Running head: MWSG: CATCH-22

MWSG: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Nick Greenlees
March 8, 2015
West Career and Technical Academy

MWSG: CATCH-22

Reference and Publication Information:

Heller, J. (1961/2011). Catch-22 [Adobe Digital Editions version].
Biographical Information:
Joseph Heller was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 1, 1923 to a family of first generation
Russian-Jewish immigrants. He was raised by a single mother since, unfortunately, his father
passed away when he was only five years old. Critics believe that Heller developed many of his
dark views on life from this. As far as his wisecracking humor goes, many believe that Heller
growing up and frequently visiting Coney Island, a popular amusement park in Brooklyn, played
a major role in that. However, contrary to popular belief, Heller claims to have recalled little
childhood influence except for his favorite childhood literary piece, The Illiad by Homer, an
eighth-century poet. Hellers main inspiration for Catch-22 is believed to have come after
graduating high school when Heller enlisted in the Army Air Corps at the age of 19, shortly after
America entered World War II. Two years later, at the age of 21, Heller was sent to Corsica, an
island off the coast of Italy, where he flew sixty missions as a bombardier, earning
accommodations for his actions such as a Presidential Unit Citation. Interestingly enough,
Hellers situation is almost identical to that of Yossarian's, the main character of his novel Catch22. Yossarian was also a bomber in the Army Air Corps stationed in an island off the coast of
Italy during World War II, but on Pianosa rather than Corsica. The only real difference between
their situations is, well, themselves. Unlike Yossarian, Heller says that he was never afraid of
war; in fact, he goes as far as to say that he wanted to be there How did I feel about the war
when I was in it?" Heller wrote in the letter to an academic preparing a collection of essays about
the book. "Much differently than Yossarian felt and much differently than I felt when I wrote the
novel In truth I enjoyed it and so did just about everyone else I served with, in training and
even in combat. (Bates, 2011) Yossarian on the other hand, hated being in the war and wanted
nothing but to make it home as soon as possible, alive Havermeyer was a lead bombardier who
never missed. Yossarian was a lead bombardier who had been demoted because he no longer
gave a damn whether he missed or not. He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt, and
his only mission each time he went up was to come down alive. (Heller, 1961/2011, p. 20)
Heller states that he never regretted serving in the war, whereas Yossarian indefinitely does.
However similar Heller and Yossarian are, Heller claims that his time in the war had little impact
on Catch-22 but critics alike, blatantly disagree as many similarities are found in both their
position, occupation, and personality throughout the novel.
Historical Information:
Catch-22 was first published on October 11, 1961 during the Cold War and shortly after World
War II. However, although Catch-22 was published in 1961, Heller worked on the novel
primarily over the span of the 1950s, with much of his influence believed to be his satirical
reflection on his time spent in the war along with the scandalous bureaucracy of the time. Unlike
other authors at the time, Heller challenged the literary war Meta. To explain, when Catch-22
was released most concurrent novels about war tended to be very serious works with tragic tones.
Catch-22 was just the opposite, a satirical black comedy, filled with orders from above that made
no sense and characters who just wanted to stay alive The government paid him well for every
bushel of alfalfa he did not grow. The more alfalfa he did not grow, the more money the

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government gave him, and he spent every penny he didnt earn on new land to increase the
amount of alfalfa he did not produce. Major Majors father worked without rest at not growing
alfalfa. (Heller, 1961/2011, p. 62) The book was so jarring that, upon its initial release, it wasn't
universally received and had very mixed reviews. However, Heller reportedly knew that he
published the novel essentially expecting that this would happen, stating I wanted the reader to
be amused, and I wanted him to be ashamed that he was amused. My literary bent is more
toward the morbid and the tragic. Great carnage is taking place and my idea was to use humor to
make ridiculous the things that are irrational and very terrible." (Bates, 2011)
Genre and Its Characteristics:
Psychological
Characteristics: set in any time period or place, a psychological novel focuses on the
complex mental and emotional lives of its characters and explores the various levels of
mental activity.
Catch-22 is an example of the psychological genre because it focuses on the various
mental and emotional lives of its characters, often reflecting and critiquing the time
periods Meta. In addition, there are many different types of complexities among its
characters, from rational and sane to paradoxical and borderline insane.
it was even possible that none of what he thought had taken place, really had taken
place, that he was dealing with an aberration of memory rather than of perception, that he
never really had thought he had seen what he now thought he once did think he had seen,
that his impression now that he once had thought so was merely the illusion of an
illusion, and that he was only now imagining that he had ever once imagined seeing a
naked man sitting in a tree at the cemetery. (Heller, 1961/2011, p. 207)
Its meningitis, he called out emphatically, waving the others back. Although Lord
knows theres not the slightest reason for thinking so.
Then why pick meningitis? inquired a major with a suave chuckle. Why not, lets say,
acute nephritis?
Because Im a meningitis man, thats why, and not an acute-nephritis man, retorted the
colonel. And Im not going to give him up to any of your kidney birds without a
struggle. I was here first. (Heller, 1961/2011, p. 136)
Setting:
1944, Pianosa
The island of Pianosa lies in the Mediterranean Sea eight miles south of Elba. It is very
small and obviously could not accommodate all of the actions described. Like the setting
of this novel, the characters, too, are fictitious.

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Title and Epigraph:

The title, Catch-22, is significant because it represents the entirety of the book. Yossarian
is constantly experiencing Catch-22s throughout the novel which frustrate him to no end,
which create the preface of the novel. In addition, shortly after the books release, the
phrase catch-22 became an official word in the English dictionary, meaning a dilemma or
difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or
dependent conditions.
Epigraph - The island of Pianosa lies in the Mediterranean Sea eight miles south of
Elba. It is very small and obviously could not accommodate all of the actions
described. Like the setting of this novel, the characters, too, are fictitious. Joseph
Heller
This straightforward and comedic epigraph tells us the setting of the book as well as that
it is a piece of fiction. It suggests that the novel will have a comedic tone and will be
unrealistic, and isnt to be taken entirely seriously, like a hyperbole.
Narration or Point of View:
3rd Person -- Limited Omniscient
Characterization:
Yossarian - aloof, cynical, cowardly
Insanity is contagious. This is the only sane ward in the whole hospital. Everybody is
crazy but us. This is probably the only sane ward in the whole world, for that matter.
(Heller, 1961/2011, p. 7)
INDIRECT
Milo Minderbinder - mercenary, traitor, astute
Yossarian also thought Milo was a jerk; but he also know that Milo was a genius.
(Heller, 1961/2011, p. 194)
DIRECT
Major Major Major Major - inconspicuous, absurd, dull
At the state university he took his studies so seriously that he was suspected by the
homosexuals of being a Communist and suspected by the Communists of being a
homosexual. He majored in English history, which was a mistake. (Heller, 1961/2011, p.
64)

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INDIRECT
Doc Daneeka - apprehensive, afraid, deceitful
Doc Daneeka tended each moaning man that night with the same glum and profound
and introverted grief he showed at the airfield the day of the Avignon mission. (Heller,
1961/2011, p. 200)
INDIRECT
Clevinger - absurd, manly, generic
And if that wasnt funny, there were lots of things that werent even funnier. (Heller,
1961/2011, p. 10)
INDIRECT
Chaplain Tappman - shy, amateurish, supportive
The chaplain had failed miserably, had choked up once again in the face of opposition
from a stronger personality. It was a familiar, ignominious experience, and his opinion of
himself was low." (Heller, 1961/2011, p. 151)
DIRECT
Conflict and Resolution:
Man vs. Society: Yossarian vs. Society
Resolution: Yossarian wishes to leave war and return home, alive. To do this, Yossarian
must complete a certain number of missions or be declared mentally insane. However,
every time Yossarian completes the amount of missions required, the required number
increases, meaning that he will never be able to return home. Having no other options,
Yossarian declares himself to be mentally insane. However, they determine that if he was
sane enough to want to leave war, that he must actually be sane. Since Yossarian is unable
to return home in a sociable acceptable way he decides to elope to Sweden.
Symbols:
The Soldier in White = Dispensable Liabilities
Physically, the soldier in white, was an unknown, nameless soldier that lied in the
hospital with bandages covering his entire body (hence the name, soldier in white.) The
soldier in white is one of the first things Yossarian describes in the novel and it is
referenced to many times throughout the novel. The soldier in white represents how the
Bureaucracy, specifically the Army, treats and regards its soldiers, as dispensable
liabilities. So much so, that later in the novel, the original soldier in white has passed
away and been replaced by another, however no one notices this and merely assumes that

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it is the same soldier as before. This dramatically re enforces the symbol as a whole, as
soldiers in white seem to be a common occurrence and no one seems to notice.
He sent shudders of annoyance scampering up ticklish spines, and everybody fled from
him - everybody but the soldier in white, who had no choice. The soldier in white was
encased from head to toe in plaster and gauze. He had two useless legs and two useless
arms. All they ever really saw of the soldier in white was a frayed black hole over his
mouth. The soldier in white had been filed next to the Texan, and the Texan sat sideways
on his own bed and talked to him throughout the morning, afternoon and evening in a
pleasant, sympathetic drawl. The Texan never minded that he got no reply. (Heller,
1961/2011, p. 4)
Chocolate-Covered Cotton = Deception
Milo Minderbinder finds himself with an inexhaustible amount of cotton that he cannot
sell. Milo then decides to simply cover the cotton with chocolate in an attempt to sell the
cotton to all of the personnel at Pianosa. Surprisingly, everyone at Pianosa, except for
Yossarian, loves his candy and Milo ends up making a killing off of it. This desperate
and greedy action shows Milos true colors as well as symbolizes Bureaucracy's
deception. The chocolate is worthless; its only true purpose is to mask the cotton, which
coincidently is also utterly worthless. This demonstrates how bureaucracy can be
deceptive, fooling many by its appearance while unable to account any real merit.
I can't think of a single person who's done more for the men than you have. Who gave
them chocolate-covered cotton? (Heller, 1961/2011, p. 284)
Aerial Photographs = Dehumanization of War
Often, especially later in the novel, when Yossarian and the others go on missions, they
discover that the true purpose of these missions were for aerial photographs. Either to
make the explosions very close together in order to produce a better picture (sometimes
even disregarding the actual target area just to make for a better picture) or to clear out
shrubbery in order for more and clearer aerial photos to be taken. Thus, proving that the
bureaucracy cares little about the actual missions but rather about the aesthetics of war,
which clearly displays the level of dehumanization they regard the war and its people
with.
General Peckem feels it makes a much nicer aerial photograph when the bombs explode
close together. (Heller, 1961/2011, p. 147)
Colonel Cathcart wants to come out of this mission with a good clean aerial
photograph. (Heller, 1961/2011, p. 253)

Message/Universal Truth:

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Explicit: Yossarian: There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified
that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate
was the process of a rational mind. (Heller, 1961/2011, p. 33)
Catch-22 in itself is a logical paradox that was founded upon a conversation between Doc
Daneeka and Yossarian. Yossarian wants nothing but to leave the war and return home
alive, however, because he wants to leave the war, he is unable to. Yossarian claims to be
insane in order to leave the war, but the military will not let him leave because it is
determined that only a sane person would want to leave war and stop flying missions. So,
in order for him to be declared insane by the military and leave the war, he would have
had to claim that he liked to fly missions and being in the war as a whole. There are
countless Catch-22s similarly as crazy throughout the novel that frustrate Yossarian to no
end. Another prime example being when Doc Daneeka states he was on McWatts flight,
when he really wasnt. McWatts plane crashes and even though Doc Daneeka is alive
and standing right before them, the military refuses to recognize that he wasnt killed in
the plane crash. In addition, Yossarian rips up Lucianas address, making it impossible for
him to find her, and only realizes how much he loves her after he does such. Catch-22s
present the idea that many things in society, specifically bureaucracy, are simply riddled
with logical paradoxes. This idea is reinforced when the reader understands that the only
sane person in the novel is the only person who sees the error of the bureaucracys ways,
Yossarian himself.
Implicit: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
In Catch-22, we come across many characters with vastly different opinions on what is
right or in other words, what they believe to be beautiful. For example, Yossarian finds
no beauty in war and only desires to make it back home alive whereas Clevinger only
finds beauty in war, and wishes to serve his country even if it means dying. Both believe
each others desires to be wrong and find their own to be right. This difference of opinion
is a prime example that demonstrates how peoples ideas of beauty and rightness can be
vastly different but is still considered beautiful. In other words, that different people have
different ideas about what exactly is beautiful. This does not mean that either party is
wrong, but simply that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

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8
References

Bates, S. (2011, October 25). Catch-22 author Joseph Heller: 'How did I feel about the war? I
enjoyed it?' Retrieved March 12, 2015, from
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/oct/25/catch-22-author-enjoyed-war
Heller, J. (2011). Catch-22 [Adobe Digital Editions version].
Joseph Heller. (2015). In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/260414/Joseph-Heller