Book Review "CATCH -22"

About the Author:
Joseph Heller

Joseph Heller was born in Brooklyn in 1923. He served as an Air Force bombardier in World War II. The novel draws heavily on his Air Force experience and presents a war story that is at once hilarious, grotesque, cynical, and stirring.

About the Book:

Catch-22 relies heavily on humor to convey the insanity of war, presenting the horrible meaninglessness of armed conflict through a kind of desperate absurdity rather than through graphic depictions of suffering and violence

Catch -22 has an uncanny portrayal of characters during World War II that are in a way caught in the military bureaucracy. One of the most terrifying aspects of Catch-22 is the fact that the lives and deaths of the men in Yossarian’s squadron are governed not by their own decisions concerning dangerous risks but by the decisions of an impersonal, frightening bureaucracy. The men must risk their lives even when they know that their missions are useless, as when they are forced to keep flying combat missions late in the novel even after they learn that the Allies have essentially won the war. The bureaucrats are absolutely deaf to any attempts that the men make to reason with them logically; they defy logic at every turn. Major Major, for example, will see people in his office only when he is not there, and Doc Daneeka won’t ground Yossarian for insanity because Yossarian’s desire to be grounded reveals that he must be sane.

Quotes:

"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. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle."

"'Catch-22...says you've always got to do what your commanding officer tells you to.'But Twenty-seventh Air Force says I can go home with forty missions.''But they don't say you have to go home. And regulations do say you have to obey every order. That's the catch. Even if the colonel were disobeying a Twenty-seventh Air Force order by making you fly more missions, you'd still have to fly them, or you'd be guilty of disobeying an order of his. And then the Twenty-seventh Air Force Headquarters would really jump on you.'"

"Dear Mrs., Mr., Miss, or Mr. And Mrs. Daneeka: Words cannot express the deep personal grief I experienced when your husband, son, father, or brother was killed, wounded, or reported missing in action."

We all now know what Catch-22 means, it does not need any explaining…here is how it started…catch-22s' from the novel CATCH-22

· Colonel Korn uses the same twisted logic as Catch-22 in the information sessions. Under Colonel Korn's rule, the only people permitted to ask questions are those who never do. Korn's rule is a logical trap that makes questions impossible to ask.

· Yossarian's plea to be sent home on the basis of insanity is useless because, according to Catch-22, insane men who ask to be grounded are in fact sane, and thus able to fly. Truly crazy people are instead those who agree to fly more missions. Catch-22 makes it impossible to be sent home on the grounds of insanity.

· Army regulation Catch-22 says you've always got to do what your commanding officer tells you to do, even if it goes against army regulation. The men have no refuge from the illogical power of the rule because officers are infallible, even if they are wrong, which they never are.

· The only one with any right to remove Mudd's belongings from Yossarian's tent was Yossarian. And, it seems to Major Major, Yossarian has no right. Thus, no one may move Mudd's gear. It's another Catch-22 trap.

· Ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen's punishment of filling up holes is not a steady job. He loses it each time he finishes his sentence. To keep it, he must go AWOL again, which is impossible because he will be sent to the stockade. Wintergreen says this is another Catch-22. Similarly, Major Major's orders are very much in the spirit of Catch-22. Sergeant Towser may admit men to see Major Major, but only when he is not there. Major Major's orders make it impossible for anyone to see him.

· Each time Captain Black triumphs over his competitors, he becomes angry for their failure to follow his example. Each time they follow his example, he racks his brain for some new reason to be angry with them again. Thus, Captain Black is impossible to please because pleasing him makes him angry. Similarly, Captain Black's loyalty oath is voluntary, but failure to agree to it will result in death. Thus, the voluntary agreement is not really voluntary.

· The more it rains, the worse the men suffer. The worse they suffer, the more they pray that it will continue raining. The rain makes life miserable, but once it lets up, they must fly the dangerous mission to Bologna. Either way they must suffer.

· Luciana confuses Yossarian with her illogical response to his marriage proposal. She will not marry him because he is crazy and he is crazy because he wants to marry her. The circular argument is like Catch-22 in that his desire to marry Luciana hinders the marriage, just like his desire to be grounded prevents his grounding.

· The old woman learns that Catch-22 gives soldiers the right to do anything that the citizens cannot stop them from doing. The soldiers are justified in their unjust actions simply because they have the power. Yossarian realizes that Catch-22 does not exist, but it makes no difference. What does matter is that everyone thinks it exists, and this belief gives Catch-22 the power to repress the believers.