War, What Is It Good For? Absolutely Nothing
In his novel Catch-22, Joseph Heller gives us a grim portrait of war and the terrible effects on the individuals who must play a role in that war. There are several themes that help Heller to accomplish this. One way he accomplishes this is through the use of characters who have a small or no appearances at all and are only alluded to by other characters. Just as Heller illustrates that a character does not need a large role to have an impact, so too does he illuminate that power is a substantial aspect of war. The text thus becomes a comment on Heller’s endeavors to bear witness by analyzing the actions of a wartime society and examining the themes of blind patriotism, abuse of power, existentialism,
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Through out the book existentialism goes hand in hand with loss of faith. Many of the soldiers not only lose the hope and joy as they enter. These men are also at a great risk of losing their faith. Because of the horror they see and the destruction and death they are forced to engage in, they question their belief in religion and good. “The sense that bearing witness to something of such unimaginable horror as the holocaust puts the act of witnessing itself under extreme pressure”(War). The horrors these men see can be so traumatic and it causes them to doubt everything: How can an all loving God allow this to happen? The Chaplain is the best example of how this loss of faith is portrayed in the novel. The Chaplain, a man of deep faith, is forced to question some of his beliefs. The suffering he sees all around him appears to be senseless. “Doubts of such kind gnawed at the chaplain 's lean, suffering frame insatiably. Was there a single true faith, or a life after death?”(268) The character in Catch-22 who most illustrates the theme of existentialism is the cynical Yossarian. He constantly questions the point of anything he does. Even an act that one might see virtue in, Yossarian questions: “I used to get a big kick out of saving people’s lives. Now I wonder what the hell’s the point, since they all have to die
Heller, Joseph. "Chapter 21." Catch-22. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2004. 210. Print.
At what point do the qualities of an antihero become heroic? Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 follows the experiences of protagonist and noted antihero Captain John Yossarian, a bombardier of the 256th Squadron of the Air Force stationed on the island of Pianosa during World War II. Frequently opposed by the immoralities and illogic of war and military bureaucracy and haunted by the deaths of men in his squadron, Yossarian is overcome by the paranoia that “they‘re trying to kill [him]” (26), and constantly avoids his militant duties in effort to stay alive. Due to his seemingly foremost concern of self-preservation, avoidance of responsibilities and cowardice, Yossarian is commonly perceived as an antihero. However, the goodness of his character is revealed through his moral consideration of others, the way his fellow men admire him, and his reactions to the corruption he discovers in the military system. Thus, although Yossarian does not possess the typical characteristics of a traditional hero, his inherent concern for the well-being of others and defiant acts ultimately prove his heroism.
The clerk sneezed three times in rapid succession and looked at me through watery eyes. "What did you say your name was?" I told him my name and he turned to a towering file cabinet overflowing with papers and brown manila envelopes. After sneezing three times and searching through a drawer, he pulled out a thin folder and laid it on the counter. "Ah," he said in a nasal voice laden with condescension and impatience. "I see you have no experience in our particular area of expertise. Come back when you get some experience." I explained that I was there to get experience. "Well, I don't see how you can find any work with your experience," the clerk groused, peering at me through a pair of horn-rimmed glasses. "Federal regulation Catch-22." He sneezed three times. I stared, trying to comprehend the logic of this ineffectual bureaucrat. He wouldn't hire me with my level of experience, but I could only get experience by working at this company. He sneezed three times. There was only one catch, and it was Catch-22.
Taking place during World War II, the novel “Catch-22” introduces Captain John Yossarian, who is in the United States Air Force, while in a hospital acquiring from an illness of his liver. He is constantly concerned that people are trying to kill him, proving in postponing his number of missions and going to extremities at times such as poisoning his own squadron and moving the bomb line during the Great Big Siege of Bologna. Yossarian’s character endeavors at all costs to stay in the hospital by reason of "There was a much lower death rate inside the hospital than outside the hospital, and a much healthier death rate. Few people died unnecessarily." (175). While he desperately refused to complete his never ending missions in the dilemma of Catch-22, author Joseph Heller classifies Yossarian as a hero because of his loyalty, his ability to remain sane throughout the war, and his heroic characteristics.
Heller’s text in challenging a specific vice or folly through satire proved to be exceptionally effective as today’s current issues continue to mimic those in Catch-22. Milo Minderbinder is a man that has no allegiance to any country or morality and is only dedicated to profit. Milo’s role as a mess officer started off with the intention of feeding the men with the best food he could give, but eventually became a syndicate, Milo & Minderbinder Enterprises, where goods are transported through planes without regard to the safety of the men that support it. When Milo and the other men in the army arrive at a hotel in Cairo, Milo purchases all the Egyptian cotton believing that it was a great business deal. Only to soon find out that he cannot sell the cotton because it is not in demand and can ruin his business.
It is hardly reasonable to expect a man who will forgo employment that allows such benefits like the necessity of food to attend to the needs of a war. Yet some people criticized Henry Miller because he did not take action; he hardly discussed the war in Tropic of Cancer; and, in their opinion, it is his moral obligation as a citizen-writer to address it. However, Miller is defensible only because his “mind is on the peace treaty all the time” (Miller, 143). The silence about the war in the novel suggests a stance of “extreme pacifism,” which is defensible because of his autobiographical honesty about his radical individualism and the artistic intent to describe the beauty of keeping in touch with humanity in spite of eventual annihilation (Orwell, 1 ).
“The alternating play of humor and horror creates a dramatic tension throughout that allows the book to be labeled as a classic both of humor and of war. With the humor in Catch-22 we are forced to conclude is only secondary. Where Heller comes through in unalleviated horror is where the message lies. The books humor does not alleviate the horror it heightens it by contrast.” (Riley, Carolyn & Phyllis Carmel Mendelson).
A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain ...
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 aimed specifically at the imperious bureaucracy in the military, the current nature of man, and the corruption of religion; all of which accentuate the senselessness of war itself. Through Yossarian, who is conscience of what is sane, along with characters who are not, Heller emphasizes his ridicule by making what is appropriate seem peculiar and what is ludicrous seem common, ultimately giving the reader a viewpoint that proves astonishingly effective.
War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, written by the talented author Chris Hedges, gives us provoking thoughts that are somewhat painful to read but at the same time are quite personal confessions. Chris Hedges, a talented journalist to say the least, brings nearly 15 years of being a foreign correspondent to this book and subjectively concludes how all of his world experiences tie together. Throughout his book, he unifies themes present in all wars he experienced first hand. The most important themes I was able to draw from this book were, war skews reality, dominates culture, seduces society with its heroic attributes, distorts memory, and supports a cause, and allures us by a constant battle between death and love.
Bureaucracy and war are common subjects of many satirical novels, but Joseph Heller creates a complete illogical and absurd world formulated around both of these subjects in his own satirical work, Catch-22. In Heller’s formless novel Catch-22, Yossarian, the protagonist and a young bombardier, is stationed on the small island of Pianosa during World War II along with with many other “insane,” complex, and significant characters, who are forced into carrying an always increasing number of dangerous flying missions. While Yossarian is deployed, he struggles with the inevitability of death and his mortality, defining his own morals, finding a way to survive, and the horror of war during the chaos and carnage of World War II. The motifs of madness and absurdity, along with the theme of sanity vs insanity, circulate throughout; Heller uses many of the characters’ thoughts, actions, and the famous “Catch-22” to illustrate these themes. Heller uses different literary, satirical, and absurdist techniques, such as paradoxical statements and irony, to criticize the meaninglessness of war and life and the corrupt nature of the bureaucracy.
Often, one may sense a conflict that one must fight against an intangible enemy that one feels is there. The temptation of competition, envy, or peer pressure can cause one to change one’s actions and ideals, even when this conflict only prevails in one’s own mind. When the mind generates a war that does not even exist, the premise is most likely an incomprehension of the subject matter, leading to assumption about the situation based on one’s knowledge, creating a self-waged war. These controlling cranial concoctions remain an important theme in literature, especially literary compositions on the subject of historical wars themselves. One such example lies in A Separate Peace by John Knowles, a novel on the subject of World War II from the perspective of prep school students. In the novel, the protagonist Gene creates his own wars based on the ignorant presumption that his associates compete with him, his personal battles reflect the large-scale wars fought by adults, and Knowles utilizes these personal wars to convey a moral lessson to the reader.
Catch-22 follows the protagonist, Yossarian’s experience during WWII. However, the book is nowhere near chronological and jumps from different time periods of Yossarian’s service in the military. The novel depicts many events of where Yossarian
In Catch-22, opposite Miller's The Crucible, Joseph Heller utilizes his uncanny wit to present a novel fraught with dark, satiric comedy tied up in a relatively formless plot. The character of Nately acts as a focal point for many of the humorous oxymoronic criticisms contained within Catch-22, as "Nately had a bad start. He came from a good family" (Heller 34), and he ".was the finest, least dedicated man in the whole world" (35). Proliferating Catch-22, satirical dark comedy appears in every chapter, even in the depiction of death (Cockburn 179): ".McWatt turned again, dipped his wings in salute, decided, oh, what the hell, and flew into a mountain"(Heller 157). Furthermore, the plot of Catch-22 follows a cyclical structure in that repetitions of particular events recur in a planned randomness, an oxymoron that pays tribute to Catch-22 itself (Merrill 205-209). A recurring structure within Heller's novel defining his ...
Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22 deals with many issues that mankind is prone to deal with. One issue that is raised is the subject of theism versus atheism.