soldiers in dangerous positions. Disregarding the acceptable standards of behavior, however, may have even graver consequences, putting innocent non-combatants at risk and risking total demoralization of the Army unit participating in disorderly behavior. It is therefore essential that Army leaders maintain an ethical command climate during the war.