| There Was Only One Catch Joseph Heller�s masterpiece novel, Catch-22, is a satirical work of genius. This classic yet controversial novel raises several thought provoking issues. It�s profound nature forces the reader to think, not only about the points Heller makes about human nature and war, but also about their own lives. The reader is taken on a compelling journey in which he follows the main character, Yossarian, through the trials and ordeals of his wartime experience. Heller uses his novel to draw the reader�s attention to several flaws we, as humans, often encounter and suffer from. Perhaps the most obvious human flaw found in Catch-22 is the existence of greed in every position of power. As the famous saying goes, �Absolute power corrupts absolutely�. Heller exemplifies this trait most especially in two of his characters, Colonel Cathcart and Milo Minderbinder. Both of these men risk other people�s lives in an attempt to gain more power, or, in Milo�s case, more money. Milo Minderbinder is the mess hall sergeant on the base and also head of the mysterious syndicate. His only goal in the war is to make a profit, and he does not think or care about the affect his actions have on his fellow soldiers. This blatant disregard of others is most apparent when he makes a secret agreement with the Germans to bomb his own squadron. Colonel Cathcart wants nothing more in the world than to impress Generals Dreedle and Peckem, and be promoted to general. His way of going about this is to constantly raise the number of missions his men fly so that they exceed the number of missions of the other groups, therefore making him look more impressive to his superiors. He gives no consideration to the fact that every time he increases the number of missions, he increases his men�s likelihood of being killed. He only cares about his own desires and goals. When greed takes control of a person, it supercedes his/her good judgment with disastrous consequences. Another frequently occurring flaw in humanity is the control of a person�s life by outside forces. In Heller�s novel that outside force is the bureaucracy sending the men into war. The soldiers have accepted that there is nothing they can do about what the bureaucracy wants them to do except do it. One of the keys to their power over the men�s lives is catch 22 itself, which traps the men into doing whatever they are told despite the risk. Doc Daneeka�s explanation of catch 22 to Yossarian in chapter five is a perfect example of the trap. Catch 22 says that a crazy man can be grounded if he asks to be. However, as soon as he asks, he is qualified as sane and cannot be grounded even though he has to be crazy to keep flying the missions. Therefore no one can be grounded and everyone has to fly the missions. It is a rampant paradox in logic, which the men are forced to accept. Another excellent example of bureaucracy�s power over their lives is Doc Daneeka�s �death� near the end of the book. Since his name is on McWatt�s flight log when McWatt crashes, the bureaucracy assumes that the doctor was on board and is therefore dead. This is not the case at all. Doc Daneeka was safely on the ground at the base when the plane crashed and is most obviously alive. However the bureaucracy believes the paperwork more than the obvious and sends a letter home to his wife stating he has died and that she will be receiving monetary benefits from the government. Back in Pianosa the doctor is spurned by everyone because he is �dead� and can no longer practice medicine. The bureaucracy and its power have destroyed his life. Of course there is also the incident of Mudd, the soldier who died in combat before he could officially report for duty. Since he never checked in properly, he never existed in the eyes of the bureaucracy. These two episodes shows the reader how frighteningly powerful the government can be. With one fell swoop and some paperwork, they can make anyone disappear or die. Catch-22 also points out the loss of the true meaning and value of words, which leads to miscommunications. The first time the reader encounters this in the novel is in the opening chapter when Yossarian is censoring letters. He is so bored by this chore that he makes a game of it by marking out whatever he feels like. He pretends to play God as he obliterates whole towns and cities. The words have no real meaning to him thus enabling him to wage war against whatever ones he chooses. There is a complete disregard for the importance of names and signatures when he begins to sign �Washington Irving� on the letters. When he gets bored with that name he switches it to �Irving Washington�. The name has no meaning to him even though it causes a good deal of trouble for the bureaucracy later in the story. The. �T.S.Eliot� episode in chapter four shows how easily people can become confused and anxious when they out undeserved importance on a word or phrase. All Wintergreen was doing was answering the General�s memo yet Dreedle was certain it must be some new kind of code or something of the like. He gets himself all worked up trying to figure out the secret meaning of �T.S.Eliot� when there really isn�t one. He made the phrase more important than it was and as a result caused himself a good deal of unnecessary stress. Of course the most obvious example of the power of words is in catch 22. It is not written down anywhere and therefore doesn�t really exist. However, since the men believe in it whole-heartedly, it still controls them. This simple, paradoxical string of words is what keeps the men flying their missions, putting them closer to death each time they fly. It forces them to treat meaninglessness, and nonsense as though they are real values. Words are what ultimately control our actions, thoughts, and lives. All too often we read into words that shouldn�t be read into, finding meaning, which aren�t really there. Heller�s most important point in his paradoxical novel is the effect war has on people�s morals and values. The war turns men into cold-hearted, unfeeling machines of mass destruction. All that matters to the generals is getting promoted; all that matters to the men is staying alive long enough to go home. No one even thinks about the bigger picture or how many people they are killing. The �enemies� are not people in their minds and because of this the men are able to go out and fly each day dropping bombs upon them. The war also annihilates the men�s free thought. They are trapped by the paradox of catch 22 and by the power of the bureaucracy into fighting. To the bureaucracy the men are pawns, to be told where to go and what to drop bombs on. The men are controlled by rules set in place by people who are not even there. By dehumanizing everyone both the bureaucracy and the soldiers are allowed to do their jobs. However, war brings with it a breakdown of everyday morals by numbing the men�s minds. General Dreedle moves Chief White Halfoat into Doc Daneeka�s tent to ensure he stays healthy. This way Dreedle can call on Halfoat anytime to punch his son-in-law in the nose. If they were at home in America this would be considered ridiculous behavior, but in the war no one really cares or sees anything wrong with it. No one would ever ask another person to pretend to be someone�s dying son in the normal world, yet Yossarian is asked to do exactly that when he is in the hospital. In chapter 28 Yossarian finds comfort in thinking about murdering his tent mate, Orr! No sane person would find murderous thoughts relaxing in a moral world. Heller�s style of writing allows the reader to get a feel for what it is like to be numb to basic human morals like the soldiers are by never talking about the inhumane aspects of the war. That is, until �The Eternal City�. In this chapter the reader is taken along on a nighttime walk through the ruins of Rome with Yossarian. This is the ultimate portrayal of the lack of basic morals found in times of war. Yossarian encounters countless examples of neglect, abuse, and oppression as he walks the darkened streets. The climax of the chapter is when Yossarian returns to the soldier�s apartment only to discover that Aarfy has raped and murdered a maid with no remorse. Just then the police barge in and arrest Yossarian for not having a pass to be in Rome, apologizing to Aarfy for the intrusion. It is sheer chaos. The morals and values that govern our day-to-day lives are completely lost. In the end Yossarian decides to take his life back into his own hands instead of letting the bureaucracy run it. He has realized the hypocrisy and absurdity that is the war and, in honor of his friends who have died, decides it is better to live a life on the run from the military than one that is controlled by outside forces. It is a lesson everyone should learn for too many people allow their lives to be run by others. In his novel Joseph Heller uses humor to make light of very serious, and sometimes disturbing, aspects of humanity. |