At this time, catch-22 is explained as a questionable protocol which states that asking to be grounded due to insanity indicates that one is of their right mind and not to be grounded. The only other viable means of escape would be medical grounding, but with injuries and illnesses such grounding is only temporary, and with psychological problems one runs into catch-22. Every time Yossarian nears the number of missions required to be sent home, Cathcart decides that it would look good to his superiors to increase that number by five or ten. The two main factors working against him in this hope are Colonel Cathcart and catch-22. Thereafter, Yossarian concludes that he must somehow either stop flying missions or leave the war entirely. His mental state begins declining, however, after he watches helplessly while a man on one of his planes, Snowden, bleeds out graphically due to a gaping wound in his mid-section. His boldness results in the death of others as well as in his being awarded the medal of honor.
The main focus of Catch-22, Captain John Yossarian, begins the war fairly confident in his actions. Indeed, this is an account of World War II in Europe with such an emphasis on perverse motivations for fighting that it features no German soldiers except for a group of pilots hired by Milo. And through several of the book’s subplots, notably that concerning Milo Minderbinder’s war profiteering, it becomes clear that economic success far outweighs ethical or patriotic motivation to engage in war.
Through details such as the eponymous phantom protocol catch-22 and the death-in-writing of Doc Daneeka, it becomes clear that bureaucracy is valued beyond all reasonable use in war. Heller focuses Catch-22 on the absurdity of war and the bureaucratic and economic presence therein war is portrayed as a thing of unnecessary risk to human life for ridiculous reasons.
The nature of this article is such that it requires spoiling basic plot details of Catch-22, so you should only continue reading after this paragraph if you either do not mind spoilers or have already read the book.īureaucratic Absurdity and Perverse Morality in Catch-22: This article explores the dominant philosophy and masterful presentation of Heller’s most successful novel. It is a novel that represents a masterclass in the modernist and postmodernist technique of melding high culture and low culture, as well as tragedy and comedy. I would make it no secret that Catch-22 is one of my personal favorite novels. What do you get when you mix the surreal, atmospheric absurdism of Kafka’s best known works with the darkly comedic anti-war satire of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five? I would say that you get something very close to a book published about 40 years after Kafka’s death, and about 10 years before the publication of Vonnegut’s novel: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.
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