Satire is defined as "an exaggerated, often witty or ironic, indirect approach to express ones' opinions or disgust with the aim to ridicule a desired victim." Both the novels I studied fulfill this definition and I hope to discuss the many methods Joseph Heller employed to achieve satire throughout both Catch 22 and Good as Gold.

Joseph Heller, who is perhaps one of the most famous writers of the 20th century, writes on some emotional issues such as war. He does not deal with these issues in the normal fashion, instead he criticizes them and the institutions that help carry these things out. Heller in fact goes beyond criticizing, he satirizes. Throughout his two major novels, Catch 22 and Good as Gold he satirizes almost all of Americas respected institutions. To truly understand these novels the reader must recognize them as satires and why they are so.

Catch 22 is a satire set in World War 2. This novel is set in the small island of Pianosa in the Mediterranean Sea late in the war when Germany was no longer a threat. It is the struggle of one man, Yossarian, to survive the war. Throughout this novel Yossarian

In Catch 22 Heller also portrays characters that hold high-ranking positions in the military as being incompetent and irresponsible. Almost all the characters in the novel are portrayed as incompetent according to satiristic fashions, for example the numerous Doctors Yossarian fooled with his liver condition. Others include Gus and Wes, Dr Daneekas' assistants, as being incompetent for their tendency to rush people to hospital for a fever and painting genuinely sick peoples toes and gums violet.

Good as Gold is mainly a satire on the White House and Government. Heller, in this novel, criticizes politics almost from page one and does an excellent job of it, a number of reviewers found the Washington satire "brilliant and incisive."

Still one further element of Heller's humour is his comical use of language, the dialogue in both these books is extremely comical at times. An example of this is the hearing when Clevinger is being tried; throughout this entire scene, the characters often retort to just one-word sentences and often contradict something they just said a moment before. The squadron that the book features often overcomes the officers in charge of them by using comical language to confuse them.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2300
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)