Catch-22
In his World War II novel, Catch-22, Joseph Heller satirizes a variety of bureaucrats and the military-industrial complex. In this story the protagonist is Captain Joseph Yossarian, a World War II bombardier, who is being stationed on the island of Pisona. He is an individualist who seeks to protect his own life and tries various means to extricate himself from further missions because he hates the war. Clevinger is a member of Yossarian's squadron who constantly argues with Yossarian that people must obey their institutions and fight the war. Colonel Cathcart attempts to become a general by volunteering his squadrons for the most dangerous missions possible and by constantly raising the number of missions that the men must fly to obtain leave. Lieutenant Nately is one of Yossarian's colleagues who comes from a wealthy family and proposes matrimony to a whore he meets during the war. Yossarian and every single other member of the squadron we are introduced to in the novel are crazy in their own way, but despite this they are unable to be grounded because of a military clause which lends the novel its title. Pilots, bombardiers and navigators can only gain removal from the war should they invoke catch 22, which states that
When they realize that Yossarian cannot be persuaded against his decision to not participate in any more missions, the officers try to make a deal with Yossarian. They will send him home as long as he agrees with them and continues the war effort. If he does not give in, he will be court-martialed for being involved in black market practices. Yossarian protests against such wrongful accusations, but the officers claim they are justified in jailing an innocent man to keep the war effort going. Yossarian, then, pretends to agree. As he is leaving, he meets a private in green fatigues, which turns out to be Nately's whore. She stabs him in her attempt to kill Yossarian for the second time and in order to supposedly avenge Nately's death. He is then taken to the hospital. There he decides to run away to avoid court-martialing and avoid Nately's whore. However, despite these tactics, Yossarian cannot avoid combat entirely and is haunted by the death of his comrades. At Avignon, Snowden, a squadron gunner, dies in Yossarian's arms. After this, Yosssarian is disturbed by the terrible memories of his attempt to save Snowden. Following this traumatic event, a man is killed and dumped into Yossarian's tent. His name was Mudd, and he died just two hours after his arrival. Everyone denies the existence of Mudd, so he li
Some common words found in the essay are:
Avignon Snowden, Joseph Heller, Nately Yossarian's, Colonel Cathcart, War II, Clevinger Yossarian's, heller reader, Catch-22 Joseph, World War, heller reader entertained, world war ii, mission yossarian, catch-22 joseph heller, nately's whore, people fly, catch 22, colonel cathcart, war effort, joseph heller, war ii, reader entertained,
Approximate Word count = 896
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
