preview

How Does Billy Pilgrim Use Satire In Catch 22

Decent Essays

How does one know they are right? Does one viewpoint inherently have more value than another? Unconventional viewpoints towards war are often portrayed in classic literature from the perspective of its soldiers. Kurt Vonnegut, in his novel Slaughterhouse-Five, writes the story of Billy Pilgrim, a WWII veteran with PTSD who lives his life “stuck in time”. Throughout the non-chronological course of the novel, Pilgrim questions his faith and purpose and eventually becomes trapped in his own fantastical reality as an attempt to escape his horrific memories of the war. Yossarian, in Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, also relies on escapism to make it through his own experience in WWII. After a series of traumatic events leads to many of his comrades dying, he runs from the war and escapes to Sweden. His lack of faith in religion, his superiors, and purpose of the war leads to Yossarian’s escape to Sweden, a country free of American influence. Pilgrim and Yossarian’s integrity and sanity is consistently questionable, as well as their sanity during and after the war. Vonnegut and Heller both use satirical means to question the effects of …show more content…

Catch-22 closes with Yossarian’s escape from the deranged, knife-wielding lover of Yossarian’s fellow soldier, Nately. After Nately’s death, Yossarian breaks the news of the death to Nately’s lover, and she blames it all on him. As he runs from her, “Nately’s whore was hiding just outside the door.” She swings the knife, “missing him by inches, and he took off” (Heller 453). By narrowly escaping, Yossarian survives destruction, unlike the rest of his friends. His predilection towards flight over fight saves him, showing Heller’s belief that escapism is a mark of sanity. When Yossarian experiences a failed escape, it leads to the downfall of not only his short-lived faith, but also that of a man he

Get Access