Catch 22 Satire

The comedy that Catch-22 brings is ironic in itself, think how can you get humor out of war which entails pain and suffering, that beats me how Heller does it but by whatever means used Heller creates a complete package of humor and real life occurrences which is a great fete in itself. "Though it's comic formula riddle, Heller's novel expresses the apparently inescapable human predicament." (Colmer 213)

It is frequently said that the novel Catch – 22 by Joseph Heller is about Heller’s opinion on war and lack of patriotism. Although it is understandable how one could grasp those concepts from the novel the main crux of the novel is for the reader to have noticed Heller’s use of satire within the characters. Also to be effected by Yosarrian’s evolution. Heller uses satire to portray his outlook on war but also other aspects in society. The other aspects are value of life, misuse of power, women and the inhuman bureaucracy of the military structure as a whole.

There is a strong recurring theme in Joseph Heller’s Catch-22: the amoral will push the moral to either become like them or to be their victims. In a world of an oppressive bureaucracy that values career success over human life, the men of the Twenty-Seventh Airborne are pushed either to conform and accept entropy or to suffer. This theme of either succumbing or dying is highlighted especially in Milo Minderbinder and Snowden; Cathcart’s “feathers in his cap” or “black eyes; and Cathcart and Korn’s proposed deal to Yossarian.

The use of paradox adds not only to the sense of confusion in the book, but to Heller’s use of satire. Most of the novel is a paradox of some sort. Many statements are said then almost immediately contradicted. Catch-22 is a paradox in itself. Heller uses this rhetorical device to criticize the government, military, and overall concept of those in power.

Indeed, the soldiers are dehumanised to the point that they are considered property, “It certainly is not your leg! […]. That leg belongs to the U.S. government. It’s no different than a gear or a bed pan”. Yossarian is reduced to the equivalent of a “bedpan”, the lowest of the low, a humiliating comparison. Such an allusion to a vulgar object demonstrates the impersonality and callous inhumanity of war, where courage, bravery and humans themselves account for little. Yossarian here is illustrated as a mere production unit, a ‘worker’. Marxist critics argue that capitalism, which dominates US politics, turns peoples into things, it reifies them. In Marxist terms, such a capitalist mode of production generates a materialistic view of the world, in which ultimately all of us function as objects and become alienated from ourselves.

Often comedians will crack a joke that seems to make no sense, yet make perfect sense at the same time; something like “I’m self conscious about my body because I don’t go to the gym, but I don’t go to the gym because I’m self conscious about my body.” Some will follow the joke with saying that it was a “catch-22.” If the joke goes over an audience member’s head, it is simply because they have never heard of, or read, the novel Catch-22. Released in 1961, Catch-22 is a satirical war novel by veteran Joseph Heller. In this novel, the reader is introduced to the catch-22: if a soldier were insane, he could be grounded, and all he had to do was ask; however, if he asked, then he was deemed sane, for he saw the risks in his missions, and would

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

Joseph Heller, a popular American satirical novelist wrote the book Catch 22 to “poke” some fun at the American government and military. After reading the novel I found that Heller like to use a lot of hidden satire which led to the class discussion “what the hell was Heller up too?” After going and researching the names of several of the characters in Joseph’s book we found that they all had a meaning to them, it was all comic allusion. Some of the fantastic satire that Heller uses in his book, is dark humor, comic allusion and much more that I will get into later in this essay. The point that I think that Heller was trying to make when he wrote this book was that there was a lot of stuff in the

[which exposes] not only the gaping holes in the fabric of society but also the inability of language to give voice to the outrage of the human condition (Ruderman 1991: 30)” (Downing 111). Heller uses satire to bring light to these realities. Nobody wanted to talk about the horror soldiers dealt with. Catch-22 accurately displays these realities through humor and

 Joseph Heller's narration, dialogue, and characterization in Catch-22 all create a unique perspective of war and our society's bureaucracy. The satire, sarcasm, irony, and general absurdity of the novel provide a view of the irrationality of man's behavior. The horror that is portrayed in Catch-22 is intensified by the humorous way in which it is portrayed. Distortion and exaggeration highlight the characters and scenario while magnifying the confusion. Parallel structure and repetition serve to reinforce the novel's themes.

“Catch-22” was a very influential book even by today’s society; it changes many people’s thoughts on how the Vietnam War is viewed and many more wars after it. Joseph Heller lived a successful life in which he went to many successful colleges in which he had many degrees in, and he also made many successful short stories and novels during his time. Heller was born in Brooklyn, New

Published in 1961, Joseph Heller’s satire novel Catch-22 has established itself as a prominent work in American literary history. Heller bases the novel on his own experiences as a bombardier on the Italian front during the Second World War, following the story of an American Air Force squadron stationed on the fictional island of Pianosa, Italy. The plot is centered around the anti hero Yossarian, whose fear that everyone is trying to kill him drives him to insanity. In Catch-22, Joseph Heller uses irony, humor and a non-chronological and repeated syntax to convey themes of the insanity of war and breakdown of communication in order to make his greater argument against war.

Joseph Heller details the mental and emotional trials of war through the main character Yossarian, in his novel Catch-22. Heller was born on May 1, 1923. He was raised by his two parents, Isaac and Lena Heller. Once he was old enough, he enlisted with the United States Air Force and became a B-25 wing bombardier. He flew a total of 60 missions, and even became first lieutenant. Between 1948 and 1950, Heller attended multiple colleges including the University of Southern California, New York University, and Columbia University (“Joseph Heller”). Heller published his first major work, Catch-22, in 1961. He then became a serious full-time writer by 1975. His major works include Something Happened in 1974, Good As Gold in 1979, God Knows in

You can’t stop flying unless you’re crazy; you cannot not stop flying if you’re sane; and the only people who want to fly are crazy. This absurd logic, hilarious at first, is the root of Catch-22, and is but one such absurd joke among many in the book. In Catch-22, Joseph Heller employs comedy to illustrate how initially comical characteristics can, when pulled to the extremes, lead people to enact cruelties.

Joseph Heller’s classic novel Catch 22 is a satirical story written about problems with bureaucracies like the military and the political machine. Yossarian, in his misadventures throughout the book, encounters multiple characters that embody Heller’s views of a bureaucracy. Bureaucracy cares little for the individual person, and those in the bureaucracy do not wish to spend time and energy on people unless it furthers their own ends. Characters like Colonel Cathcart embody the selfishness of people trying to see how they can take advantage of any situation, while Yossarian and the rest of his squadron are portrayed as innocent common men whose lives are in jeopardy because of the self-centeredness of their leadership. These characters assist