The Inevitability Of Death In Joseph Heller's Catch-22

In life, it is a fact that man must die and there is no getting around it, but for some people

the concept of dying is not an easy one to grasp. Catch-22, is a novel that highlights the impact

of war and the many ways death can be perceived during a time of war. In the novel Catch 22,

Joseph Heller embraces on the inevitability of death and what i really means for a man to die.

Unlike many war novels, Heller uses a comical, yet realistic approach to express his true

thoughts on war, as many of the scenes in his book are dramatized and ironic to allow him to

convey the true message of war. Throughout the book it is evident that Heller denounces the

thought of war and all the evil it brings. Heller uses a narrative approach to

The novel revolves around

Yossarian, the protagonist of the book, as he flashes back on his experiences and encounters

during the painful World War II, a war fought on European turf and directly caused by

Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939. Throughout the book Heller paints a picture of

Yossarian, a cowardly self-serving individual who only cares about leaving the military base and

going home before he gets killed. Throughout the book Heller makes it clear that Yossarian

struggles when faced with the fear of death and how he will do anything to avoid it. Yossarian’s

desires lead him to believe that everyone and everything is out to kill him, so he must protect

himself at all times in order to live his eternal life, and Heller makes it very clear that he will do

anything to protect himself from death, even if he must die trying. Heller uses the term Catch-22

meaning, a situation in which a desired outcome or solution is impossible to attain because of a

set of inherently contradictory rules or conditions, in order to highlight Yossarians struggle with

his perception of death in the Novel Catch 22.

In the beginning of the novel, Catch 22, we are introduced to Yossarian, an