Catch-22.3

Well here we are: the third and final blog entry for Catch-22. The good news is I’ve finally gotten a handle of the five-million characters in the novel. The bad news is….actually, there is no bad news. Here’s some more observations on Catch-22:

1.
Besides its sardonic wit, one of the most noteworthy aspects of Catch-22 is the use of the suspension of time and reality. By crafting a plot that does not follow chronologically and does not come full circle until the end of the novel, Heller is able to highlight the sense of skewed reality created by war and keep the reader in the dark about aspects of Yossarian’s true nature.

Throughout the novel, Heller uses representations of people and things in place of the actual object in order to twist reality. Names stand in place of actual characters and create confusion. For example, Major Major has an identity crisis when he finds out in kindergarten that his name is not Caleb Major, and Yossarian instigates a full investigation when he assumes the pseudonym “Washington Irving” to censor letters. In the letters themselves, Yossarian “obliterates” modifiers, punctuation, and names of people and places, as though they were actual objects. Furthermore, Yossarian postpones the attack on Bologna by moving the line on the map, creating the illusion that the city had already fallen. By referring to actual things by mere representations, Heller furthers the sense of confusion in wartime.

2.
While reading, I found a quote that completely sums up Yossarian’s views on war and mortality:
“Catastrophes were lurking everywhere, too numerous to count. When he contemplated the many diseases and potential accidents threatening him, he was positively astounded that he had managed to survive in good health for as long as he had. It war miraculous. Each day he faced was another dangerous mission against mortality. And he had been surviving them for twenty-eight years (175).

3.
Yossarian is often identified with the powerless everyman in war, subject to the whims of his superiors; however, it is Yossarian who is responsible for virtually every major event and catastrophe in the novel. Yossarian’s signing of “Washington Irving” to letters creates a world of trouble for Major Major. He indirectly poisons all of the men in the camp with soap flakes, provides the fruit for Milo’s business dealings, postpones the attack on Bologna, kills Kraft and the rest of his crew over Ferrara, and gets the chaplain kicked out of the captain’s club. The novel’s convoluted and discontinuous plot keep the reader in the dark about Yossarian’s true abilities until he is fully able to realize them at the end of the novel.

4.
Something else I noticed while reading Catch-22 was the frustratingly absolute nature of the corrupt military administration that causes all of the problems. Colonel Cathcart is able to arbitrarily increase the number of missions in order to simultaneously increase his reputation among his superiors. War so completely changes reality that even doctors are disillusioned about saving lives, as Doc Dankeea says, “It’s not my business to save lives” (174). Yossarian turns against religion, saying that God isn’t “working at all. He’s playing. Or else He’s forgotten all about us” (179).

5.
And I still think the novel is one of the funniest things I have ever read.



And here are some sources:
The Night Journey in Catch-22
Minna Doskow
Twentieth Century Literature, Vol. 12, No. 4 (Jan., 1967), pp. 186-193
Published by: Hofstra University

"Catch-22" and the Language of Discontinuity
Gary W. Davis
NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Autumn, 1978), pp. 66-77
Published by: Novel Corp., Brown University


"It Was All Yossarian's Fault" Power and Responsibility in Catch-22
Stephen L. Sniderman
Twentieth Century Literature, Vol. 19, No. 4 (Oct., 1973), pp. 251-258
Published by: Hofstra University