Slaughter House 5 and Catch 22
It is very difficult for any writer to successfully communicate the true nature of war in a work of literature. However, Slaughter House-5 by Kurt Vonnegut and Catch-22 by Joseph Heller both are triumphant in their attempts to convey that singular experience. Both authors accomplish their undertaking in very analogous styles. Their works run along parallel lines and thus each is quite anti-war. From start to finish, irony is woven into each story, exemplifying the idiocy and folly of military institutions, a theme throughout the novels. Almost as prevalent is the subject of sex. Yossarian and Billy both are overly preoccupied with sex and women's bodies. No less important are the characters Hungry Joe and Edgar Derby, who transmit the authors' knowledge of war's casualties that bear no battle wounds. The two authors use these motifs in similar ways to convey their anti-war message. The picture of war that is painted by Vonnegut and Heller is highlighted by their utilization of irony. Their careful strokes of irony on the canvases of their novels help to prove one of their numerous shared themes. The institutions and organizations created by war are bizarre. Many comparisons can be made between M & M Enterprises of Catch-22 and
Hungry Joe, of Catch-22, is without a doubt the only man in Yossarian's squadron who sleeps better knowing he has a mission to fly the next day. His death, which comes "in his sleep while having a dream" (Heller 445) is also very ironic because despite surviving roughly 70 combat missions, 2 times what most pilots must fly, he dies quietly in his sleep. The irony of it makes his passing all the more distressing and poignant. Going deeper, it is possible that Hungry Joe was so adept at living with a mission hanging over his head that when that stress was removed he had forgotten how to live without that ever-present threat of death. Thus, the war destroyed him emotionally and mentally, like so many others. The counterpart to Hungry Joe in Slaughterhouse-Five is Edgar Derby. Derby's story is almost identical to Joe's. Like Joe, he followed the same path as the protagonist for most of the novel. He manages to live through the horrific ordeal of prison camp and other ghastly nightmares. But at the very end he "was caught with a teapot he had taken from the catacombs. He was arrested for plundering. He was tried and shot." (Vonnegut 214) His death, heavily resembling Hungry Joes, came only months before war ended and occurred neither near nor due to combat. This pointless death is disheartening and reminds the reader that there are no guarantees in war. In some respects, his death also reflects the absurdity of the rules of military institutions. He was executed for a mere technicality, something that had no connection to the war. They are both casualties of the environment of war. Of course, Catch-22 follows this same theme, though more subtly. Heller gives a tremendous amount of proof of Yossarian's obsession with women and their bodies. From his start in the military, Yossarian was a sex-maniac. In cadet school he regularly slept with his commanding officer's wife. Heller seems to impart an underlying idea that soldiers' subconsciously want to create life. He does this through Mrs. Scheisskopf, Yossarian's lover. " 'Darling, we're going to have a baby again,' she would say to Yossarian every month." (Heller 80) His implied opinion is identical to Vo
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1459
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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