Flying in the Face of Sanity
Catch-22 was written by Joseph Heller, and is about a WWII oddball bombardier named Yossarian. The novel was brilliantly written. The depths of the various characters were unparallel to those of any other author. There are thirty-nine characters in the book and every one was unique. Heller must have been a genius to keep all of them straight. This reader struggled to keep track of them and had to jot down a few notes while reading. Catch-22 is laugh out loud funny. It is a satirical indictment of military madness and stupidity, and the desire of an ordinary man to survive it. The author throws in symbolism for bureaucratic absurdities, religion, and social issues to actually make the reader think. Anyone who does not like Catch-22 does not like to think. Heller's opinions appeal to every person because his characters oppose each other on issues. Heller was capable of looking at the world from a different perspective. That is what made the novel so intriguing. He would take the idea of maintaining sanity during war and completely flip the concept upside down and force the reader to question one's own sanity. The reoccurring argument in the story carried on by Yossarian illustrate
s that point. He is convinced that everyone is trying to kill him. The thought Heller put into this is incomparable because every "insane" remark Yossarian says has a base that is completely sane and entirely true. "No one's trying to kill you," Clevinger cried. "Then I'd be a damned fool to feel any other way, wouldn't I?" Yossarian rejected the advice with a skeptical shake of his head. "When I look up, I see people cashing in. I don't see heaven or saints or angels. I see people cashing in on every decent impulse and every human tragedy." On another level this book is about finding one's place in society. The characters found themselves through struggle, which gave them a clear image of their position in the hierarchy of life. The most obvious example of this is the Pianosa Army Air Corps base run by mad, ambitious Generals, reeking of arrogance and sycophancy, for whom success and failure are the only measures of worth and survival is always at risk. Their survival in career terms is maintained at the expense of the literal survival of the officers and enlisted men who lie below them in the military chain of command. The Generals take advantage of others to further themselves in their careers. There are other examples of characters that struggle to fit in, and their feelings of desolation are clea
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 895
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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