Utilitarianism In Catch 22

Libertarians reject Utilitarianism’s concerns for the total social well-being. While utilitarians are willing to restrict the liberty of some for the greater good, libertarians believe that justice consists solely of respect for individual property. If an individual isn’t doing something that interferes with anyone else’s liberty, then no person, group, or government should disturb he or she from living life as desired (not even if doing so would maximize social happiness). They completely disregard concern for an overall social well-being. Using a libertarian’s perspective, a state that taxes its better-off citizens to support the less fortunate ones violates their rights because they have not willingly chosen to do so. In that same context, a theory that forces capitalists to invest in people and natural capital is immoral. Nevertheless, libertarians encourage that people help those in need, as it is a good thing.

Catch-22 by Joseph Keller is a story set during the second half of World War II, revealing the lives of soldiers, the dilemmas of war and the paradoxes made to keep men in war by country leaders. The main character, John Yossarian is a US Air Force bombardier who has a strong desire to stay out of war, but unfortunately is unable to because of the standards set by the government, increasing the number of missions a soldier had to fly before he could leave. His squadron is stationed on the island of Pianosa, near the Mediterranean Sea. The main paradox was that if a man proved his insanity, he would have to fly his missions in order to prove his insanity, yet if he were sane, he would still stay in war and fly. Either way, all soldiers, sane or not, had to stay.

Catch-22 closes with Yossarian’s escape from the deranged, knife-wielding lover of Yossarian’s fellow soldier, Nately. After Nately’s death, Yossarian breaks the news of the death to Nately’s lover, and she blames it all on him. As he runs from her, “Nately’s whore was hiding just outside the door.” She swings the knife, “missing him by inches, and he took off” (Heller 453). By narrowly escaping, Yossarian survives destruction, unlike the rest of his friends. His predilection towards flight over fight saves him, showing Heller’s belief that escapism is a mark of sanity. When Yossarian experiences a failed escape, it leads to the downfall of not only his short-lived faith, but also that of a man he

Catch-22 is a novel that satirizes war. Throughout the novel, Joseph Heller creates humor in a dark time. Additionally, he explains the paradox of a “catch-22” and how it represents the hardships of a soldier in World War II. Heller also makes fun of war. Characters, such as Major Major Major Major and General Scheisskopf, have exaggerated names which brings humor to the novel.

‘"Anything worth living for," said Nately, "is worth dying for.""And anything worth dying for," answered the sacrilegious old man, "is certainly worth living for.”’(232 Catch-22 Heller). This is probably one of the most tame quotes you will find in Joseph Heller’s novel Catch-22, but it is also a fantastic way to get acclimated to the non-sensical style in which Catch-22 is written. It is a common misconception that Catch-22 is making fun of WWII, but that's not true. To quote Heller “In truth I enjoyed it and so did just about everyone else I served with, in training and even in combat”(Bates, Heller on Catch-22). It is important make the distinction that this novel does not satirize the US’s involvement in World War II, rather it is making fun of the idea of war in general. The novel focuses on the exploits of a Air Force bomber named Yossarian as he deals with clueless officers, the horrors of war, and a peculiar set of squad mates. Heller’s novel is ripe for discussion of the difference between the book and what actually happened in history, the motif of Catch-22 as an idea, and the death of Kid Sampson as

Through Yossarian’s character, Heller satirizes the fact that not everybody involved in war is a hero. Although Yossarian contributes to the war effort and does his share, deep inside he is truly traumatized by the war and cannot bring himself to be brave. Unlike the others who put themselves on the line in battle, Yossarian’s paranoia causes him to hide in hospitals, pretending to suffer from sickness.

Imagine seeing more and more comrades dying while flying combat missions, being caught up in the middle of a corrupt business takeover, not being able to get discharged from combat due to paradoxical logic, and constantly having to evade a comrade’s rage induced whore who’s out to murder. These are common scenes found in the controversial book of “Catch-22”. “Catch-22” is a mid-war dramatic novel written by Joseph Heller. Published in 1961, the story is set in the middle of World War II and revolves around Captain John Yossarian and his fellow soldiers, commanders, and a priest. The story revolves heavily around Yossarian’s constant attempts to get out of the war.

In Joseph Heller’s ‘Catch-22’ the protagonist, Yossarian, undergoes many relationships within the text. One interesting relationship is with the soldiers in his squadron. Yossarian is senior officer must ensure the soldiers take on important roles and contribute to the overall mission according to qualifications. To the soldiers, Yossarian appears to be the leader they need and is expressed in Yossarian's leadership in the Great Big Siege of Bologna. However, Yossarian isn't the man they troops thought he was.

The audience learns a great deal about Yossarian , the protagonist of the book, and his desire to live when he “was the best man in the group at evasive action ... All you needed was fear, and Yossarian had plenty of that … more fear than Dunbar, who had resigned himself submissively to the idea that he must die someday. Yossarian had not resigned himself to that idea, and he bolted for his life wildly on each mission the instant his bombs were away” (Heller 59). By the end of the novel, when the colonels have doubled the amount of missions required from 35 to 70, Yossarian realizes that the only way to live is to escape the squadron and he justifies this action with, “I’m not running away from my responsibilities. I’m running to them. There’s nothing negative about running away to save my life” (Heller 461). Another one of Yossarian’s friends, McWatt, was also deeply affected by the setting. He is best described as “crazy. [McWatt] was a pilot and flew his plane as low as he dared over Yossarian's tent as often as he could, just to see how much he could frighten him, and loved to go buzzing the sand bar at the immaculate white beach” (Heller 27). Eventually McWatt’s craziness caught up to him as “[McWatt’s] senses dropped the speeding plane down just low enough for a propeller to slice [Kid Sampson, another pilot in the squadron] half away” (Heller 348). McWatt eventually

War means many different things to different people, from the outside looking in regular citizens only see the impact soldiers make and at times the unfortunate outcome which happens for the security of one’s country. In Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, the use of protagonist Yossarian as well as characters such as Milo Minderbinder, the Chaplain, and the Soldier in White show readers the underlying issues that occur during a war such as World War II. Heller argues that what society perceives is merely a fraction of the full picture. Firstly, throughout the novel Heller argues that the eyes of society are blinded to the fact that not every sacrifice made in a wartime situation is done for the good of the country. Secondly, society never sees the irony of honour is constantly questioned as the novel progresses; this refers to the idea that doing what is considered morally just does not always reap its deserved rewards. Lastly, the novel highlights man’s mortality and loss of morality. Being a member of society and a war veteran himself, Joseph Heller understands the perspectives of both soldiers and non-military members of society. Through the use of grim, over exaggerated personas and absurd situations, Heller is able to use the military to reveal the full picture and express his views on American society during his time. This ghastly exaggeration of the events which occurs in World War II is known as Black Humour, a

Taking place during the second half of World War II, a solider by the name of Yossarain is stationed with his Air Force squadron on the island of Pianosa, which is near the Italian cost along the Mediterranean Sea. Yossarian and his friends endure a nightmarish and utterly freakish kind of lifestyle which would be defined by bureaucracy and violence: they are seen as inhuman resources by the eyes of their blindly ambitious and foolish superior officers. The squadron is thrown thoughtlessly into quit brutal combat situations and bombing runs in which for some unknown reason it is more important for the squadron members to capture good aerial photographs of explosions than to destroy their targets which is very risky and could end fatal if any mistake were to occur. Their colonels continually raise the number of missions that they are required to fly before being sent home, so that no one is ever sent home. Everyone thinks he is crazy when he insists that millions of people are trying to kill him. Still, no one but Yossarian seems to realize that there is a war going on as Yossarian struggles to stay alive, despite the many parties who seem to want him dead.

Yossarian acts on an impulse, “in the middle of the night, [he] knocked on wood, crossed his fingers, and tiptoed out of his tent to move the bomb line up over Bologna” (Heller 129). Yossarian’s thought process was that he would try anything, even if it meant being court marshaled, to try and get out of participating in the mission. He moved the bomb line, after doing a few lucky rituals, in hopes that his superiors wouldn’t notice. It seems insane to an average person that a man serving his country would risk a seemingly large and important battle for something as simple as his safety, yet all Yossarian was trying to do was save his own life, no matter what else could be at stake. Yossarian’s cognitive thoughts and actions often evoke the other men to initially think he’s crazy but later on believe that, “that crazy bastard may be the only sane one left” (Heller 120). Yossarian proves that sanity can be seen through the veil of insane actions if the actions are placed into context with the surrounding events.

John Yossarian is a bombardier of the 256th Squadron of the Army Air Forces during World War II. He is stationed in Pianosa, a small island off the coast of Italy, and has been ordered to bomb enemy positions. The story begins with Yossarian attempting to escape the war through feigning liver complications, which could be considered the exposition of this story. Through this experience, the reader learns about Yossarian’s hatred and confusion towards the war and his strong desire to avoid it at all costs. Yossarian views the war in a different way than most: he is angered by the arbitrary nature of death and by the fact that at any point, he himself could succumb to the war. It is for this reason that Yossarian is so affected by the death of Snowden, a soldier who died right in front of him in the air.

The novel Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, focuses on Captain John Yossarian, a bombardier in the 256th Squadron of the Army Air Forces during World War II, stationed on Pianosa, a fictionalized island in the Mediterranean off the western coast of mainland Italy. After a mentally devastating combat mission Yossarian tried to get out of flying any more missions and get sent back to America. As we follow him on his mission to escape combat we see many weird things happen to Yossarian and his fellow squadron members along the way. The novel is written mostly from Yossarian’s viewpoint, with some chapters being from other viewpoints.

Would you be willing to sacrifice something that you really care about for the greater good? Utilitarianism is the theory that we should do what is best for the world as a whole, even if that means that there will be some unhappiness. It is the ethical theory that I believe I base most of my moral judgments on, but as with anything, there are flaws to this theory.