Role Of Insanity In Joseph Heller's Catch 22

In Catch 22, a novel written by Joseph Heller one can see how Heller creates this world that is all over the place and that nobody would have ever expected. The actual meaning of Catch 22 is that it is a dilemma in which there is no escape because of contradictory rules. In Catch 22, one can see how war takes a toll on everyone and everything by the actions of people, occurring events, and much more.

The paradoxical situation in which there is no escape because of contradictory rule is shown as how war is taking a toll on Yossarian.Doc Daneeka says “In order to be grounded, you must be crazy, but if you ask to be grounded, you must not be crazy anymore, so you have to continue flying” (Heller 40). Yossarian is trying to ask Doc Daneeka to be let from his duties in this situation. But by asking to be grounded it shows that you are not crazy and you are still able to fly. Yossarian says “Insanity is the only sane way to deal with an insane situation” (Heller 78). Yossarian knows the
Yossarian says “When I look up, I see people cashing in, I don't see heaven,saints, or angels. I see people cashing in on every decent impulse and human tragedy” (Heller 445). This is basically saying that when he thinks about heaven he does not think about the usual saints or angels and instead he sees all this tragedy. You can see by this quote how war has affected his mind and body as a whole. Near the end of the story Major Danby says “From now on I'm thinking only of me” (Heller 446). This is sad to see because him going through this war made him think like this since if you care for anyone else you take the risk of dying and not getting the help when you need it yourself. In reality though everyone fighting in this war had that same thought process. Throughout the story we see quotes like this that show how war took a big toll on