Since we were not given a prompt, I was wondering if we could discuss how war is portrayed in Catch-22.
The overwhelming impression that I get from reading just over half of the novel is that Joseph Heller uses humor, specifically satire, to emphasize the madness of war . The miscellaneous characters are going through the motions of being soldiers as evidenced by Yossarian's avoidance of bombing during bombing missions and how even the famous Major -------- de Coverly spends all of his time playing horseshoes instead of doing his military duties. The soldiers clearly do not take their responsibility and loyalty to their country seriously. To the commanding officers such as Colonel Cathcart, war is a joke, merely a way to get fame and success; Colonel Cathcart , in full seriousness, explains that "the sooner we get casualties, the sooner we can…get [our names] in the Christmas issue [of the Saturday Evening Post]" (292-3). As the orders from General Dreedle get stranger and stranger, and the missions get more and more trivial, the reader is left with the clear understanding that the military is a nonsensical organization fighting a meaningless war. The only real conflicting voice in the novel is that of Yossarian, the last sane person, who thinks war is "vile and muddy" and wants only to return home with his life intact (77). The fact that Heller ultimately dwells more on the absurdity of war than on its harsh realities underscores his negative views of war and violence.
Alex mentions that Yossarian is the only sane person left in the war, something which Yossarian himself claims. When the chaplain visits him the hospital, Yossarian says, “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” (14). * If this is true, than it is surprising that Yossarian is still sane, as those with the contagious disease of insanity surround him. Does he grow progressively less sane through out the book, as his exposure to insanity lengthens? In class we discussed sanity and who can determine it. Yossarian could already be just as stark raving mad and not acknowledge it. What he maintains is the natural instinct of survival in its most basic form. He simply wishes to live. Still, Colonel Cathcart may also be trying to survive. Alex brought up his efforts to be in the Evening Post despite the cost his actions have for his men. This is a type of survival in an artificial or constructed environment. Rather than fighting for his life, Cathcart is struggling to keep a toehold in a bureaucratic world and save his name from obsolescence. As Cathcart is removed from the actual fighting, this type of survival may seem more real to him than the survival that Yossarian strives for. Cathcart “live[s] by his wits in an unstable, arithmetical world of black eyes and feathers in his cap, of overwhelming imaginary triumphs and catastrophic imaginary defeats” (186). The two men live in different worlds with different dangers.
*note the page numbers will be slightly off because I have the hardcover version of the book, and the pages don’t align perfectly.
I also noticed that Joseph Heller relies heavily on satire to emphasize the madness of war that Alex mentioned above. Each character is given his own story and quirks that are revealed in a storyline that is constantly shifting and changing, further demonstrating the confusion and madness that each character suffers from. I feel that Heller uses the constantly shifting timeline to further emphasize the continuity of war and how no one can ever truly escape it when it catches them in a never ending loop that is described as a “Catch-22” (55). As for Yossarian, I feel that he may have begun the war sane, but is slowly going insane from the environment and insanity of everyone else, as Carolyn mentioned above “insanity is contagious” and Yossarian is no exception (22). Each character has an identifiable trait that makes them certifiably crazy. Hungry Joe cannot stand waiting for orders to send him back home and suffers from constant nightmares when he has succeeded in making the number of runs necessary. Yossarian seems to be troubled by character of Snowden. This memory seems to haunt Yossarian, as he was “plastered … helplessly to the ceiling” unable to help Snowden who “lay dying in [the] back” (59). Yet on occasion Yossarian uses Snowden’s name light heartedly to torment his fellow soldiers questioning them in English “Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear?” then in French “Où sont les Neigedens d’antan,” suggesting that he is as mad as everyone else (44).
I have a slight obsession with paradoxes in this book, so I would like to touch upon how the theme of insanity versus insanity is portrayed with paradoxes. This also adds on to what Alex was saying, since paradoxes contribute to the satire of the book. The first example of such a paradox is Catch-22, which “specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers…was the process of a rational mind” (46). People could ask to be grounded on the basis of insanity, but that meant that they were sane. The narrator expands, “Orr would be crazy to fly more missions, and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them” (46). The characters are all caught in this paradox of insanity, where they have to be sane to do insane things and insane to do sane things. This paradox is extended with the character of McWatt. “Mcwatt was the craziest combat man of them all probably, because he was perfectly sane and still did not mind the war” (60). In this paradox, being sane means you are insane. Heller creates these impossible paradoxes to satirize the insanity of war. In his mind, war is so insane that it defies all logic, and creates its own reality where such impossible paradoxes are considered normal.
On one of my post-it notes, I wrote that Catch-22 reminded me of the show LOST. Similar to how LOST reminisces on the characters' pasts before having gotten stuck on the island, we as readers often learn of the Catch-22 characters' past lives from before the war. Many of these "flashbacks" emphasize how entering the war took everything away from the characters. But, in return for destroying their lives from home, companionship was given. The characters' lives are completely separate before the war, but are then joined as they live with one another. On page 68, Clevinger's character from before the war is described as someone who "was certain to go far in the academic world," and as having "lots of intelligence and no brains." Taken away from his life at home, Clevinger’s personality does now not only revolve around academics, and because of his assimilation into the war-front, his fellow soldiers understand his personality with greater depth. Page 69 goes on to describe Clevinger as someone "very serious, very earnest and very conscientious," as a "humanitarian who did know right from left and was trapped uncomfortably between the two;" "in short, he was a dope."
I was also interested by Major Major Major Major's attempt of covering up his identity in order to play basketball with his fellow soldiers and to assimilate into the brotherhood-like lifestyle of war. He wears fake mustaches so no one will recognize him and forges his signature on documents. Major Major "had observed that people who did lie were, on the whole, more resourceful and ambitious and successful than people who did not lie" (97). I had to ask myself, "what brings a man to lie about his identity?" and I thought of the means of war as an Escape from the reality of the American Dream lifestyle on the home front. Most of the soldiers did not obtain that "perfect" American Dream lifestyle that the time era was categorized by, and so they entered the war to start a new life. Major Major wore mustaches and glasses to conceal his identity because he had achieved the American Dream before entering the war. His father was a prominent man back home and Major Major was raised among riches. Because the soldiers are representations of Failures of the American Dream and Major Major’s desire to assimilate is so strong, he tries to hide the fact that he did achieve the American Dream in order to have that companionship that so many of the men lack at home.
I was born and raised in Saint Louis, Missouri and first moved to Massachusetts to attend Amherst College, where I majored in both English and Russian literature. After graduation, I accepted a Fulbright Scholarship to the University of Tartu in Estonia, where I studied children's literature and semiotics ("the study of signs and symbols"). I returned to the United States to spend a few years exploring the wide world of business, but the classroom kept calling. It was high time to earn my Masters in Education from Tufts University and join the staff at Arlington High School.
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Since we were not given a prompt, I was wondering if we could discuss how war is portrayed in Catch-22.
ReplyDeleteThe overwhelming impression that I get from reading just over half of the novel is that Joseph Heller uses humor, specifically satire, to emphasize the madness of war . The miscellaneous characters are going through the motions of being soldiers as evidenced by Yossarian's avoidance of bombing during bombing missions and how even the famous Major -------- de Coverly spends all of his time playing horseshoes instead of doing his military duties. The soldiers clearly do not take their responsibility and loyalty to their country seriously. To the commanding officers such as Colonel Cathcart, war is a joke, merely a way to get fame and success; Colonel Cathcart , in full seriousness, explains that "the sooner we get casualties, the sooner we can…get [our names] in the Christmas issue [of the Saturday Evening Post]" (292-3). As the orders from General Dreedle get stranger and stranger, and the missions get more and more trivial, the reader is left with the clear understanding that the military is a nonsensical organization fighting a meaningless war. The only real conflicting voice in the novel is that of Yossarian, the last sane person, who thinks war is "vile and muddy" and wants only to return home with his life intact (77). The fact that Heller ultimately dwells more on the absurdity of war than on its harsh realities underscores his negative views of war and violence.
-Alex L.
Alex mentions that Yossarian is the only sane person left in the war, something which Yossarian himself claims. When the chaplain visits him the hospital, Yossarian says, “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” (14). * If this is true, than it is surprising that Yossarian is still sane, as those with the contagious disease of insanity surround him. Does he grow progressively less sane through out the book, as his exposure to insanity lengthens? In class we discussed sanity and who can determine it. Yossarian could already be just as stark raving mad and not acknowledge it. What he maintains is the natural instinct of survival in its most basic form. He simply wishes to live. Still, Colonel Cathcart may also be trying to survive. Alex brought up his efforts to be in the Evening Post despite the cost his actions have for his men. This is a type of survival in an artificial or constructed environment. Rather than fighting for his life, Cathcart is struggling to keep a toehold in a bureaucratic world and save his name from obsolescence. As Cathcart is removed from the actual fighting, this type of survival may seem more real to him than the survival that Yossarian strives for. Cathcart “live[s] by his wits in an unstable, arithmetical world of black eyes and feathers in his cap, of overwhelming imaginary triumphs and catastrophic imaginary defeats” (186). The two men live in different worlds with different dangers.
ReplyDelete*note the page numbers will be slightly off because I have the hardcover version of the book, and the pages don’t align perfectly.
I also noticed that Joseph Heller relies heavily on satire to emphasize the madness of war that Alex mentioned above. Each character is given his own story and quirks that are revealed in a storyline that is constantly shifting and changing, further demonstrating the confusion and madness that each character suffers from. I feel that Heller uses the constantly shifting timeline to further emphasize the continuity of war and how no one can ever truly escape it when it catches them in a never ending loop that is described as a “Catch-22” (55).
ReplyDeleteAs for Yossarian, I feel that he may have begun the war sane, but is slowly going insane from the environment and insanity of everyone else, as Carolyn mentioned above “insanity is contagious” and Yossarian is no exception (22). Each character has an identifiable trait that makes them certifiably crazy. Hungry Joe cannot stand waiting for orders to send him back home and suffers from constant nightmares when he has succeeded in making the number of runs necessary. Yossarian seems to be troubled by character of Snowden. This memory seems to haunt Yossarian, as he was “plastered … helplessly to the ceiling” unable to help Snowden who “lay dying in [the] back” (59). Yet on occasion Yossarian uses Snowden’s name light heartedly to torment his fellow soldiers questioning them in English “Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear?” then in French “Où sont les Neigedens d’antan,” suggesting that he is as mad as everyone else (44).
I have a slight obsession with paradoxes in this book, so I would like to touch upon how the theme of insanity versus insanity is portrayed with paradoxes. This also adds on to what Alex was saying, since paradoxes contribute to the satire of the book. The first example of such a paradox is Catch-22, which “specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers…was the process of a rational mind” (46). People could ask to be grounded on the basis of insanity, but that meant that they were sane. The narrator expands, “Orr would be crazy to fly more missions, and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them” (46). The characters are all caught in this paradox of insanity, where they have to be sane to do insane things and insane to do sane things. This paradox is extended with the character of McWatt. “Mcwatt was the craziest combat man of them all probably, because he was perfectly sane and still did not mind the war” (60). In this paradox, being sane means you are insane. Heller creates these impossible paradoxes to satirize the insanity of war. In his mind, war is so insane that it defies all logic, and creates its own reality where such impossible paradoxes are considered normal.
ReplyDelete~Amanda
(Late day)
On one of my post-it notes, I wrote that Catch-22 reminded me of the show LOST. Similar to how LOST reminisces on the characters' pasts before having gotten stuck on the island, we as readers often learn of the Catch-22 characters' past lives from before the war. Many of these "flashbacks" emphasize how entering the war took everything away from the characters. But, in return for destroying their lives from home, companionship was given. The characters' lives are completely separate before the war, but are then joined as they live with one another. On page 68, Clevinger's character from before the war is described as someone who "was certain to go far in the academic world," and as having "lots of intelligence and no brains." Taken away from his life at home, Clevinger’s personality does now not only revolve around academics, and because of his assimilation into the war-front, his fellow soldiers understand his personality with greater depth. Page 69 goes on to describe Clevinger as someone "very serious, very earnest and very conscientious," as a "humanitarian who did know right from left and was trapped uncomfortably between the two;" "in short, he was a dope."
ReplyDeleteI was also interested by Major Major Major Major's attempt of covering up his identity in order to play basketball with his fellow soldiers and to assimilate into the brotherhood-like lifestyle of war. He wears fake mustaches so no one will recognize him and forges his signature on documents. Major Major "had observed that people who did lie were, on the whole, more resourceful and ambitious and successful than people who did not lie" (97). I had to ask myself, "what brings a man to lie about his identity?" and I thought of the means of war as an Escape from the reality of the American Dream lifestyle on the home front. Most of the soldiers did not obtain that "perfect" American Dream lifestyle that the time era was categorized by, and so they entered the war to start a new life. Major Major wore mustaches and glasses to conceal his identity because he had achieved the American Dream before entering the war. His father was a prominent man back home and Major Major was raised among riches. Because the soldiers are representations of Failures of the American Dream and Major Major’s desire to assimilate is so strong, he tries to hide the fact that he did achieve the American Dream in order to have that companionship that so many of the men lack at home.
-Alex T. (late day)