Catch 22 Satire Essay

So What’s the Point? An Examination of Satire in Joseph Heller’s Catch-22

The elements of a satirical novel are simple: dark humor, an episodic structure, and a central character that remains rational amongst the chaos and madness. In “Catch-22 and Angry Humor: A study of the Normative Values of Satire”, James Nagel claims that Heller’s novel follows the formula for a satirical novel by featuring various episodes, a “pattern of action which intensifies…the central conflict”, and a setting that is “chaotic, crowded, and filled with images of corruption and decay” (Nagel). Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 uses dark humor to emphasize the insanity and loss of morality of those who fight in World War II; however, these humorous vignettes build up to Heller’s

greater narrative of war’s absurdity. Without them, Heller would be unable to appropriately satirize war and reveal Yossarian’s antiheroism.
Over 60 million people lost their lives in World War II. Widely known as “The Last Great War”, the tensions between the necessity of World War II (i.e. ending Hitler’s wrath) and the absurdity of war itself is a question that begs to be asked when reading Heller’s Catch-22: If all war is absurd and this war arguably “saved the world”, how can one justify the deaths of 60 million people? More specifically, how can those who participated in the war (both soldiers and the establishment alike) justify their acts of murdering the innocent in cold blood? Heller’s answer to this question is dark humor. James Nagel argues that the comedy of the novel is “patently superficial” and “serves only as a surface for the underlying thematic foundation of the novel” (Nagel). Knowing that their death is inevitable, the soldiers use humor to deal with their hopelessness. Nonetheless, this does not keep them from wishing for change. A perfect instance of lack of hope concealed by humor is the milk run in Bologna. The bombardier’s “only hope” is that “it would never stop raining.” However, they “had no hope because they all knew it would” (Heller 118). In other words, the men flying the milk run prayed for bad weather so they would not have to carry out their mission. But, they still remain hopeless because they know the clouds will eventually clear the sky, leaving them with no choice other than to carry out their boss’ orders. Heller stresses their hopelessness even further by following it with humor, stating that “if there was no rain at all” there would be “freakish inexplicable phenomena” like an “epidemic of diarrhea” (Heller 118). By immediately shifting from lack of hope to a joke about diarrhea, Heller is able to accentuate the humor in desperation. The best jokes are the ones that come from a place of despair, for it is easiest to find humor in a situation where all faith is lost. According to Daniel Green in “A World Worth Laughing At: Catch-22 and the Humor of Black Humor”, there is no situation, “not even the bloodiest or most fearful”, in Catch-22 that is “insulated from the further dignity of the joke” or “exempt” from Heller’s dark humor (Green). Without the endless and repetitive jokes, Heller would be unable to reveal the absurdity of fighting in a war. The violence, death, and misery the soldiers experience would simply be gruesome details to a gruesome story. Instead, Heller uses dark humor to emphasize the insanity that war inflicts on those who are forced to fight in it.
The episodic nature of Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 serves the greater purpose of revealing the inherent absurdity of the novel, and more importantly, of war itself.

Every chapter goes into a comprehensive description of the characters that Yossarian interacts with during his time as a pilot in Italy. Though these in-depth explanations seem redundant and frankly, bothersome to your average reader, the role they play is far greater than what it seems on the surface. Each character’s life and the choices he makes are what lead Yossarian to find hope. For example, without Orr, the “dirty goddam midget-assed, apple-cheeked, goggle-eyed, undersized, buck-toothed, grinning, crazy sonofabitchinbastard”, Yossarian would never be able to find the means to flee to Sweden for a better life (Heller 151). Without Aarfy, the “soft, insensitive mass” who doesn’t move out of Yossarian’s way during the a crash landing because he innocently still “can’t hear” him, Yossarian would never have been upset with Orr that day and would have joined in on his secret plan to flee to Sweden, completely changing the course of the entire novel. Each chapter and character’s recurring humor and insanity is also used to reveal Yossarian’s humanity. Additionally, Yossarian’s fellow airmen also represent ignorance. Blindly following the rules and orders given by their superiors, the men are forced to fight in a war they want no part of. They are conditioned to complete senseless quotas for commanding officers who

“don’t give a damn about the men on the airplane” and only want to avoid things that look “so lousy” on their reports (Heller138). These soldiers are young and don’t know any better. They are plucked from their lives at home and taught to be part of a well-oiled and well-financed killing machine—for the honor of being treated as a hero. This is evident in the chapter titled “Catch-22”, when the colonels offer Yossarian a deal to get out of the war, “[glorifying him] and [sending him] home a hero” on the condition that he “becomes [their] pal” (Heller 427). All Yossarian has to do is “find it in [his] heart to like [Colonel Korn and Colonel Cathcart]” (Heller 427). He doesn’t actually have to be a hero—he just has to act like one. This is one of the principal factors of war’s absurdity: how is it fair to take the innocence of not only war’s victims, but of the men who fight in it? Furthermore, what is fair about treating these men as war heroes for being ignorant and then rewarding them for “liking” their officers?
Yossarian is Catch-22’s antihero.

As a result of his traumatizing experiences during the war, he is arguably the only character in the novel that is driven by his emotions. Yossarian consequentially contrasts the insanity of his fellow bombardiers by staying sane amongst their absurdities. Craziness, a common theme in Catch-22, is the only thing that will get a young man out of fighting in the war. In order to leave, they must be cleared as “crazy” by the commanding officers. But, if they try to convince their superiors that they themselves are crazy, the men will fail because “anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn’t really crazy” (Heller 46). Despite his rationality, Yossarian does everything he can to convince his officers that he is crazy in order to save himself from the war. Since nobody believes him to be crazy, Yossarian traps himself and has no other option other than to submit to his officers, and quietly resist the establishment in any way he can. Deciding early on in the novel to “live forever or die in the attempt”, Yossarian carries out his plans to defy by “no longer [giving] a damn [about] whether he miss[es] [his targets] or not” and instead, creates a mission for himself to “come down alive” every time he “went up” in his plane (Heller 29). Additionally, the novel’s structure forces the reader to make it to the end of the book in order to understand why Yossarian is the way that he is. As a result of his gruesome experience with Snowden—which is

only recounted in detail towards the novel’s end—Yossarian is able to see the suffering of war and react appropriately. He is the only character in Catch-22 who feels guilt. This idea becomes painstakingly clear during Snowden’s funeral. Sitting naked in a tree, watching the funeral from afar, Yossarian feels so much shame over Snowden dying and “[bleeding] all over him” that he swears to “never wear a uniform again” (Heller 218). Though this image of a young man sitting naked in a tree during funeral seems humorous (another example of Heller’s ability to find the humor in sadness), transcends the novel’s absurdity. Heller depicts Yossarian in the most vulnerable way possible: bear naked in front of all his peers. However, he is not humiliated for his nudity, but for his inability to save Snowden’s life. Yossarian’s optimism for Snowden’s survival is crushed by the “grim secret Snowden had spilled all over the messy floor” (Heller 440). Snowden’s death, the first one he experiences at a personal level instead of from the safety of his plane, changes Yossarian. It shows him that humans are nothing more than “garbage” without their spirit, and that in order to live a meaningful life, one must preserve their spirit (Heller 440). Yossarian lacks all qualities of a hero, therefore causing him to be labeled as an antihero. Though Yossarian is not a selfless or courageous or strong man like other glorified heroes, he is a human who doesn’t lose his self to war.
Joseph Heller highlights the loss of innocence faced by those who are forced to fight in war. Though many a times it is not their choice, these men have to turn off all human emotions to process the violence that they witness on a daily basis. They become a part of the establishment, submitting to the quotas and directions of their officers, thoughtlessly surrendering their humanity to war, and then being honored as heroes. Catch-22 satirizes war in a way that offers a solution to this absurdity: Yossarian. A glimmer of hope, Yossarian symbolizes those who maintain their morality and compassion as war takes over every aspect of their being. Without him, Catch-22 is nothing more than an examination of war as an endless cycle of insanity. Though war is arguably necessary at times, Heller emphasizes the importance of preserving the morals and sanity of those fighting in it. So now, the question is simple: what is the point of war in the first place if technically, everyone always loses?