Catch 22 Language Analysis

Ariel Hughes
Lloyd
AP English 3-6th
1 December 2015
A True Catch-22: The Dilemma of Conflicting Views
Nothing is ever as simple as it first appears. Because many people take great pride in the army and those who serve in it, the description of the army in Catch 22 has made the novel vulnerable to much criticism. In Catch 22, the army is portrayed as a bureaucratic system, and Joseph Heller has changed the perception of the army in the eyes of readers. The idea of keeping the army in the war depicts the evil nature of army commanders, therefore those who praise the army and its people have created the argument that the language used in Catch 22 is ludicrous and disrespectful, leading to the idea that the novel should be banned. However, the

so-called "dangerous" language that Heller uses helps to add to the highly criticized lunacy of the army, assisting in exuding how the author depicts the world as a game to be carefully played, while war itself is an even more unsound game that is to be played through the utilization of different strategies. The language that is so heavily condemned is also a key factor that helps to create a realistic environment for the reader, existing for the purpose of getting across the point that the conditions of modern society are blatantly dreadful, even though there are those who find the abysmal community to be awe-inspiring.
Joseph Heller was born on May 1st, 1923, in Brooklyn, New York (Abdullah 1). He died on December 12th, 1999 in East Hampton, New York. Heller was an American writer whose novel Catch 22 was one of the most significant works of protest literature to appear after World War II. During World War II, Heller flew sixty combat missions as a Bombardier with the US Air Force in Europe. He also worked as a promotion manager for McCall's, meanwhile writing his novel Catch 22 during his spare time. The term Catch-22 entered the English language as a reference to a proviso that trips one up no matter which way one turns.

The anti-war novel Catch 22 follows the life of Yossarian and his fellow Army Air Corps officers during a stage of World War II.
The disillusionment with the novel Catch 22 has been caused by many factors, such as the completely unsentimental viewpoints of war as described by Heller, as well as a complete disregard of the romanticism of war that was popular during the time due to the heroics of World War II. Catch 22 is a novel heavily reliant on the experience Heller had from his time in the Air Force that presents a tale of war in an entirely new light. It was a highly controversial topic upon its publication, as critics either loved or hated the novel, mostly for the same or very similar reasons. Catch 22 presents a completely new vision of war, replacing ideas of well-known glories with a nightmare of paradox, bureaucracy and extreme violence (Parker-Anderson 1). Much of the glory was tainted by the extreme use of objectionable language throughout Catch 22, which created much conflict amongst teachers and high school board members as to whether the novel was an appropriate addition to school

curriculums. The Library of Congress has created an extensive research exhibit that is more widely known as “The Books That Shaped America”. Many of the books included in the exhibit have been either banned or challenged. A school board in Strongsville, Ohio would not allow the novel Catch 22 to be taught in high school English classes in 1972. This was eventually resolved in a 1976 District Court ruling known as the Minarcini versus Strongsville case, where the ban on the novel was overturned (Parker-Anderson 1). The irony incorporated into the novel was more than expected from war novels after the occurrence of the Vietnam War, and many felt that the novel was a prophecy of the war, as well as the disenchantment with the military that Americans experienced during the time. Meanwhile, World War II was in its wake and the general public felt that WWII was a heroic fight, therefore Catch 22 was a huge shock. However, there are those who feel that Heller’s realism made the book much more relatable. Ron Rosenbaum is the author of The Shakespeare Wars and Explaining Hitler. In his article about the novel Catch 22, Rosenbaum first explains how his father was never a big reader and hardly wrote any letters, especially not to authors. Rosenbaum digresses that his father had asked to borrow a copy of the novel Catch 22, and became an instant fan. He explains that it shouldn't have been so surprising. His father had served as a wartime second lieutenant and was quite fond of quoting him and his sister in military maxims. Rosenbaum likes to believe that his father was impressed when he stopped him with what Rosenbaum later came to think of as Joseph Heller’s hilarious refutation of Kant's Categorical Imperative. He later continues on to say that he thinks about the way reading Catch 22 changed his life. He claims, “Sometimes I think the book predisposed me to tangle with authority, and made me think that all authority was a joke and founded upon pretense. But even though the book shaped me from a young age, the way I think about it changed, some what abruptly, about a dozen years ago” (Rosenbaum 1).
One of the most highly controversial notions that has been acknowledged about Catch 22 is the very adult use of language, slight sensuality and intense violence seen throughout the novel.

The pathway through war by use of anecdotes and character perception traces the arduous efforts of Yossarian to avoid being victimized by circumstance, in this instance Catch-22, a formidable, unwritten loophole found in basically every written law. “There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to” (Heller 46). The entirety of Catch-22 is hypocritical. Due to Catch-22, justice is never exacted, the innocents become the victims, and the squadron that Yossarian is a member of has no choice when it comes to flying over twice the amount of missions given by the Air Force Code. Run ragged due to Catch-22, Yossarian becomes the witness to the horrendous slaughter of his crew, as well as the destruction of those closest to him. Yossarian’s fear of death is highly intensified, and eventually gets to be so much that he

cannot bear to put on the uniform, so when Yossarian receives his medal he is in naked form. After this point, the hypocrisy is noted, as Yossarian becomes so logical that he is believed to be crazy. His logic is what keeps him surviving, however, and he uses it to dedicate himself to staying alive in the world that wants him annihilated. Chris Cox, like many, has had his own copy of the novel for years, but has never gotten the chance to actually read it (Cox 1). He states that even after fifty years, it was indeed worth it to take the time to read the book. Cox states that Catch 22 itself is a bureaucratic idiocy so wonderful that it leaves you staring in awe. Cox continues on, saying how it was difficult to describe how glorious and hilarious the logic becomes as the novel unfolds. Cox claims that the novel is entirely paradoxical, that insanity is sanity. He later discusses how Heller’s delineation of the foolishness of war became a wondrous project for him.
It should be abundantly clear that Catch 22, despite some of its outrageous scenery and blunt language, is a highly serious work with no true reason to be banned. Heller’s sometimes extreme techniques have a caustic intelligence that goes deep into a world that, on the surface, is nothing more than a funny story. However, the further down you go, Heller digresses a world of ruthlessness and advancements, harsh cruelties, and major disregards for anything that resembles human life. By contemplating Heller’s impassivity to what lies on the surface, it would seem to be absurd to judge Heller’s novel by standards of mere language differences that are seemingly crude in comparison to the wants of some people, such as high school teachers, when these differences are what create the boundary between the surrealism of a novel and the realism of what happens in real life. Therefore, Catch 22 is a novel that should not be banned due to what some would consider to be “dangerous” language.

Works Cited Page
Abdullah, Mansur G., Michael C. Anderson, Michael J. Anderson, Adam Augustyn. “Joseph Heller American Author”. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web
Cox, Chris. “Catch-22: 50 Years Later”. The Guardian. Web. 10 October 2011
Heller, Joseph. “Catch-22”. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster/Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1996. Print.
Parker-Anderson, Scott. “Banned Books that Shaped America: Catch-22”. Waldina. Web. 24 April 2013
Rosenbaum, Ron. “Seeing Catch-22 Twice”. Slate. Web. 2 August 2011